Manufacturing Magazine September 2015 | Page 10

PEOPLE & SKILLS
whether to invest in staff or machines , for many , the latter is becoming the more cost-effective option .”
A trend towards tech investment The research further highlights that current R & D trends are accelerating the development of automatized processes . The number of businesses that invested in technology developments increased from 23 percent in 2011 to 26 percent in 2014 , and will hit a five year high in 2015 as spending increases a further 29 percent .
The question of whether highly creative humans are creating the technology that will make noncreative jobs – yet intelligent jobs – redundant in the near future is still an open question to Perkins , who adds : “ Are robots set to replace the workforce ? That may be premature . Technology has been introduced to the workplace since the industrial revolution and job roles have adapted accordingly . In fact , it ’ s likely the wrong question . We should be asking : ‘ What human capabilities will be most enhanced ?’ Clearly , the rise of artificial intelligence ( AI ), supercomputers and sensors previously the preserve

‘ As more and more R & D is expended on replacing human intelligence with machines , the volume of robots on manufacturing production lines across the globe may soon radically increase ’

10 September 2015