Factory Workers Become Coders as Companies Automate (wsj.com) 101
As automation changes the way factories operate, some U.S. companies are training workers in programming and robotics, letting machinists get a taste of coding. From a report: Competition from China was among the reasons Drew Greenblatt, chief executive of manufacturing firm Marlin Steel Wire Products, purchased $2 million worth of robots in the past 15 months. The Baltimore-based maker of wire baskets is training employees on operating the robots and using laser-cutting software. The company's machinists develop code so robots can make parts to specifications, replacing several workers who physically created parts. Other employees use collaborative software to interact with customers on real-time design changes, helping the company manufacture higher-quality steel products, charge more for them and create unique intellectual property, he said. Marlin Steel is on track to generate $8 million in revenue this year, up from about $5 million the previous year.
[...] Radwell International, a manufacturing and repair firm based in Willingboro, N.J., identified workers with an aptitude for learning and decent knowledge of processes and systems and trained them in skills such as programming on Visual Basic to build software tools to handle tasks like purchasing. Radwell IT staff who learned Python, a programming language used widely in artificial intelligence and data science, built an AI system to sort incoming parts. The system helps recognize parts based on rough contours, differentiating a circuit breaker from a motor. The staff is now developing a machine-vision-based AI system to recognize parts. Employees are also being trained on manufacturing techniques like 3-D printing to make replacement parts for customers.
[...] Radwell International, a manufacturing and repair firm based in Willingboro, N.J., identified workers with an aptitude for learning and decent knowledge of processes and systems and trained them in skills such as programming on Visual Basic to build software tools to handle tasks like purchasing. Radwell IT staff who learned Python, a programming language used widely in artificial intelligence and data science, built an AI system to sort incoming parts. The system helps recognize parts based on rough contours, differentiating a circuit breaker from a motor. The staff is now developing a machine-vision-based AI system to recognize parts. Employees are also being trained on manufacturing techniques like 3-D printing to make replacement parts for customers.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, does writing an article about how C# perpetuates the cis white male patriarchy count as "coding"?
Note the distinction: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Note the distinction: coders, not programmers.
Coders == programmers==software engineer==what ever bullshit title your employer gives you.
I've ALL those titles and my job was exactly the same.
Some of you people need to get over yourselves.
Re: (Score:2)
Coders == programmers==software engineer==what ever bullshit title your employer gives you.
An engineer is actually something different, but there's a lot of people called engineers that aren't one.
With that said, Tivoli put "Engineer" on my business cards simply because I asked, when my actual job description was "Support Engineer", which is something that doesn't exist. People in my office were jealous even though it didn't mean anything. Go figure.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Tivoli put "Engineer" on my business cards simply because I asked
At my company, you wouldn't even need to ask. Employees can pick their own titles. One of our warehouse pickers has "Supreme Commander" as the title on her card.
Giving people the job titles they want is way cheaper than giving them raises.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Some time ago, I had a job that involved administrating a document management system. I had the company sign maker print my cubicle plaque reading "Software Conflagration Management". It was weeks before anyone noticed.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
To a layman, all three of those are the same.
To most professionals there isn't much difference either. I work with people all the time who call themselves "software engineer", "software developer", and/or "programmer". I haven't noticed any systematic difference between them in either skills or responsibilities.
Re: (Score:2)
A "programmer" who doesn't care about the meaning of words..... Even without exact technical definitions, "engineering" implies a certain amount of design and planning. An engineer's ability is based on their ability to engineer. If they an correctly design and possibly implement software, then they're doing a good job engineering. A programmer is also kind of open. As long
Wow, what a weirdly positive spin (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure these companies will still be laying off scores of their workers. And, based on my brief experience anyway, the percentage of floor workers in a given manufacturing plant who have the aptitude to become coders is probably pretty minuscule.
Was this article written by a manufacturing lobbyist or something?
Re: (Score:1)
Remember kids... (Score:4, Funny)
Machinists have been coding for years (Score:3)
Generating CNC code that generates parts correctly and does not break machines is no simple task.
Mistakes can be disastrous and very expensive to correct and there is the human safety factor.
heh, the C in your CNC (Score:2)
before CNC was NC, "numerical control" starting in the 1940s. Machines were controlled by punched tape, one of the many kinds of tech my father, a machinist, had to deal with. He also had to deal with "ladder logic" later on, then PLC
Re: (Score:1)
This was much of my dad's career, mostly in the 1980s and early 90s. He wrote scripts in some sort of (likely proprietary) streamlined instruction code, automating all kinds of cutting and drilling on a per-job basis. He then just ran & observed the execution, intervening for occasional maintenance, and filled pallets of parts. I don't see a huge leap from that to what this article describes, more of a gradual transition.
Re: (Score:2)
Good point. Years ago I had worked directly with some tool and die makers ("machinist" was an insult). They were really smart and I'm sure they probably went into CNC / g-code programming later on. They could anticipate things with the best of them.
But humans are human, so there exists CNC/g-code simulators https://www.cnccookbook.com/g-code-simulator-cnc-viewer/ [cnccookbook.com] and that's just one example of many.
That said, there are youtube videos of "robots" going wrong. A few are amusing, but I can't bear to watch
Re: (Score:2)
That said, I would wish for, and maybe someone is doing it, some kind of sensor system that would measure the work piece and never allow the system to crash cutters into things. Hopefully the system already knows its own environment and limits motion appropriately.
Finally... a manufacturer that get's IT. (Score:3, Interesting)
I've met quite a few greasy guys and gals over the years that work in places that the typical 'dirty' would be clean in comparison. They knew their equipment (the bed on this mill tilts 0.1mil down on the left), their materials (4140 makes a good hammer, but S7 is better), and tools without needing to read a manuals (but were never opposed to reading/learning) all the time. As well as solving trig and calculus problems in their heads through repeated use and experience. In short, none of them were idiots - and all were masters of their trades. And none had more than a High School education.
Point being - Taking these folks from manual Starrett and Mitutoyo metrology to DROs to now programming the machine (g-code, and similar languages) is a no-brainer for them. And these folks "know" - "I don't care what the documentation says - you can't advance that type of cutter against that material faster than x or you will break the cutter." "Or, why are they doing it that way in 15 steps? If we hog the material out here this way, and flip the cutter that way, we can get the same results, but in 5 steps."
Re: (Score:2)
This.
I'm sure the code in the 737 MCAS is immaculate. With all the correct indenting and comments. But it takes a pilot to know that now is not the time to push the airplane's nose down.
Re: (Score:2)
It takes even only an idiot to realize that now is not the time to push the airplane's nose down (if now = 500ft).
So we're trying this now (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
SSShhh... you're twitter account is now being scrutinized!
College loans pay dividends! (Score:2)
Can we just drop this already (Score:2)
Also if you read the Wikipedia page you'd know it was a narrative pushed by folks like the National Review to discredit colleges in the 60s (which were hotbeds of left wing activity) and that these made up courses were often there so people could dodge the Vietnam draft (which, given the pointlessness of that war in hindsight, can you blame them?).
And no, there are no degrees in basket weaving, unde
Re: (Score:2)
The biggest problem with college isn't the litany of useless degrees (though a business degree can be just as useless as a gender studies degree for many people) but the number of people who will never receive a degree at all and w
Re: (Score:2)
Mrs degree: Masters of Residential Science.
We saw them too. Cute freshman girls that wanted to date (and eventually marry) engineering seniors. We 'dated' them alright.
More than 50% of incoming freshman at most state schools are taking remedials. The real problem is a complete lack of rigor in large majors like business and kids just there to party.
Don't post this! (Score:2)
Reminds me of the time... (Score:2)
I can't help but thing of a particular story [thedailywtf.com]...
It's good to see a company embrace re-training its workforce. Sure, it's cheaper to just get rid of them all and hire new folks who already have the skills you want, but the new guys are still new. They might know their skills, but they don't know your business, and aren't confident enough in the process to make sure you're still producing a quality product.
Keep the old guys around, and give them the training to use the new tools.
What percentage can make the transition? (Score:3)
What percentage of factory workers successfully make the transition to something like coding? Even looking at graduation rate from people who wanted to be coders (computer science) from my university, many of them couldn't handle the course work and dropped out. I know a lot of people in other disciplines who had to do coding classes and assignments as part of their degree and many of them failed to grasp simple programming concepts. Even many people who actually graduated and somehow have years working in a programming position seem to lack what I would consider basic coding skills
Re: (Score:2)
I can show you how to make an infinite loop with ladder logic. It's not difficult.
Re: (Score:2)
You can't do loops with pure ladder logic. You need at least one snake.
Given that this is a response to automation (Score:2)
So 1 coder replaces 50-100 workers and you don't really need a high success rate. And of course if the success rate's 0 you just go to Congress for more H1-Bs.
Re: (Score:2)
Dumb question... (Score:2)
When did "programming" become "coding"?
Synonyms (Score:2)
When did "programming" become "coding"?
About the time the words became synonyms. Or is this another one of those cases like hacker where pedantic geeks insist it means something that nobody else in the world gives a shit about?
We tried this with Miners (Score:3)
Bottom line, you might retrain a few mechanical engineers to do this, but you're not going to get guys in their 30s and 40s to learn the college level skills they couldn't hack in their 20s. This is just a misdirection. It's there so it looks like we gave them a fair shot so when they go from $40/hr union jobs to $10/hr crap IT and blue collar work we can ignore the root cause and blame them.
Give yourself more credit (Score:2)
I've been coding for 25 years. Why do I feel like a samauri watching the invention of guns?
Well since samurai used guns [washingtonpost.com] I'm not really sure what your point is. The notion that they stayed with nothing but fancy swords into the gun age is a myth.
Everybody with 12 weeks of overpriced "code camp" is a coder now.
If a company actually gets good value out of someone with 12 weeks of training then good for them. It also means the job they are doing isn't particularly difficult or they would be seeking someone with more experience. If you have been coding for 25 years and you can be replaced by someone with 12 weeks of coding then either you aren't very good at you
Factory workers aren't going to become coders (Score:5, Informative)
As automation changes the way factories operate, some U.S. companies are training workers in programming and robotics, letting machinists get a taste of coding.
I run a manufacturing company for my day job. Let me be VERY clear when I say that most factory workers are not well equipped to learn any meaningful amount of programming. This is not to denigrate them but just an honest assessment of their general skill sets. There are exceptions but most will never be particularly good at programming nor do they have much interest in it. Many simply aren't smart enough, particularly the closer you get to the unskilled labor end of the spectrum. The ones that are skilled labor are not likely to be replaced by automation entirely or actually have enough facility with computers already to be useful. (Remember CNC = Computer Numerical Control so a skilled CNC machinist already is working with code)
Coders (Score:2)
We Need More Coder Bootcamps!!! (Score:2)
I do systems engineering work in a development shop. This whole piece just sounds like a request for subsidizing more coder bootcamps. It checks all the boxes...Python, AI, IoT, you name it. All of the coder bootcamps popping up are just like the MCSE and Java bootcamps that popped up in the late 90s. Our workplace is starting to get applicants from these bootcamps. Basically, they lure in people with little to no experience, stuff them with knowledge of 2 or 3 web frameworks and send them off in 18 months
Excellent, the "jobs of the future" (Score:2)
Radwell International, a manufacturing and repair firm based in Willingboro, N.J., identified workers with an aptitude for learning [my emphasis] and decent knowledge of processes and systems and trained them in skills such as programming on Visual Basic to build software tools to handle tasks like purchasing.
Jobs are walking up the IQ curve and leaving millions behind. Those who cannot do these jobs will constitute the growing discontented "under class" of workers who will be very destructive in the future.
sack themselves (Score:2)
and when they've finished writing the code they write their own dismissal letter and then sack themselves
Great (Score:1)
'Identified workers with an aptitude' (Score:1)
communication software (Score:1)