News Blip:
Robot Labor In Elkhart
WNDU Reports On The RV Industry Seeing Production Advances In The Form Of Automated Non-Human Technology.
The question has become when will robots become so intelligent to start doing most the work of done by humans? We do not want this, but it is inevitably happening in many industries of the workforce. Lippert Components Inc., the number one component supplier to the RV industry, plans to add at least 100 additional robots to its factory floors over the next five years. Lippert Components Inc.President Scott Mereness speaks on the subject: “More and more people are using automated machinery as well as robotics to be able to get their work done,” he told NewsCenter 16. Perhaps this route is taken when a company struggles continuously to find adequate, or most efficient laborers.
WNDU writer Mark Peterson elaborates in his article: "Earlier this year, Lippert added a fiber laser cutter on a factory floor in Goshen. It is now doing the work of eight human beings, quietly and mechanically." At one of the plants in Lippert, an automated brake press with a robotic arm does all the heavy lifting. “We’d like to set a goal for ourselves as at least having another 100 robots in production five years from now” Mereness said. “We build a high number of SKUs, we’ve got to have a lot of flexibility from a manufacturing and tooling standpoint, so we can’t automate and set up robots to do, you know, an entire factory. What we can do is look at high tech machines and robots to be able to improve our quality while reducing labor at the same time.” While the RV industry has typically been stereotyped as "low tech", Lippert Components is doing its best to change that. Lippert rents a wing and often lends a hand at the ETHOS Science Center in Elkhart; a facility dedicated to teaching science and technology to teenage children. They also have an internship program for students interested in pursuing their career within the RV industry.
Read the full article by going to WNDU News.
MobileRVing: The Buzz