Foxconn Details Three-Phase Plan to Eventually 'Automate Entire Factories' in China

[Three141]

If you take jobs away from 25% of the people then those people can't buy stuff.

We already see this due to inequality.

And ordinary people are angry already. So much so they've voted for Trump.

I get what you mean but my comment was directly at Foxconn as a company, yours seems geared towards a overall bleak future, if automation goes full swing.

I agree that may have been one reason to vote for Trump but there are other reasons people voted Trump too.

 

[WRChris]

True. But the US (or any developed country) could desecend to be like Syria quite easily.

And the army wouldn't necessarily win.

We can agree to disagree but 9/10 times a structured military will win against an angry mob of unorganized and untrained citizens.

I think as long as our government doesn't have the ability to control autonomous weapons there could be revolution. Ours has pretty much every form of autonomous weaponry there is.

 

[Eraserhead]

We can agree to disagree but 9/10 times a structured military will win against an angry mob of unorganized and untrained citizens.

I think as long as our government doesn't have the ability to control autonomous weapons there could be revolution. Ours has pretty much every form of autonomous weaponry there is.

Except in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan where the structured military (the US armed forces) safely lost.
[doublepost=1483289472][/doublepost]

I think as long as our government doesn't have the ability to control autonomous weapons there could be revolution. Ours has pretty much every form of autonomous weaponry there is.

I'm sure you can jam the radios of drones fairly easily.

 

[WRChris]

Except in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan where the structured military (the US armed forces) safely lost.
[doublepost=1483289472][/doublepost]

I'm sure you can jam the radios of drones fairly easily.

In what way did we lose those conflicts? We are pretty much the only ones with a standing structured military after those conflicts. I don't know what's going on in Vietnam now but we defeated Sadam in Iraq and we broke up the taliban in Afghanistan, that was the objectives, as far as I know. The problem is when we take down dictators we destabilize entire regions and create the opportunity for entities like Islamic State to come and recruit people who hate us for destroying their country.

I know you didn't ask for any of that but once I get rambling I don't know when to stop lol

I'm sure someone can jam military drone tech but I'm not that person and I'd say the majority of people cannot.

 

[Eraserhead]

In what way did we lose those conflicts? We are pretty much the only ones with a standing structured military after those conflicts. I don't know what's going on in Vietnam now but we defeated Sadam in Iraq and we broke up the taliban in Afghanistan, that was the objectives, as far as I know. The problem is when we take down dictators we destabilize entire regions and create the opportunity for entities like Islamic State to come and recruit people who hate us for destroying their country.

So you lost .

I know you didn't ask for any of that but once I get rambling I don't know when to stop lol

I'm sure someone can jam military drone tech but I'm not that person and I'd say the majority of people cannot.

I'm sure it isn't impossible if you're happy to jam all radio signals.

 

[WRChris]

So you lost .



I'm sure it isn't impossible if you're happy to jam all radio signals.

There is no winning, it's all losing when there is war, but we did complete our missions, no matter how wrong they were. I don't want to jam any radio signals but it's somewhat naive to think they don't have safeguards against radio jammers of any kind, it's the US Airforce not joe blows rc helicopter.

 

[9081094]

Customers should expect a drop of at least 65% off the current iPhone, iPad and other device pricing.

The robots are replacing a human workforce because it is cheaper to replace humans with robots. There is no other reason. Naturally, everyone, all Apple customers, should expect a huge drop in the cost to buy iPhone.

I suspect iDevices will cost ~80% less than today.

While I agree with you it should be much cheaper this way to fabricate... Apple will somehow find a way to increase prices. They always do

 

[thewitt]

While I agree with you it should be much cheaper this way to fabricate... Apple will somehow find a way to increase prices. They always do

Cost to fabricate only sets a minimum price relative to sales to the customer. Smart companies optimize both.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

returning the people back into the poverty they came from
just like every other bubble

 

[ScottishDuck]

Customers should expect a drop of at least 65% off the current iPhone, iPad and other device pricing.

The robots are replacing a human workforce because it is cheaper to replace humans with robots. There is no other reason. Naturally, everyone, all Apple customers, should expect a huge drop in the cost to buy iPhone.

I suspect iDevices will cost ~80% less than today.

hahahahahahaha

The world of automation is one where the living wage argument needs to be replaced with living income. There simply won't be the jobs to sustain the population anymore. We need to rethink the economy.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

I don't really think taking peoples jobs away by robots is a remotely good idea unless they can get new jobs doing something else.
[doublepost=1483268006][/doublepost]

Or a solution will be found or there will be violence. There are 300 million guns in America. Plenty to take out the government if it no longer offers a reasonable life with enough to eat and a roof over their heads.

Eventually you have to switch to a resource based economy and forget about traditional "work". We aren't there yet.

 

[Eraserhead]

Eventually you have to switch to a resource based economy and forget about traditional "work". We aren't there yet.

And then what? Give everyone $100k a year so they don't get bored with endless leisure.
[doublepost=1483372890][/doublepost]

hahahahahahaha

The world of automation is one where the living wage argument needs to be replaced with living income. There simply won't be the jobs to sustain the population anymore. We need to rethink the economy.

One way or another. Yes.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

And then what? Give everyone $100k a year so they don't get bored with endless leisure.

What do you need the $100k for? When energy is free and robots do all the work and we can fabricate nearly anything in our homes we don't need money. You just have to make sure your existence is sustainable over time.

 

[Eraserhead]

What do you need the $100k for? When energy is free and robots do all the work and we can fabricate nearly anything in our homes we don't need money. You just have to make sure your existence is sustainable over time.

If I don't have any work to do I'm going to want to do fun things. Like travelling and going to the pub. They aren't free and never will be.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

If I don't have any work to do I'm going to want to do fun things. Like travelling and going to the pub. They aren't free and never will be.

Robots maintain your transport system, energy is free, might have to ration the beer though.

 

[Eraserhead]

Robots maintain your transport system, energy is free, might have to ration the beer though.

Planes already practically fly themselves. They aren't going to become a whole lot cheaper.

Same applies to furniture. IKEA I'm sure automate pretty much all the furniture manufacture already. Maybe you'd save a further ~1/4 of the cost.

The stuff that might become cheaper is things like taxis. But quite a bit of the cost of taxi rides is the taxis themselves (which would increase) and the maintenance.

Property could be a whole lot cheaper and that would help a lot. But if property was cheap the rich wouldn't be very rich anymore so would struggle to pay the taxes to keep the system going.

 

[Gasu E.]

Additionally, healthcare costs get factored into every product made here (which is why Toyota decided to go with Canada over the US for an assembly line, US facilities had to factor roughly $200+ in healthcare for every car made) so unless we go single payer that is going to be a large consideration in the way as well.

Robots don't require healthcare.

 

[Eraserhead]

Robots don't require healthcare.

So cars will be $1000 cheaper (if that as the sensors and tech aren't free), but there will be no jobs in the mid west. I don't think that's a big win...

 

[konqerror]

Nothing new. European factories, especially Germans, are heavily automated due to their high cost of labor (which pays, via taxes, for their healthcare). Quality suffers. Look at a VW. To eliminate screws and other non-automatable parts, you replace one lever with six snap-together plastic pieces which always break. Robots can't see when things are wrong or require force to put together, so you get fit-and-finish issues.

 

[thewitt]

Nothing new. European factories, especially Germans, are heavily automated due to their high cost of labor (which pays, via taxes, for their healthcare). Quality suffers. Look at a VW. To eliminate screws and other non-automatable parts, you replace one lever with six snap-together plastic pieces which always break. Robots can't see when things are wrong or require force to put together, so you get fit-and-finish issues.

Automation does not lead to poor quality. Poor automation choices do.

There are many factories doing leading edge automation specifically FOR higher quality parts. I am in some of these factories every month, all around the world.

Every screw on every hard drive today is installed by a robot.

 

[2457282]

Many of us on this site work in technology and we all know (but don't talk about) this reality. Technology continues to develop at a faster pace than humans are able to absorb and adapt to. Being able to automate production lines is great for companies as it eliminate workforce issues, improves quality controls, and can speed up production rates. It also can put a lot of people out of a job. Bringing back manufacturing like this to the US could mean very few jobs. There is probably a point where labor gets cheap enough to compete with automation, but I don't see that as good. So how do we as a society deal with the fact that lower skill jobs are being replaced by automation? A restless and unemployed population has never been a good thing in history. This is not something that can be solved through a welfare program either, since this is becoming too large a population. Sure there is training that can be done, but as automation happens there are more people competing for few jobs. This is good for business as it drives labor cost down, but this is bad for our society as the crowds grow restless. I don't have answers, but I am clear one is needed and I don't hear a lot of conversation about this at most levels. Coming from a family that was priveledged in Cuba, I know all too well what can happen if we do not pay attention to the crowds at the gate.

 

[konqerror]

Every screw on every hard drive today is installed by a robot.

You made my point. The only "good" product to automate is the a stagnant technology, installing screws in tapped metal holes which haven't fundamentally changed in the last 15 years.

Cars are on a 4 year cycle, Apple is on a 1 year cycle. How long, and how much money, does it take to do your proper DfM/DfA? And these aren't M2 screws Apple uses.