Courtesy of Mish.
Trump blames Mexico, China, and even Germany for taking US jobs and for US trade imbalances.
His message resonated with voters.
People can believe whatever “fake news” they want, but Trump’s theory on manufacturing jobs falls flat under any degree of scrutiny.
ZME Science reports Chinese Factory Replaces 90% of Human Workers with Robots. Production rose by 250%. Defects dropped by 80%.
According to Monetary Watch, the Changying Precision Technology Company focuses on the production of mobile phones and uses automated production lines. The factory used to be run by 650 employees, but now just 60 people get the entire job done, while robots take care of the rest. Luo Weiqiang, the general manager, says the number of required employees will drop to 20 at one point. Despite this reduction in staff, not only is the factory producing more equipment (a 250% increase), but it’s also ensuring better quality.
Adidas Moves Towards Robot-Only Factories
I commented on this before but the above article linked to it, and it’s worth another look: Adidas to Move Activity to Robot-Only Factories.
The footwear giant has announced it will move much of its activities from Asia back to Germany. The company unveiled ts prototype “Speedfactory”, a state-of-the-art, 4,600 square-meter facility which will automate most of the work.
After achieving success in Germany and the rest of Europe, Adidas slowly moved their factories to Asia, motivated by cheap labor. They now employ half a million people on the continent, but robots are slowly becoming cheaper than cheap manual labor.
Adidas produced 301 million pairs of sports shoes last year, but the demand still surpassed the offer, with the company aiming to produce 10% more. Shirts might also be produced at the same factory. The move will, of course, hash many jobs in Asia, creating only a few in Europe.
Amazon’s Robotic Supermarket
Digital Trends reports Run by robots: Amazon’s high-tech supermarket may only need three employees.
