US industries have historically led in the adoption of advanced automation, all the way back to the first Unimate installed in a New Jersey diecasting plant in 1961. Today, automation has come to describe a broad spectrum of technologies, from smart sensors to autonomously guided vehicles, and until now no single trade association has emerged to represent the US industry as a whole. This has changed with the amalgamation of four industry groups into the Association for Advancing Automation, or A3. With Asian and European firms rapidly deploying advanced automation in multiple industries, the pressure is on for US firms to innovate on an equal level, or risk being left behind. A3 president Jeff Burnstein discusses the new Association, and the prospects for advanced automation in American industry.
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