Automation
Topic: Production Function, Returns and Costs · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 7 "Factors of Production"; Class 9, Ch 8 "Building Blocks in Economics: The Problem of Choice"
Meaning
Automation is the use of machines, computers or software to do tasks with little or no human input. It replaces labour. Firms adopt it when machines become affordable, or when labour becomes costly or hard to find. Automation moves production towards capital-intensive methods, which use more machines and fewer workers. This raises a key policy question for a country with many workers, like India: automation and AI vs jobs.
Example
Farm mechanisation reduces how much farmers depend on hired labour. Other examples are 3-D printing that makes handloom-style products at large scale, robots in factories, and AI tools that do office work.
Don't confuse with
- Technology improvement: better technology raises the maximum output from any input mix, which gives a new production function. Automation is about replacing workers with machines. It need not raise the output possible from a given input mix.