Shriram Ramanathan, Ph.D., Vice President and Group Director, Lux Research, USA, and contributor Miraj Mainali analyse the timeline for lights-out manufacturing processes for the oil and gas industry. Lights-out manufacturing is fully automated and requires no human presence, so that lights and even ventilation can be shut off, hence the term 'lights-out'. While lights-out manufacturing sounds futuristic, the concept has been circulating for a couple of decades now. In fact, many organisations, including IBM, GE, Fanuc, and Philips, have operated several forms of lights-out factories.
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