Our Sites

Improved technology should equate to improved quality of life for welders

Workers deserve to reap the benefits of cobots and other tech advancements in manufacturing

Hands of Robot and Human Touching illustration vector

Anson_iStock / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Walking through FABTECH 2022 in Atlanta, one thing became clear: Automation in fabrication and manufacturing is taking over.

This has been happening for a while, right? It hasn’t always been robots; there was a time over two centuries ago when old-world craftsmen lamented the advent of interchangeable parts in the firearm industry. French gunsmith Honoré Blanc pioneered the concept of using fixtures, gauges, and master models to build standardized musket components, even though they were still made, quite literally, by hand. However, his contemporaries weren’t keen on this development for one big reason: job security. Gunsmiths banked on repairing each weapon as a one-off. If the military could now just replace a worn or faulty component on a large scale versus needing an expert to diagnose and expertly remedy every individual gun, the demand for their highly skilled hands would drop. Thomas Jefferson–then Minister to France–fell in love with the idea and brought it to America and Eli Whitney.

Of course, Whitney is most well-known for the invention of the cotton gin (gin shorthand for engine), which made the laborious and time-consuming process of separating seeds and fibers of short-staple cotton quick and easy. The sad irony here is that despite this “automation” of the trickiest part of making cotton, the crops still needed to be picked by hand. Since this part was done mainly by enslaved people, it “necessitated” a massive increase in cheap slave labor to turn a profit. This morose, intriguing case of automation created a much higher product demand so long as the workforce feeding the automated process labored for little to no wages.

The other irony is that Whitney lost money on his invention as he fought to get it patented and then fought unsuccessfully to defend that patent, forcing a pivot to firearms production.

“It wasn’t until Eli Whitney introduced the idea in the United States that the practice took off,” a 2014 Robohub article said. “He could use a largely unskilled workforce and standardized equipment to produce large numbers of identical gun parts at a low cost within a short time. It also made repair and parts replacement more suitable.”

In 1811, the infamous Luddites etched their place in history. The United Kingdom’s textile industry employed highly skilled workers who made great money, worked from home, and generally enjoyed a decent quality of life up until the early 1800s. But the powers that be decided new high-output, coal-motivated machines operated by a largely untrained and cheap workforce toiling 14-hour days in dangerous factories was a more lucrative option, despite the new clothing’s much, much lower quality.

At this point, labor unions were outlawed in the U.K. And as war, poor farming conditions, and heavy inflation wrecked the working class, the textile workers had enough. They united to protest. One of many misconceptions about the Luddites is that they were anti-technology and anti-machine. This simply wasn’t true: They wanted fair treatment; safe work environments; living wages; and to be allowed to make quality products, with or without advanced machinery. The business owners, conversely, wanted to keep profits at the expense of human capital, and their money and influence led the media and government to side with them. With no legal recourse, the newly formed Luddites masked up, grabbed sledgehammers, stalked the merchants, and destroyed these new machines (most of them, at least). They spared owners who retained skilled workers and paid good wages.

The furious “victims” soon responded with armed security and the full force of the country’s military. Thousands of soldiers took to defending the industrialists and their machines. One owner booby-trapped his factory with a spiked step mechanism and vats of acid intended for Luddites. During another deadly encounter, an owner reportedly said, “I will ride up to my britches in the blood of Luddites!” And yes, Luddites were killed. They retaliated by killing a merchant. Then many more Luddites were killed by guards and uniformed soldiers.

Soon the government passed a law saying it was a CAPITAL OFFENSE to break the machinery. They eventually hung caught Luddites in public squares. A far cry from 200 years before when Queen Elizabeth I denied William Lee a patent for a high-output stocking frame knitting machine because it would put her people out of work:

"Thou aimest high, Master Lee. Consider thou what the invention could do to my poor subjects. It would assuredly bring to them ruin by depriving them of employment, thus making them beggars."

Fast forward 100 years. Ransom E. Olds pioneered the assembly line for his cars, and automotive output skyrocketed. Soon after, Henry Ford improved the concept with the use of conveyors. In 1918, as the U.S. began producing goods for the Allies in World War I, Horace and John Dodge proved to skeptical French officials and tradespeople that they could build their complicated artillery mechanisms much quicker and to more precise tolerances with machines. This way of thinking and action also helped lead the U.S. and its Allies to victory in World War II.

Since its inception, the automotive industry has led the way in automation, eventually employing the first literal robot in 1962 at General Motors, brought to life by engineer George Charles Devol Jr. and “the father of robotics” Joseph Frederick Engelberger. Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, manufacturing robots became more prevalent on factory floors as they evolved in speed, accuracy, and efficiency.

Still, as of now they have their limitations. There remains variability and complexity in the real world. Adaptive intelligence is something man still has over machine. For instance, Elon Musk attempted to create a completely autonomous factory to build the Tesla Model 3, primarily so he didn’t have to deal with a workforce wanting decent pay and fair treatment. It failed miserably, with the car deliveries pushed back as people took the reins and robots collected dust. "Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake," Musk posted in 2018. "Humans are underrated." There is still much that needs to be done by human hands. And in Musk’s case, it cost him a lot of money to come to that conclusion.

To that end, cobots (collaborative robots) were the particular flavor of automation at FABTECH 2022. A robot that is “shown” how to do each task, cobots aim to bridge the gap between a machine's intense and sometimes impossible programming to account for every possible contingency and the wear and tear on a human body doing repetitive tasks.

It is cool to think about technology augmenting a person’s abilities instead of replacing them. Yet, with every step of automation, the workforce loses something. A particular job, a career perfected over many years, a way of life.

Maybe it isn’t as stark or immediate as when the Luddites fought back, but the same pitfalls have occurred over a longer timeline, even with labor laws and unions. As automation investment grows, less goes to labor.

There’s still an absolute need for the human touch. But workers still are left with stagnant wages and receding benefits instead of rewarded for increased productivity and sharing in profits year after year. Modern-day merchants will tell you they reap the rewards because they invest the capital. But how did they afford it? On the backs of a very human workforce. The disparity between the “merchants” and the “croppers” continues to grow.

History proves we can’t stop technology or automation. And nobody wants to this side of the Unabomber. If not for life, nothing else matters. I’m not gonna go all Karl Marx/Rage Against the Machine; I don’t need factory ownership. But improved technology should equate to an improved quality of life for those willing to work for it, not just those who control it.

History also proves we’ll have to fight for it.

Operating a collaborative robot for welding

Cobots (collaborative robots) were the particular flavor of automation at FABTECH 2022.

About the Author
Brown Dog Welding

Josh Welton

Owner, Brown Dog Welding

(586) 258-8255