The concept of automation is a dynamic development process. In the past, people's understanding of automation or the functional goal of automation was to replace human operations with mechanical movements and to automate specific tasks. This is essentially the idea that automation replaces human labor. Later with the development of electronic and information technology, especially with the emergence of computer and wide application, the concept of automation has been extended to machine (including computer) not only for people's physical labor but also for or auxiliary mental Labour, to automatically complete a particular job.

Automation of generalized connotation at least include the following: in terms of form, manufacturing automation has three aspects of meanings: instead of manual labor, replace or auxiliary mental Labour, manufacturing system in human-computer and coordination, management, control and optimization of the whole system. In terms of function, automatic replacement of human manual labor or mental work is only part of the automatic functional target system. The functional objectives of automation are multifaceted and have formed an organic system. In terms of scope, manufacturing automation involves not only specific manufacturing processes, but all processes involved in the product life cycle.