Fighting the fear of new technology in the manufacturing shop

Advanced technology doesn't have to mean the end of your job. It's an opportunity to do more and take on new duties. The key is that the individual has to step forward and embrace the new challenge. chang/E+

New technologies often change the nature of our work. Employees who accept this fact are more likely to adapt to new technologies and shape how technology supports them.

I recently watched the movie “Desk Set,” filmed in 1957 and starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. It’s a romantic comedy, but a computer plays a significant part in the plot. The movie was partially supported by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), and in a very early example of product placement, IBM used the movie as a light comedic tool to address growing angst about computers replacing people in the workforce.

The story takes place in a TV station’s reference department, where Hepburn manages workers who research facts and answer questions submitted by viewers. Tracy is a computer expert looking to install computers to help the department. Hepburn and her staff are obviously concerned about being replaced by the new technology.

Through a series of mishaps, a human resource computer fires everyone, including the company president, and the research computer gets overwhelmed and spits cards all over the room. But in the end, everyone retains their jobs and accepts the computer as a tool to supplement their research.

That angst over losing jobs to technology hasn’t gone away.

Taking Action Against Angst

A recent study found that technology does displace jobs. However, when managers discover the limitations of new technologies, some of those jobs are reinstated. Also, technology can create new jobs for those willing to learn and accept new skill sets. The World Economic Forum estimates that technology will create as many as 12 million more jobs than it destroys by 2025.

The key for individuals to retain and increase their value is to learn how they can use technology to supplement their jobs. Also, employees at all levels will need skills to manage the quality and integrity of collected data to prevent poor and dangerous decisions.

Learning to Work With Technology

Employees can take specific actions to help transition to new technology and ensure its appropriate use.

Define the Full Scope of Your Job. Not everybody does only repetitive work all day. Most of us do things that aren’t in our formal job descriptions but contribute to production quality and efficient operation. Perhaps you mentor other employees. Or maybe you’re a machine operator who notices changes in machine condition before the maintenance personnel do. You make many decisions on a daily basis that affect operations, maintenance, safety, and productivity. How can you use technology to supplement all the aspects of your job?

Learn About New Technology. Knowing the capabilities, risks, and limitations of emerging technologies can help you be an effective contributor to technology products and could provide you with alternative job opportunities.

Understand Your Data and Its Roots. You help generate data each day at work. To understand that data, you must understand machine properties and states, material properties, and all the other variables that influence your success. You should be able to contribute your ideas and opinions on decisions that affect that data.

Managing the Data

Cathy O’Neil and Stephanie Hare each wrote enlightening books—“Weapons of Math Destruction” and “Technology Is Not Neutral,” respectively—about the biases and risks of blindly accepting data as sacred. In IT, we used to joke that if something was printed on a laser printer, it had to be the truth. In fact, your previous decisions, both good and bad, are baked into your data. Workers must be able to recognize those elements of data that may lead their analysis in the wrong direction.

Check in on your data occasionally. You absolutely must know where your data is going, who has access to it, and how changes are made. An informed workforce is the first and best control over misuse and misinterpretation of data. Unexpected trends and unusual and frequent outliers can indicate that something is awry outside of purely operational anomalies.

My February article explained that managers must communicate with employees. But employees also must take responsibility to learn and adapt to new technologies. Angst is a common by-product of new technologies. If you’re willing to turn that energy into something positive and proactive, you will do well as manufacturing continues to evolve.