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10 Lab. L.J. 796 (1959)
Automation and Employment

handle is hein.journals/labljo10 and id is 792 raw text is: Automation and Employment- Organized labor, on the one hand, has frequently expressed its fear that automation would disrupt employment. This article, on the other hand, portrays automation not as a threat to the human race but as a tool to be used properly for advancing our standard of living. T HERE ARE almost as many definitions of automation as there are writers on the subject. The only point emerging clearly from all the discussions is that automa- tion, like democracy, does not lend itself easily to a capsule definition. Even the scope of the development is under debate, with some analysts calling it a revolution while others minimize it as merely a con- tinuation of the historical trend toward increased productivity. However, since in discussing automation one should have some idea of what he is talking about, an effort must be ;nade to get at the meaning of the word. What Is Automation? The invention of the term automation is generally credited to D. S. Harder, of the Ford Motor Company, who describes it as the automatic handling of parts between progressive production processes. John Diebold, of Harvard, came up with a broader definition when he said that automation is the integration of machines with each other into fully automatic and, in some cases, self-regulating systems. Edgar Weinberg, of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has this to say: Automatic technology, starting with the cumulative accomplishments of the past, Automation-Key to the Future, delivered before the Quad-City Conference on Automa- tion, Davenport, Iowa, August 27, 1954. 2 Quoted by Walter P. Reuther, The Impact of Automation, testimony before the Subcom- mittee on Economic Stabilization of the Joint Committee on the Economic Report of the United States Congress, October 17, 1955. introduces the possibility of eliminating direct human intervention in operating, guid- ing, and feeding machines and in con- trolling processes. Instead of the worker, specialized mechanisms with capacity for elementary sensing, discriminating, and counting, can now perform tasks of handling materials and information with a high de- gree of reliability. What, then, are these mechanisms? Ac- cording to Carl Huhndorff, director of research of the International Association of Machinists, they fall into three general types:' (1) The integration or linking together of conventionally separated manufacturing opera- tions into a continuous production line through the use of precision conveying systems in which the products move untouched by human hands from one operation to the next. This is the oldest form of automation and is basically dependent on the principles of mechanical engineering. (2) The automatic operation of automatic machines. These gadgets are referred to as feedback systems, operating in conjunc- tion with servo-mechanisms. The function of these devices is perhaps best made clear by a simplified description of an automatic lathe, where an unformed block of metal must be cut to resemble the outline of a The Meaning, Outlook, and Implications of Automation, Monthly Labor Review, Feb- ruary. 1955. 1 The Impact of Automation on Organized Labor, delivered at the Conference on Domes- tic Affairs, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 19, 1955. November, 1959 * Labor Law Journal

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