Foxconn Robots Could Replace Up To 1 Million Workers

[Target3]

at least robots wont jump out of the buildings

 

[techtate]

[citation][nom]BrianAAA[/nom]I agree that if a robot can do a task the human should be doing something better. A human being reduced to mindless, repetitive tasks is a waste of potential.That being said it is probably being used as a threat to keep their employes in line. It almost like they have a labor union with all of the B.S. but none of the security.[/citation]

True, and for someone who doesn't understand how capital in an economy raises everyone's living standards here is a good explanation of why displacing labor intensive tasks with machines is good for everyone in the long run. http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/beware-the-free-market-exploitation-child-labor-poverty/

 

[techtate]

http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/beware-the-free-market-exploitation-child-labor-poverty/[citation][nom]techtate[/nom]True, and for someone who doesn't understand how capital in an economy raises everyone's living standards here is a good explanation of why displacing labor intensive tasks with machines is good for everyone in the long run.[/citation] the link didn't work the first time.
tomwoods.com/blog/beware-the-free-market-exploitation-child-labor-poverty/http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/beware-the-free-market-exploitation-child-labor-poverty/

 

[godnodog]

How do u say in chinese:

"They tuk our jobs!!"

 

[Guest]

What is the point of taking jobs overseas if Robots are taking over anyway. Just keep the jobs here the US as long as possible.

 

[becherovka]

Robots dont sleep, dont take lunch breaks, work faster (and will continue to get faster)
Humans labor jobs are going to be few and far between. But companies like APPL will continue to take profits and not even give dividends. I can see some big financial problems in the future unless we change the system on a global scale.

 

[becherovka]

Edit. APPL did give a dividend but sweet fa compared to the money it has in the bank.
These companies are trapping up finances like the super rich and because its not being spent its hurting the world. If you give money to the poor it will stimulate the economy (it will be spent) give it to the super rich and it will sit there and do nothing if they dont choose to spend it.
Companies that dont use their money should be forced to give larger dividends.
Dont get me started on APPL only paying 2% tax on foreign revenue.

 

[edogawa]

iRobot.

 

[hate machine]

[citation][nom]JacekRing[/nom]I'd enjoy a good human vs. robot war....and besides, this planet could benefit from losing a billion or two of people. We are going to outgrow this planet eventually, oxygen will start to get thinner as there are more people and less trees. There will be wide spread food shortages. Power shortages. More pollution to produce more power and goods for more people. Yea we are about due for a 1 billion people reduction on this planet.[/citation]

Since you are all about a population reduction on this planet why don't you start the trend and kill yourself.

What's that... you won't? Hypocrite.

 

[TeraMedia]

@guess who: The financial analysis is even better than that. If a fully-exploited worker can work 80 hours / week, then one robot could conceivably replace not one, but two workers. So if the cost of a human-replacing robot is 3x the human's salary, then payoff is in ~1.5 years (ignoring maintenance and power costs for machines, as well as food, healthcare, housing, plumbing and other costs for humans). That time span is so short, NPV calculations aren't even necessary.

What I'm now left wondering is, why didn't APPL think of doing this? In one fell swoop, they could have stopped "outsourcing jobs overseas", condoning worker exploitation, condoning unsafe working conditions, condoning child labor, and all other manner of unspeakable bad things... and they could have even SAVED MONEY. Cook should be kicking himself right now.

 

[tolham]

I tend to disagree. You'll never have as many people to maintain these robots as they are replacing. And if you replace people with robots at all the repetitive, monotonous tasks, you pretty much eliminate all labor from the market. Yeah, robots can work longer, steadily, and create more output than a human, but at some point you'll eliminate so much of the need for labor that you won't have enough people earning a living to buy anything. One of the problems the US is facing now is the fact that with being forced to operate with fewer workers over the past few years, employers have realized they can actually operate with fewer workers. Despite what some people seem to think, companies aren't just gonna hire more people if they have more money. They now know they can get more with less, so they'll stick with that for as long as they can. Not calling the end of society and the age of robots, but just saying it's something to think about.

it is something to think about, but i can tell you from first-hand experience that this type of work should not be done by humans. repetivie, monotonous, neverending tasks is robotic work. performing this job tuns the worker into a robot which wreaks havoc on their mental state. no increase of wages or benefits alleviates the anguish. the ideal solution is to create new jobs for the displaced workers, not keep them in the factories.

 

[jacobdrj]

Interesting observation while in a Manufacturing Engineering lecture once, taught by an old GM engineer: They tried to replace humans with robots in the 80's. While experimenting with robots, they discovered that they needed to change the design of the components they were making to make it easier for robots to recognize and interact with objects. Long story short, as it turned out, those same features made it a hell of a lot easier for humans to manipulate parts too! So rather than deal with the huge capital investment in robots, they continued to employ humans, as at the time, humans were easier to train and easier to retrain than robots, and didn't have the maintenance costs or capital investment expenditures... They just started to put more effort into good manufacturing design in the 1st place to make things better for the operators...

 

[loops]

Wait? Hold on?

You want ppl to buy your widget, but at the same time you dont want ppl to work and make money to buy your widget?

Seems like a good way to eat oneself.

 

[Thomas Creel]

feel bad for families out there losing income. this could literally mean the deaths of people you guys...

 

[jacobdrj]

[citation][nom]loops[/nom]Wait? Hold on?You want ppl to buy your widget, but at the same time you dont want ppl to work and make money to buy your widget?Seems like a good way to eat oneself.[/citation]
Meh. I'd rather people put their efforts towards expansion of humanity rather than doing menial tasks... There will always be money in content creation...

 

[Zetto]

This is how the idevices (yes and others) should have been built to begin with, but not in China, here at home with highly skilled maintenance crews. Currently there's few that have the skills here. Regardless, now these factories need to come home, there's no more excuses, the robots cost the same anywhere.

 

[scannall]

I can just imagine the screams on tech sites around the world when Foxconn lays off 800,000 people.

 

[WyomingKnott]

[citation][nom]jupiter optimus maximus[/nom]What is the point of taking jobs overseas if Robots are taking over anyway. Just keep the jobs here the US as long as possible.[/citation]
US robots are more expensive - made by US labor.
US safety standards, to protect the remaining humans who work in the same areas as these robots, are expensive to implement - and it's even more expensive to pay costs for a worker crippled by a swinging robot arm. In, umm, certain other countries, it would be the worker's tough luck.

 

[WyomingKnott]

[citation][nom]tolham[/nom]not to ignore the need for jobs, but this kind of work really should be be done by robots. humans aren't meant to perform repetitive, monotonous tasks for hours on end every day.[/citation]
The repetitive, monotonous tasks involved in farming freed up enough human time and energy to develop a mechanical civilization. Much as we don't like that kind of work, we have proven that we can do it.

 

[czar1020]

"Foxconn reportedly has started deploying 10,000 robots which replace somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 workers. Within 3 years, Foxconn wants to install about 1 million robots - called Foxbots - and replace up to 1 million workers"

Garbage robots if its a 1:1 ratio..... Also not including the cost of having programmers and maintenance people around.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]tolham[/nom]it is something to think about, but i can tell you from first-hand experience that this type of work should not be done by humans. repetivie, monotonous, neverending tasks is robotic work. performing this job tuns the worker into a robot which wreaks havoc on their mental state. no increase of wages or benefits alleviates the anguish. the ideal solution is to create new jobs for the displaced workers, not keep them in the factories.[/citation]

i fear the day when 400000$ of collage is needed for minimum wage jobs.
not everyone is smart enough to get that higher paying job
some people can only really do the robotic tasks
and if everyone was forced to do better, the bar would be raised, probably to an extent that collage is required for minimum wage jobs. and the ones that dont require collage would have whoever works there by the balls.

imagine mcdonalds if they were the only employer of non collage graduates...

 

[svdb]

[citation][nom]tolham[/nom]not to ignore the need for jobs, but this kind of work really should be be done by robots. humans aren't meant to perform repetitive, monotonous tasks for hours on end every day. and the robots will need humans to maintain them.[/citation] Are you qualified to maintain industrial robots? No? Well, go get yourself a boring repetitive monotonous job then.

 

[Guest]

You all seem happy about this. Would you be so happy if you and many people in your community had just lost your jobs? This will destroy several local economies over the course of 3 years, not that any of you care.

 

[TeraMedia]

@Have a Heart:

Actually, the amount of money being exported from the US to China to pay those (and other Chinese) workers is causing such tremendous debt that the entire US economy is a mess. Because of this, companies across the US either downsized or went out of business in the Great Recession. MILLIONS of people are without jobs, as a result.

So, yes, I do care, but I also care about whether or not my progeny will have an economy in which they can find (or better yet, create) jobs, make a living, and have a lifestyle that is as good as or better than my own. If everything is made in China, that won't happen.

A strong US economy is also good for China, and a weak one is bad for China as well. Don't lose sight of that.

 

[Guest]

With robot workers, the factories could be located anywhere, as labor rates are no much of a factor! I am one happing bending (burrrrrrrp/flame) unit, see you in the poor house meatsacks!