Definition of: automation

(ô′tə·mā′shən) noun Technol.
1. The automatic transfer of one unit of a complex industrial assembly to a succession of self-acting machines each of which completes a specified stage in the total manufacturing process from crude material to finished product.
2. The application of fully automatic procedures in the efficient performance and control of operations involving a sequence of complex, standardized, or repetitive processes on a large scale.
3. The theory, art, and technique of converting a mechanical process to maximum automatic operation, especially by the use of electronic control mechanisms and electronic computers for the rapid organizing and processing of data in a wide range of technical, industrial, and business information. [ < AUTOM(ATIC) + (OPER)ATION]