Discussion on impact of emerging technologies on employment and significance of Robots and

A 1.1
its adaptation

The list of new technologies grows every day. Robots, augmented reality,
algorithms, machine-to-machine communications, 3-D printing, and
autonomous vehicles help people with a range of different tasks. These
technologies are broad-based in their scope and significant in their ability to
transform existing businesses and personal lives. Technology is becoming much
more sophisticated and this is having a substantial impact on the workforce.

Toyota’s aversion toward automation is noteworthy for the obvious

reason that the automaker is arguably one of the most creative and
successful manufacturing companies in history, and has never followed
the herd but rather set the course. However, beyond that, also worth
examining more closely is the question raised by Toyota’s choice of
direction: Do robots kill jobs or create them? Toyota, of course, would
argue that while some manufacturers eagerly embrace automation and
more will in the future, on a larger scale (and ironically in the more
innovative and pioneering factories) robots are best used to precipitate
more human plant activity rather than reduce it.

Recent analyses of employment data support this somewhat contrarian

point of view. In one bit of research, James Bessen, a Boston College law
professor, found that although automation has been increasingly
prevalent in all types of services and manufacturing industries since 1950,
in that time only one of 270 occupations categorized by the Census
Bureau was eliminated by technology; namely, the elevator operator.
Other jobs were partially automated and in many cases, automation led to
more jobs, often higher-skilled positions at companies that used
technology to design and develop new products and new ways to reach
customers.
 Figure 1 Impact on workforce in Toyota

In addition, historically there is a direct correlation between

productivity growth, which robots should naturally contribute to, and
job creation not explained by population gains. ITIF found that in the
1960s, when U.S. productivity grew 3.1% per year, unemployment
averaged 4.9%. [JR1] A couple of decades later, annual productivity
growth had fallen to just under 2% and unemployment rates
averaged 7.3%. And in the 1990s and early 2000s in the wake of the
internet boom, annual productivity growth was nearly 3% again; in
turn, the unemployment rate declined. From 2008 to 2015,
productivity gains had ticked downward once more to only 1.2%;
concomitantly, the rate of jobs creation has been sluggish compared
to the pre-recession period.

Case/scenario where Robots have replaced the workforce and discuss the challenges of Artificial
Intelligence and Robotics

Toyota, the Japanese industry giant, has recently invested, it’s clear the company
is preparing to remain relevant and competitive in the 4th industrial revolution as a
result of its investments and innovation in artificial intelligence, big data and
robots. With initial funding of $100 million, Toyota AI Ventures invests in tech
start-ups and entrepreneurs around the world that are committed to autonomous
mobility, data and robotics. Toyota’s investments help accelerate getting critical
new technologies to market. One of the organization’s investments is in May
Mobility, a company that is developing self-driving shuttles for college campuses
and other areas such as central business districts where low-speed applications
are warranted. This is just one of the services that could blaze a trail to fully
autonomous vehicles of the future. Additionally, Silicon-based Toyota AI
Ventures contributed funding as well as mentorship, incubation facilities and
validation to Nauto, a company that’s creating a shared data platform to
prevent accidents caused by distracted driving; SLAMcore, a visual tracking and
mapping algorithm developer for smart tech; Intuition Robotics, an
organization that creates social companion technologies that are accessible
and intuitive for seniors; Boxbot, a company that’s building self-driving delivery
robots; and more. Like many disruptors, Toyota AI Ventures seeks out other
innovators to tackle important challenges to propel the latest technologies.
Innovation has always been omnipresent at Toyota from its earliest days and
it’s clear the company is continuing that innovative tradition. While Toyota was
originally a company that produced wooden hand looms, the majority of
people know the company for its automobile division.

Their aim is to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to make “cars an object

of affection again” as soon as 2020 and is investing $1 billion in self-driving cars
and AI between now and then to achieve it. Through Toyota’s investments in
tech start-ups such as Perceptive Automata it hopes to create the technology
to allow autonomous vehicles more human-like intuition when they are on the
road more similar to how human drivers interact with pedestrians.

Toyota’s Concept-i fully electric autonomous vehicles demonstrate the

company’s “Learn, Protect, Inspire” philosophy. The Concept-i artificial
intelligence system, nicknamed “Yui,” learns about its driver by listening to
conversations, monitoring social media activity and schedules, and analysing
facial expressions and driving habits to sense when a driver might be sleepy or
stressed or what might enhance the driver’s comfort and then adjusts lighting,
music or to the seats accordingly. The full vision is “intelligent talking cars”
where cars equipped with AI can have conversations back and forth with
passengers. Toyota also announced the Concept-i Ride for users with
wheelchairs or other disabilities and the Concept-i Walk, that’s designed for
pedestrians to use on sidewalks similar to a Segway. Both additions to the
Concept-i product line feature the same sensing abilities as the Concept-i
vehicle. In an effort to bring AI efficiency to ridesharing, Toyota has
collaborated with Japan Taxi to test out its new AI-propelled taxi dispatch
system. Not only does the company expect to enhance Tokyo’s taxi service,
company leaders believe the driving data and real-time video will be
instrumental in boosting efficiency and profits.
Elucidation of the rationale for choosing the company and discussion of various
challenges faced by selected company, which motivated them to migrate to a single
platform MIS/ERP and relate the success of selected company to chosen MIS/ERP

Alcoa Corporation (a portmanteau of Aluminum Company of America) is an

American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth largest producer
of aluminum, with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Alcoa
conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary
aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina combined, through its active and
growing participation in all major aspects of the industry: technology, mining,
refining, smelting, fabricating, and recycling. The Australian operations
represent one of the world’s largest integrated bauxite mining, alumina
refining and aluminum smelting systems and add value to Australia’s local,
state and national economies at every stage. I have taken this company due to
one of the largest bauxite mining portfolios worldwide, An attractive global
alumina refining system ,Optimized aluminum smelting network ,Innovative
cast products network ,Flexible energy portfolio, Maximizing synergies
between can sheet and other Alcoa markets. Even, this company has
successful ERP IMPLEMENTATIONS that why I chose the aluminum company.
Identifying the challenges in ERP implementation in the chosen
company
In order to increase its productivity and compete favourably, any company has
to implement an elaborate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Failure
to do this will lead into a weak company without high possibilities of attained
stipulated short-term and long-term goals. By definition, an ERP system helps
consolidate enterprise information and control all business processes in an
organization. Implementing an ERP successfully is not that simple. Its success
or failure is depended on a variety of factors hence starting the process
without an elaborate plan makes you vulnerable to a great number of snares
along the way (Vinatoru & Calota, 2014). Since an ERP focuses on integration
and management, the company stands a better chance at making resource
usage and distribution more elaborate and timely. This will in turn increase the
company's reputation, and hence, competitive edge in the market. Despite the
fact this is a plausible reason as to why a company should adopt an ERP
solution, most of the companies that use the system made the move due to a
variety of other different reasons. This included

1. Business needs like the need to cut down on inventory costs, improve on
order management and establish a transparent pricing policy for the sake of
clients and employees

2. Technical issues like the need for one system that will handle the entire
business process and replace multiple systems that have proven ineffective at
the job.

3. A mix of the above mentioned factors whose result is constraining the

company's profit margins.

With an ERP, a company can store its information and automate all its
functional domains. This, however, does not mean that all ERP
implementations are successful.

Causes of ERP Failure

According to statistics more than half of all launched ERP projects fail. This is a
concerning 60 % of failures in all tested implementations. The fact that failure
is relative could however make things look better. A good example of a
number of criteria options that could define failure include:

Functional Requirement Failures

This will happen when the client does not find the functionalities needed in the
system. This could lead to re-engineering or change of the system as a whole.
Regardless of the solution taken, this will lead to an increase in cost, drop in
quality and increased time to delivery. To avoid this, developers ought to
investigate all the requirements adequately before implementing the solution.
Using prototyping tools like use-cases and JAD would reduce on errors (Ghosh,
2012).

Management's Divided Attention

Even though the management is the one that solicits for the ERP management,
there are instances where their lack of dedication leads to the project's failure.
In most cases, the managers are not aware of the project's scope hence they
do not know how much they are subscribing to without enough commitment,
the ERP is definitely bound to fail. In most cases, the top-level managers will
delegate responsibilities to the low-level managers. Even though this is a
management strategy, it will more often than not slow down the
implementation process. The most success will only be realized if a top-level
manager willing to commit to its success (Ghosh, 2012) spearheads the project.

Insufficient Training

Every ERP user must be adequately trained before rolling out the system. They
need to be aware of its capabilities and understand how to leverage these
powers to make their work easier. This will ensure that each employee
understands his or her responsibility in working well and delivering in a timely
manner since the ERP focuses on the success of each individual for everything
to run efficiently (Ghosh, 2012).

Improper Package Selection

In the modern day market, finding an ERP package in the market is not hard.
You could either purchase a complete system of the shelf or buy packages to
constitute your own system. Even though this is cheaper, you stand at risk of
choosing a package that does not meet all your needs as a company. This could
be due to lack of technical information or a mere misunderstanding of your
requirements (Ghosh, 2012).

Underestimations

This applies to the time and effort needed to bring the project to completion. If
the estimated completion date is passed, the business might have to incur an
extra cost or perhaps loose on productivity and customer trust since things will
not be going as planned. It is better to do an overestimation than an
underestimation (Ghosh, 2012).

Incompatibility

An ERP that does not fit to your current business process is worthless. It will
either force the company to change its way of operation or cause gaps that
could lead to poor synchrony in tasks and work processes. This results from
assumptions and a poor understanding of the business ' core operations
(Ghosh, 2012).
Companies Succeeding in Implementing ERPs

Alcoa

Alcoa is an aluminum company founded in the 1880s. It is currently the world's

biggest electrolytic aluminum, aluminum oxide and related products producer.
It is also an active participant in aluminum recycling and reuse. Its products
include aluminum wheels, body sheets, household membranes etc. And are
used in aerospace, packaging, building and the commercial transport or
industrial plans (Profile, 2011). The company started its first ERP
implementation efforts in 2001. Currently, it runs a couple of successful
modules with the most notable being in its financial, Order to Cash (OTC),
Requisition to Pay (RTP) and human resource management departments. Since
it is a worldwide company, implementing the system took quite some time and
effort. The company's first 50 branches in Europe reported increases in
efficiency and productivity once the system was properly introduced and in use
(Profile, 2011). The company now runs the ERP in other countries like North
America, Australia, Asia and South America.

Lesson Learnt

Correct implementation of ERP is crucial for success in business. The OTC

system at Alcoa has been very successful because ERP management has been
given priority by the company. Without it, the company could not have
witnessed success in all the realms that the company operates in.

How to do it better

Despite the fact the ERP implementation at Alcoa has been characterized by
notable success, the company should have accelerated its implementation
process to ensure that the duration taken to get the returns was minimized.

Warning Signs
For Alcoa, the correct use of ERP has allowed it to manage its platforms such
that any possible warnings relating to failures have been covered up