Automated manufacturing planning: The present position and future possibilities

In late 1946, Mr. D. S. Harder of the Ford Motor Company introduced the word automation. Shortly after, much was said about the application of the principles of automation to the construction of a completely automatic factory. June, et al conducted a survey of the leading industries in the United States and reported on some of the problems that would have to be solved before an automatic factory could become a reality. Diebold wrote on the problems of automation and its implications for the businessman and his future decisions. He cites what was perhaps the first automatic factory: a continuous process flour mill, built in 1784, near Philadelphia, by Oliver Evans. No human labour was required after the grain was received at the mill until the finished product, flour, was removed. It is also interesting to note that in the early 1800's there were thousands of programmed looms operating in France, controlled by punched paper cards.