Chinese Company Replaces Humans With Robots, Production Skyrockets, Mistakes Disappear

Zero Hedge ^ | 08/01/2015 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

"I believe that anyone who has a job and works full time, they should be able to pay the things that sustain life: food, shelter and clothing. I can't even do that."

That rather depressing quote is from 61-year old Rebecca Cornick. She’s a grandmother and a 9-year Wendy’s veteran who spoke to CBS News. Rebecca makes $9 an hour and her plight is representative of fast food workers across the country who are campaigning for higher pay. 

The fast food worker pay debate is part of a larger discussion as "states and cities across the country [wrestle] with the idea of raising the minimum wage," CBS notes, adding that "right now, 29 states have minimums above the federal $7.25 an hour [and] four cities, including Los Angeles, have doubled their minimum to $15."

Proponents of raising the pay floor argue that it’s simply not possible to live on minimum wage and indeed, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that they’re right. Opponents say forcing employers to pay more will simply mean that companies will fire people or stop hiring and indeed, as we highlighted on Friday, it looks as though WalMart’s move to implement an across-the-board pay raise for its low-paid workers may have contributed to a decision to layoff around 1,000 people at its home office in Bentonville. 

"The reality is that most business are not going to pay $15 dollars an hour and keep their doors open," one Burger King franchisee told CBS. "It just won't happen. The economics don't work in this industry. There is a limit to what you're going to pay for a hamburger." 

Yes, there’s only so much people will pay for a hamburger which is why Ronald McDonald has made an executive decision to hire more efficient employees at some locations:

With all of that in mind, consider the following from TechRepublic who tells the story of Changying Precision Technology Company, which has replaced almost all of its human employees with robots to great success:

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%.

So to anyone planning on picketing the local McDonald’s in an attempt to secure a 70% wage hike, be careful, because this "guy" is ready to work, doesn’t need breaks, and never makes a mistake:

Let’s just hope he doesn’t become self aware.

[tacticalogic]

I will disagree on your size point, There are some who claim they are building 3D printed houses and structures of commercial building size, but as a rule in today’s production or manufacturing, the quantities only justify robotics unless the are very small in size items requiring high accuracy.

Perhaps I didn't word it very well, but I don't think we have a disagreement. This is the same point I attempted to make - the larger the pieces get, the more difficult/expensive it becomes to build the jigging necessary to keep them in the kind of alignment and exact positioning required for robotic welding.

[Sirius Lee]

I’d like it if significant numbers of humans were able to live off Earth,

Our best chance for a spare civilization in the event Earth gets wiped out is to build underground on Mars. Not enough protection from the atmosphere from radiation and meteorites, but apparently there is enough water trapped below make a go of it.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

There are a number of options for colonization off-Earth, especially given increased material wealth via robotics. I don’t think humanity would long survive the destruction of Earth without viable colonies in other solar systems, but occupying our system might buy time for someone to come up with the warp drive.

Anyway, I’m not trying to highjack the thread, and I have to get my yardwork done before it gets too hot, so I’ll bid you a pleasant Sunday.

[jonrick46]

A am afraid that computer driven machines will become so intelligent that they will take jobs away from humans in a big way. Many of those jobs will be manufacturing jobs. What automation can do now is quite spectacular. Wait until artificial intelligence makes its impact. Artificial intelligence will detect when a malfunction occurs and determine the necessary fix. Artificial intelligence will do things we cannot imagine and will do them faster than what humans can do. What jobs will be available for humans will be quite demanding. If you are a human, you will be required to do a job task better than a machine to make it worth the company’s money. Such jobs will be quite demanding and, as I have seen, will be rendered obsolete with the latest technology. Humans will compete with machines and some day, all manufacturing will be done only with machines. I am not sure if humans will even repair the machines that malfunction.

[Democrat_media]

same here.