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It appears likely that the main technical barriers to automation of most medium-batch manufacturing will be overcome in this decade. Rapid progress in the development of computer-aided manufacturing in all industrialized countries almost certainly will lead to the construction of a prototype fully automated factory sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s. However, it remains unclear to what extent industries will apply this potential for automation, especially in the United States.
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Eric J. Lerner (1981) studied this question.
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