Ondrej Holzman Foxconn, a Chinese supplier of components for products such as Apple and Samsung, has been working on deploying robots in its production lines for several years. Now he has carried out probably the largest action of this kind to date, when he replaced sixty thousand workers with robots.
According to government officials, Foxconn has reduced the number of employees in one of its factories from 110 to 50, and it is likely that other companies in the region will sooner or later follow suit. China is investing heavily in the robotic workforce.
However, according to the statement of Foxconn Technology Group, the deployment of robots should not lead to long-term job losses. Although robots will now perform many production tasks instead of humans, it will be, at least for now, mainly easier and repetitive activities.
This, in turn, will allow Foxconn employees to focus on higher value-added tasks such as research or development, production or quality control. The Chinese giant, which supplies a significant part of components for iPhones, thus continues to plan to connect automation with a regular workforce, which it intends to retain in large part.
However, the question remains how the situation will develop in the future. According to some economists, this automation of production processes will necessarily lead to the loss of jobs; in the next twenty years, according to a report by consultants Deloitte in cooperation with Oxford University, up to 35 percent of jobs will be at risk.
In Tungguan, China's Guangdong province alone, 2014 factories have invested £505m, which is more than £430bn, in robots to replace thousands of workers since September 15.
In addition, the implementation of robots may not be important only for the development of the Chinese market. The deployment of robots and other innovative production technologies can help transfer the production of all kinds of products outside of China and other similar markets, where they are mainly produced due to very cheap labor. The proof is, for example, Adidas, which announced that next year it will start producing its shoes in Germany again after more than twenty years.
Also, the German sportswear manufacturer, like most other companies, moved its production to Asia in order to reduce production costs. But thanks to the robots, it will be able to reopen the factory in Germany in 2017. While in Asia shoes are still mainly made by hand, in the new factory most will be automated and therefore faster and also closer to retail chains.
In the future, Adidas also plans to build similar factories in the United States, Great Britain or France, and it can be expected that as automated production becomes more and more accessible, both in terms of implementation and subsequent operation, other companies will follow suit. Production could thus begin to gradually move from Asia back to Europe or the United States, but that is a question of the next decades, not a few years.
Adidas also confirms that it certainly has no ambition to replace its Asian suppliers for the time being, nor does it plan to completely automate its factories, but it is clear that such a trend has already begun, and we will see how quickly robots can replace human skill.
