Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes [W:43]

[DA60]

'In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.

The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones.

The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.

There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.

The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.

The increased production rate hasn't come at the cost of quality either. In fact, quality has improved. Before the robots, the product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.'

Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disappear | Zero Hedge



I am 100% for this.

The ridiculous notion that it is better to let humans do something less efficiently and at higher cost then robots is just that...ridiculous.

And it is also ridiculous to fear that robots will eliminate all human jobs. Fears of high unemployment due to technology have been running around for decades since automation began..and they were as unfounded then as they are now.

Making products cheaply and more efficiently is ALWAYS a good thing for the overall economy AND for humanity.

Hey, if you people want to pay $800 for a $650 smartphone just so it can be made inefficiently and more costly in America...go ahead. I will stick with my Chinese made version that costs $650 thank you - and then spend the $150 I saved on other products/services that employ many other people.

 

[PirateMk1]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

'In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.

The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones.

The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.

There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.

The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.

The increased production rate hasn't come at the cost of quality either. In fact, quality has improved. Before the robots, the product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.'

Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disappear | Zero Hedge



I am 100% for this.

The ridiculous notion that it is better to let humans do something less efficiently and at higher cost then robots is just that...ridiculous.

And it is also ridiculous to fear that robots will eliminate all human jobs. Fears of high unemployment due to technology have been running around for decades since automation began..and they were as unfounded then as they are now.

Making products cheaply and more efficiently is ALWAYS a good thing for the overall economy AND for humanity.

Or do you people want to go back to $2,000 cellphones?

And so it begins. Question is, is anybody ready for it?

 

[brothern]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

And it is also ridiculous to fear that robots will eliminate all human jobs. Fears of high unemployment due to technology have been running around for decades since automation began..and they were as unfounded then as they are now.

Ehhhh ... give it another 50 years. We are still in automation's infancy.

 

[Lovebug]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Where are the robots to purchase the products? Yeah, lets hear it for progress.

 

[Beaudreaux]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the union meeting where they try to come up with a battle plan against this.

Labor is "demanding" it's way right out of existence.

 

[Chomsky]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

So why isn't this happening in America?

Or, is it?

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Higher unemployment (or a lower workforce participation rate) often results in less demand for products/services, in addition to the need for more income redistribution. The automation of production, using 10% (or less) of the prior workforce, may be seen as progress only if those displaced workers can support themselves (and their dependents) in another productive manner. Increasing the number of idle folks is not a benefit to society - society benefits only if they have some other means of being productive. Making more widgets is a benefit only if the demand for those widgets also increases.

 

[mnicholson2]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Higher unemployment (or a lower workforce participation rate) often results in less demand for products/services, in addition to the need for more income redistribution. The automation of production, using 10% (or less) of the prior workforce, may be seen as progress only if those displaced workers can support themselves (and their dependents) in another productive manner. Increasing the number of idle folks is not a benefit to society - society benefits only if they have some other means of being productive. Making more widgets is a benefit only if the demand for those widgets also increases.

Your correct and what the author of this post doesn't thank into account there many goods that are cheap to make and yet their prices are extremely high.
Supply and demand didn't cross his mind when saying:

"Hey, if you people want to pay $800 for a $650 smartphone just so it can be made inefficiently and more costly in America...go ahead. I will stick with my Chinese made version that costs $650 thank you - and then spend the $150 I saved on other products/services that employ many other people"

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Higher unemployment (or a lower workforce participation rate) often results in less demand for products/services, in addition to the need for more income redistribution. The automation of production, using 10% (or less) of the prior workforce, may be seen as progress only if those displaced workers can support themselves (and their dependents) in another productive manner. Increasing the number of idle folks is not a benefit to society - society benefits only if they have some other means of being productive. Making more widgets is a benefit only if the demand for those widgets also increases.

It is nothing to do with making more widgets. It is making those widgets more productively, more efficiently.

Are you seriously suggesting that it is better for an economy to make it's goods less productively, less efficiently? So that a product costs more but does the exact same task?

When you make a product cheaper, then the people that buy that product have more money to spend on other products/services which employ more people (not everything can be automated). Plus, those people have a higher standard of living because they can own more goods and/or better goods for the same amount of money.

I have no idea how people can honestly believe that the key to low unemployment is production inefficiency...it makes no sense except in the most simplistic and fear driven manner - no offense.

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Your correct and what the author of this post doesn't thank into account there many goods that are cheap to make and yet their prices are extremely high.
Supply and demand didn't cross his mind when saying:

"Hey, if you people want to pay $800 for a $650 smartphone just so it can be made inefficiently and more costly in America...go ahead. I will stick with my Chinese made version that costs $650 thank you - and then spend the $150 I saved on other products/services that employ many other people"

What? That makes no sense (I knew I would see a lot of these posts when I started this thread).

It was an example that can refer to anything.

Why do you think America manufactures ZERO smartphones now? Because she cannot do it efficiently enough to sell. And why can they not sell? Because consumers are not morons...they demand the best products for the cheapest price.

Are you saying you would buy a $500 smart phone that was American made if you could get the EXACT same model for $400 that was made in China? If your answer is yes, then you are in the VAST minority.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

It is nothing to do with making more widgets. It is making those widgets more productively, more efficiently.

Are you seriously suggesting that it is better for an economy to make it's goods less productively, less efficiently? So that a product costs more but does the exact same task?

When you make a product cheaper, then the people that buy that product have more money to spend on other products/services which employ more people (not everything can be automated). Plus, those people have a higher standard of living because they can own more goods and/or better goods for the same amount of money.

I have no idea how people can honestly believe that the key to low unemployment is production inefficiency...it makes no sense except in the most simplistic and fear driven manner - no offense.

I saw nothing in the OP that stated that the items produced were now offered for sale at a lower price.

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

I saw nothing in the OP that stated that the items produced were now offered for sale at a lower price.

Fair enough.

But do you honestly believe they will continue to run this factory on mostly automation if it is not more cost effective?

Would anyone?

Obviously, the point is that automation lowers costs or NO ONE would instigate it...especially so considering the huge equipment costs to do so.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

What? That makes no sense (I knew I would see a lot of these posts when I started this thread).

It was an example that can refer to anything.

Why do you think America manufactures ZERO smartphones now? Because she cannot do it efficiently enough to sell. And why can they not sell? Because consumers are not morons...they demand the best products for the cheapest price.

Are you saying you would buy a $500 smart phone that was American made if you could get the EXACT same model for $400 that was made in China? If your answer is yes, then you are in the VAST minority.

More than labor costs must be taken into account. US environmental/worker safety regulations and tax rates also increase production overhead costs. Since US labor rates now include at least SS/Medicare "matching contributions" and employer provided "affordable" health care then that alone puts the Chinese widget maker at a competitive advantage - robots or no robots.

 

[DDD]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

And so it begins. Question is, is anybody ready for it?

As long as depending on money for access is somehow replaced with another new option, I am all for that.

 

[Grant]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

So why isn't this happening in America?

Or, is it?

New minimum wage laws should hurry the process along.

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

More than labor costs must be taken into account. US environmental/worker safety regulations and tax rates also increase production overhead costs. Since US labor rates now include at least SS/Medicare "matching contributions" and employer provided "affordable" health care then that alone puts the Chinese widget maker at a competitive advantage - robots or no robots.

It is still labor costs...what difference does it make why labor costs or so high (the manufacturers sure don't care - they just want to make 'em cheaper)? And I guarantee you the biggest single reason is the hourly wages of the workers...though the others are factors.

And besides, most of those factors would be reduced/eliminated were the production lines automated....so that makes automation even more attractive.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Fair enough.

But do you honestly believe they will continue to run this factory on mostly automation if it is not more cost effective?

Would anyone?

Obviously, the point is that automation lowers costs or NO ONE would instigate it...especially so considering the huge equipment costs to do so.

Lower production costs can also be used simply to generate higher profit. Perhaps that "huge equipment cost" justifies keeping the price the same or even increasing it - we did not see US automobiles drop in price when automation greatly reduced the number of workers required to make them.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

I saw nothing in the OP that stated that the items produced were now offered for sale at a lower price.

At the end user, it would depend on who the company sold the parts to

Apple the price would not be lower, but at Xiaomi or Micromax, which focus on selling phones at low cost, it very well could

 

[Grant]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Lower production costs can also be used simply to generate higher profit. Perhaps that "huge equipment cost" justifies keeping the price the same or even increasing it - we did not see US automobiles drop in price when automation greatly reduced the number of workers required to make them.

Quite right.

A drop in the cost of production will not necessarily be reflected in the marketplace until other companies begin competing using similar methods. Until then they will make a more reliable product which might actually allow them to charge more and thereby increase their profit margins..

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

It is nothing to do with making more widgets. It is making those widgets more productively, more efficiently.

Are you seriously suggesting that it is better for an economy to make it's goods less productively, less efficiently? So that a product costs more but does the exact same task?

e.

Yes, because a shrinking number of consumers making less money will buy less junk which will lead to higher prices anyway.

Automation in an era of AI means no job is safe and they can be displaced many times faster then created

Which can lead to labor violence, high crime, vandalism, etc which will end up costing the government more money then the big businesses will save

An example of privatizing the profit and socializing the cost

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Lower production costs can also be used simply to generate higher profit. Perhaps that "huge equipment cost" justifies keeping the price the same or even increasing it - we did not see US automobiles drop in price when automation greatly reduced the number of workers required to make them.

That argument can go for any product no matter how it is made. The companies involved could get together in secret and promise to not undercut each other so they can keep more profit. But they don't because they have to answer to shareholders...who demand the value of the company (and the stock) keeps rising and this guarantees that greedy owners cannot horde profit in the vast majority of cases. They are forced to put their profits back into the company to keep the value of said company growing.
In business, you stand still...you die.

And automobiles are FAR more more efficient and better equipped now per dollar then they were 40 years ago because of free market competition.

Competition will drive each company to make their products better and cheaper...that is a never ending process.

Look at computers, smart phones, cars, MP3 players...almost anything. They are all far better for the same price because of free market competition. And automation is just another innovation to make product manufacture more efficient and give the companies a greater edge on the competition.

 

[DA60]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Yes, because a shrinking number of consumers making less money will buy less junk which will lead to higher prices anyway.

Automation in an era of AI means no job is safe and they can be displaced many times faster then created

Which can lead to labor violence, high crime, vandalism, etc which will end up costing the government more money then the big businesses will save

An example of privatizing the profit and socializing the cost

You say automation means higher unemployment. I say it doesn't.

And since automation is inevitable...we will see in time who was right.


Good day.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

It is still labor costs...what difference does it make why labor costs or so high (the manufacturers sure don't care - they just want to make 'em cheaper)? And I guarantee you the biggest single reason is the hourly wages of the workers...though the others are factors.

And besides, most of those factors would be reduced/eliminated were the production lines automated....so that makes automation even more attractive.

Maybe. If I can pay 12 workers $7.50/hr or pay one worker $75/hr to run/maintain my robot (that also cost me a bunch, up front, to buy) then I may or may not be better off. If my taxes get increased to help support the now unemployed workers, or those pesky labor groups organize a boycott of my products, then that too must be considered.

 

[Captain Adverse]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

You say automation means higher unemployment. I say it doesn't.

And since automation is inevitable...we will see in time who was right.


Good day.

How can you honestly say that when historically, that is exactly what happens each time a method of production becomes totally automated?

Everyone who used to do the job is now out of work. Because automation is more cost effective in the long run, more and more producers will engage in it reducing employment even further.

Ultimately ALL production will be automated leaving only work for those maintaining systems and developing "more efficient" systems. That is a mere fraction of the workforce which is growing exponentially as our population explodes.

What is the point of producing more and better products if no one has any income to pay for them? Or are you advocating first steps to "Utopia" where no one has to work, everyone gets everything for free, and we can all be fat lazy slugs sitting around doing nothing but eating, sleeping and breeding?

 

[Chomsky]

Re: Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disa

Your correct and what the author of this post doesn't thank into account there many goods that are cheap to make and yet their prices are extremely high.
Supply and demand didn't cross his mind when saying:

"Hey, if you people want to pay $800 for a $650 smartphone just so it can be made inefficiently and more costly in America...go ahead. I will stick with my Chinese made version that costs $650 thank you - and then spend the $150 I saved on other products/services that employ many other people"

What? That makes no sense (I knew I would see a lot of these posts when I started this thread).

It was an example that can refer to anything.

Why do you think America manufactures ZERO smartphones now? Because she cannot do it efficiently enough to sell. And why can they not sell? Because consumers are not morons...they demand the best products for the cheapest price.

Are you saying you would buy a $500 smart phone that was American made if you could get the EXACT same model for $400 that was made in China? If your answer is yes, then you are in the VAST minority.

I saw nothing in the OP that stated that the items produced were now offered for sale at a lower price.

Fair enough.

But do you honestly believe they will continue to run this factory on mostly automation if it is not more cost effective?

Would anyone?

Obviously, the point is that automation lowers costs or NO ONE would instigate it...especially so considering the huge equipment costs to do so.

IMO, mnicholson2 & ttwtt78640 are correct (technically) in this specific instance: The market value of a good is independent of it's production cost. If it costs you $800 to manufacture a phone the market values at $650, you lose. Conversely, if you can make it for $500, you win.

But this specific more competitive firm will likely lower the selling cost slightly (if able) in order to attain a level of increased market penetration allowing it to maximize profits.

The above applies to this specific individual instance of one entity with a technological advantage; DA60 is right, in that as this technology spreads across the industry, the market cost for the phone will come down due to competitive aspects (barring any outside forces to free-market competition).