ABSTRACT
Traditionally, human work was of the handicraft type engaged in by workers using only the very simplest of tools. Normally, whole handicraft items were produced by the work of one person from beginning to end. This traditional approach to the organisation of the work process began to change during the industrial revolution. Industrialisation brought large and complex machines into the workplace, though these were initially only used to augment the available power-workers were still operating manufacturing machinery by hand. Perhaps the largest change occurred in the organisation of work. Instead of a single worker making the whole or a major part of a product, the task was broken down into several smaller processes each carried out by a different worker. Figure 1.1 shows the development of the human role in the different stages of automation. In Figure 1.1a there is direct human control without automation, whilst in Figure 1.1b a low level of automation has been introduced. In Figure 1.1c a control computer is used to coordinate the different local control devices, and Figure 1.1d is the most advanced control system, based on integrated communication between a large number of small computers.
