Apple manufacturer Foxconn has been talking about investing in robots for years now, but apparently it’s finally done it — replacing more than half of the employees at one of its factories with machines.
“The Foxconn factory has reduced its employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000, thanks to the introduction of robots,” said a government official, adding that “it has tasted success in reduction of labour costs” and that more companies are now likely to follow suit.
The factory in question is based in manufacturing-heavy hub Kunshun, although it is likely that the strategy will be employed elsewhere too. Back in August 2011, Foxconn chairman Terry Gou said he wanted to replace 500,000 factory employees with robots for carrying out “simple work.” Today’s report doesn’t explicitly mention which devices are built by the robots, but Foxconn has long since worked as one of Apple’s leading iPhone and iPad suppliers — with the former helping drive it to record-breaking revenues.
Personally I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, Foxconn has frequently been lambasted for its poor worker conditions; most notoriously being the company which erected suicide nets at its factories due to worker suicides. Replacing humans with robots is surely one of the more moral uses of robots here in 2016.
On the other, automating production is likely to drive (human) employee wages down even lower, which certainly doesn’t bode well for the thousands of people who rely on companies like Foxconn to earn a living.
Where do you stand on the automated production of devices and Foxconn’s robot army? Leave your comments below.
Source: SCMP
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
19 responses to “iPhone maker replaces half its factory workers with robots”
I think this has a lot of advantages for FoxConn and Apple if indeed the robots will be used for menial tasks for the company. Hopefully it will allow the warehouse to focus on greater QA and testing initiatives. Sadly the community surrounding will feel the change more so than the consumer.
The testing will be done by robots and yes, communities will suffer terribly.
to much unemployment those days… wondering who will still use humans some year later and how the money will flow… fuck robots
It’s amazing that this doesn’t come up in any political debates. Apparently at the rate things are moving, 75% of today’s jobs held by human beings will be done by robots, and use AI and other forms of technology. And it isn’t going to be limited to factory jobs or burger flipping workers at all.
But we do no planning in advance for what may well be a tsunami of unemployment.
Get used to the robots. They’re being used more and more with growing success rates. Sure beats the cost of human labor and cancerous unions! Screw that ridiculous minimum wage nonsense!
Get used to unemployment
That’s what you get. People whine and complain about poor wages and conditions and now they are replaced. Can’t have your cake and eat it too. Unfortunately this the world we live in.
The question remains, if they are using robots; can we not do the same in North America? invest locally rather than in a totalitarian regime.
Love to hear Tim Cook’s explanation of what he is doing. Apparently Germany is reeling in jobs they were doing overseas and while it involves a huge investment in technology they believe that prices will go down 20%. Problem of course is, who is going to have the money to buy things other than that one percent.
Don’t worry about that growing market… there are PLENTY of buyers out here! Tim Cook is a business oriented guy who answer’s to his shareholders. His goal is to make money, not employ the world’s poor!
Tim is still attempting to woo the asian and south asian market, but is failing badly.. as they said repeatedly.. they come first and so do their products- he just doesnt get it.
I honestly can’t figure him out. I realize he has a financial background but he seems to be sort of a unicorn child and is lacking just basic common sense. I wonder if he even reads the news.
He needs to retrench in the US for many reasons and yet he views third world nations as the savior of a cadillac-bentley sort of product line. Things are going to be tough everywhere but that was an American made company and that he never has understood. Given the nature of the technocratic world he just never considers the US as the company’s home and seeks dollars from peasants rather than trying to help float the US boat. There is a way to do both but the obvious thing to do right now is reel that business back in the way Germany is doing with its manufacturing businesses.
Jobs though often difficult to deal with, was the right man for that particular job and it is going to take serious search to try again to replace him with a man with a more balanced vision and one who sees Apple as part of US defense.
China watch out.
LOL!!!
China and Japan are the leaders of this movement
Japan yes.
China, not so much.
It’s Foxconn in China that just unloaded 70K workers who are being replaced by robots. I agree that Japan has spread the use of new technology much further and it seems to be in every nook and cranny of their society. My favorite is that hotel they have that is completely staffed and run by robots. Not one single human being involved!
Might be smart and nice to plant some of that robotic and AI technology in the US. Germany is bringing back its now higher tech manufacturing to Germany. Why are we so dumb?
The company is in business to make money for it’s shareholders which in turn allows the manufacture of the finest hardware on the market at the best price, which also grows market share. This is how business spell success. If robots are more efficient then human labor then buy more robots!
Not going to be all that many consumers left when the dust settles.