There are various automated robotics and AI powered machineries that help bring out efficient and improved productivity in manufacturing. But let me say this, manual machining remains essential, despite the advancing technology.
Manual machining provides various results that an automated machine can hardly ever, as of now. It offers greater flexibility and customization that automated procedures cannot. Manual machining is a highly precisive skill which is crucial to certain tasks.
On a side note, manual machining is more cost effective than automated machining, thus widely used in smaller productions. Smaller businesses might not be able to invest in the heavy automated equipment and therefore prefer to lean more towards manual machining equipment.
Due to its highly flexible nature machinists are able to adapt quickly to changes in design or troubleshooting a problem. This makes manual machining a key skill for problem solving, much like the ‘treat it with some ice’ trick. It is a manual machining technique to some extent in the relative form of quenching.
Even though automated machinery has helped manual machining by reducing the greater workload, the essentiality remains. It is an important part of many engineering programs. Helping students gain a solid foundation of machining principles and techniques, which can be implemented to automated and manual machining alike.
