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posted by janrinok on Monday January 02 2017, @11:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the employees-will-now-lead-lives-of-leisure dept.

Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer of Apple's iPhones and other electronic devices, aims to replace human workers with "FoxBots" and achieve nearly full automation of entire factories:

The slow and steady march of manufacturing automation has been in place at Foxconn for years. The company said last year that it had set a benchmark of 30 percent automation at its Chinese factories by 2020. The company can now produce around 10,000 Foxbots a year, Jia-peng says, all of which can be used to replace human labor. In March, Foxconn said it had automated away 60,000 jobs at one of its factories.

[...] Complicating the matter is the Chinese government, which has incentivized human employment in the country. In areas like Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Zhengzhou, local governments have doled out billions of dollars in bonuses, energy contracts, and public infrastructure to Foxconn to allow the company to expand. As of last year, Foxconn employed as many as 1.2 million people, making it one of the largest employers in the world. More than 1 million of those workers reside in China, often at elaborate, city-like campuses that house and feed employees.

In an in-depth report published yesterday, The New York Times detailed these government incentivizes for Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory, its largest and most capable plant that produces 500,000 iPhones a day and is known locally as "iPhone City." According to Foxconn's Jia-peng, the Zhengzhou factory has some production lines already at the second automation phase and on track to become fully automated in a few years' time. So it may not be long before one of China's largest employers will be forced to grapple with its automation ambitions and the benefits it receives to transform rural parts of the country into industrial powerhouses.

To undermine American manufacturing, ditch the meatbags.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by jelizondo on Tuesday January 03 2017, @04:06AM

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 03 2017, @04:06AM (#448772) Journal

    Thank you for your reply and insight.

    I believe that having enough is sufficient. Do you really need the latest and greatest sports car? I can tell no, after owning a couple of them. The reason I changed my mind was that, a little late, I learned that all the money in the world does not stop time and while one is busy getting money, life is passing you and leaving you with nothing, not even the money you fought to get.

    I missed most of the important dates of my son and two daughters. I was lucky to realize I was very mistaken in time to share a lot of time with my youngest daughter. I don’t make as much money as before but we have a solid relationship, and I value that over having a great car.

    Towards the future, I worry that the greedy will try to get most of everything for themselves and leave as little as possible for everyone else. When you get too many people down at rock-bottom, they have nothing to lose and therefore they can take great risks in trying to change their situation.

    Some think that a popular revolt has not chance against drones and other modern weapons, but they forget that the people pulling the trigger are not the oligarchs, but regular Joes who could turn against their masters. But their turning would not prevent a bloodbath and I fear a reenactment of the French Revolution: Off with their heads! Starting with the king and culminating with the leaders of the revolt.

    How much blood would have to be spilt before the oligarchs realize that we don’t want their private jets or private islands, but just a decent living? I believe that having this conversation now, exploring possibilities, could save us from a lot of grief before it comes to blows.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @07:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @07:27AM (#448812)

    I think an even baser instinct is at work here and greed is just a dress for it - we will continue to have a basic instinct to compete with each other to attract a partner. For as long as that competitiveness is here, there will always be imbalance, and enough of us will be subservient to that instinct that government will make sure you can't have your cake and eat it too, so to say.

  • (Score: 2) by driven on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:00PM

    by driven (6295) on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:00PM (#448895)

    "Some think that a popular revolt has not chance against drones and other modern weapons, but they forget that the people pulling the trigger are not the oligarchs, but regular Joes who could turn against their masters. But their turning would not prevent a bloodbath and I fear a reenactment of the French Revolution: Off with their heads! Starting with the king and culminating with the leaders of the revolt."

    Don't forget the premise of the article: that robots are replacing workers. Robots will surely be able to perform police/military duties by the time such a revolution happens. Especially if it were to get to a point where exercising discretion was not important (eg. if it moves, kill it - we already have that level of technology).