Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Foxconn to Replace a Portion of its Workers with 1 Million Robots
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
1.2 million employees
Foxconn has 1.2 million employees??? OMG---that is one massive workforce! What American company is anywhere near that large?
IBM has 400K employees, but only 75K-80K are still in the U.S. (150K U.S. employees less than 10 years ago). Apple, Siemens, any of them near 1.2 million?...answer: No.
Robotics is the last phase. Skilled/experienced workers (Western) --> Unskilled/inexperienced (Global Resource) --> Automation.
I know, I know, you guys are worried, but never fear: the good news is that the Foxconn execs will STILL get their bonuses (weight off your backs)! Since most execs don't actually DO anything you can't replace them with unskilled workers or automation. You can't widgetize the "work" of an entrenched oligarchy.
Foxconn has 1.2 million employees??? OMG---that is one massive workforce! What American company is anywhere near that large?
IBM has 400K employees, but only 75K-80K are still in the U.S. (150K U.S. employees less than 10 years ago). Apple, Siemens, any of them near 1.2 million?...answer: No.
Robotics is the last phase. Skilled/experienced workers (Western) --> Unskilled/inexperienced (Global Resource) --> Automation.
I know, I know, you guys are worried, but never fear: the good news is that the Foxconn execs will STILL get their bonuses (weight off your backs)! Since most execs don't actually DO anything you can't replace them with unskilled workers or automation. You can't widgetize the "work" of an entrenched oligarchy.
better then the other way around
Automatization is the ineviteable next step. The step beyond automatization is outsourcing. But where to go next?
better then the other way around
Automatization is the ineviteable next step. The step beyond automatization is outsourcing. But where to go next?
Harry Mudd.
Yeah, thats the right thing to do. Replace Man with Machines, making them unemployed, so even less people can buy the expensive stuff they produce.
Logic FTW.
The more i hear such things, the more i start to like actual manmade handwork, like forged swords, handmade jewelry, woven carpets....
Logic FTW.
The more i hear such things, the more i start to like actual manmade handwork, like forged swords, handmade jewelry, woven carpets....
Automation
Outsourcing is first step; automation is the last. Cheaper machines after that.
These jobs have already been outsourced (to Foxconn in China). Apple used to have manufacturing in California and Ireland. This is why Foxconn can have 1.2 million workers---labor is cheap in China. Don't really need any education or skills---you learn one thing and just do it repetitively. Need more of a widget? Throw more bodies at it.
When you have virtually no human rights legislation and a very low cost of living, you can work them to death, pretty much do whatever you want. This is why jobs are leaving the West -- laws about labor conditions/health care/benefits and higher cost of living. Why do you think Business hates regulation so much? There is money to be made from exploitation. China is like Great Britain during the 19th Century at the height of industrialization. Cha ching!
CEOs claim the West is losing jobs because of "skills" which is hilarious---they are being replaced by less skilled/less experienced people almost universally. The fact it can be done by unskilled people doing just one thing is why this is a candidate for automation.
better then the other way around
Automatization is the ineviteable next step. The step beyond automatization is outsourcing. But where to go next?
Outsourcing is first step; automation is the last. Cheaper machines after that.
These jobs have already been outsourced (to Foxconn in China). Apple used to have manufacturing in California and Ireland. This is why Foxconn can have 1.2 million workers---labor is cheap in China. Don't really need any education or skills---you learn one thing and just do it repetitively. Need more of a widget? Throw more bodies at it.
When you have virtually no human rights legislation and a very low cost of living, you can work them to death, pretty much do whatever you want. This is why jobs are leaving the West -- laws about labor conditions/health care/benefits and higher cost of living. Why do you think Business hates regulation so much? There is money to be made from exploitation. China is like Great Britain during the 19th Century at the height of industrialization. Cha ching!
CEOs claim the West is losing jobs because of "skills" which is hilarious---they are being replaced by less skilled/less experienced people almost universally. The fact it can be done by unskilled people doing just one thing is why this is a candidate for automation.
In the long run it will be very good. This same progression happened in Japan. At first the "high tech" jobs were just money work of mindlessly screwing on the same part. But then later the high tech job is the person who programs or designs or services the robots. There jobs pay more.
The bad news is that almost always the person doing the money work is not the same one to get the news robot service job as he will lack the required education.
The end result is what we see here in the US. A two class system, those with good education, four year degrees (at lest) in technical subjects making a middle class wage and others working in fast food stores who can't afford to even buy a car let alone a house, send two kids to collage and so on.
But in the long run the robots recreate tens of thousands of much better jobs while forever eliminating jobs for unskilled workers
How old are you?
That myth - go to college and get a good job - died long, long ago.
If you've had many friends with college degrees, including postgrad, they would be a very exceptional group if they all have good jobs. Chances are a good few of them are working boring and menial jobs far below the level they thought they were going to get, and a good few more are unemployed or barely getting by.
That myth - go to college and get a good job - died long, long ago.
If you've had many friends with college degrees, including postgrad, they would be a very exceptional group if they all have good jobs. Chances are a good few of them are working boring and menial jobs far below the level they thought they were going to get, and a good few more are unemployed or barely getting by.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
1m robots, 1.2m employees. Soon there Will be more suicides since 90% of The
Humans will lose their jobs.
1m robots, 1.2m employees. Soon there Will be more suicides since 90% of The
Humans will lose their jobs.
Problems with things like this.
Humans are very clever and intelligent beings that can adapt to all sorts of changes.
Robots like this are dumb and stupid. Things have to be set up exactly for them ales they are useless. They are incredibly expensive to buy and maintain, and very inflexible to any changes.
Humans can adapt to any changes, are cheap to run and when one breaks down it's zero cost to get a replacement.
Often it seems computerised replacements actually cost far more in the long run that the manual labour.
Or course it depends on the task you give them, is it's some incredibly simple you want repeated very fast then yeah they are great, but not much else.
Try moving a tray of parts or something does not quite fit and needs a bit of adjustment and they will fail.
Humans are very clever and intelligent beings that can adapt to all sorts of changes.
Robots like this are dumb and stupid. Things have to be set up exactly for them ales they are useless. They are incredibly expensive to buy and maintain, and very inflexible to any changes.
Humans can adapt to any changes, are cheap to run and when one breaks down it's zero cost to get a replacement.
Often it seems computerised replacements actually cost far more in the long run that the manual labour.
Or course it depends on the task you give them, is it's some incredibly simple you want repeated very fast then yeah they are great, but not much else.
Try moving a tray of parts or something does not quite fit and needs a bit of adjustment and they will fail.
Steve will be happy
Now those who make the products will be exactly the same as those who buy them, Robots.
Now those who make the products will be exactly the same as those who buy them, Robots.
I have to wonder from a consumer standpoint : What is better ...
A. To have my device put together by a machine that does it the same way every time.
Or
B. A human who might make a mistake, but also sees when mistakes are made.
What system is better ?
There have been many cases of defects and recalls coming from ucallibrated robots.
And human error is inevitable.
But if the humans calibrate the robots......
ERROR
ERROR.
Inititiate Meltdown
A. To have my device put together by a machine that does it the same way every time.
Or
B. A human who might make a mistake, but also sees when mistakes are made.
What system is better ?
There have been many cases of defects and recalls coming from ucallibrated robots.
And human error is inevitable.
But if the humans calibrate the robots......
ERROR
ERROR.
Inititiate Meltdown
You would think that at first. But in reality, once you go down this road, you start to automate everything. So ultimately, robots will be building themselves.
If the world is going to take away the means to generate money at the working class level, then we need to do away with the monetary system. This automated society will only work if people are freed from work for compensation. This means people live to grow and expand their knowledge and to inspire. The robots do everything else. The world has enough resources to take care of everyone. We just need a major shift from greed based mentality to a more humanitarian approach. In other words we need to grow spiritually.
The world evolves everyday. If you don't like it go out there and change it.
