iPhone SE (2016) Why aren't iPhones assembled by robots and machines?

[Aston441]

Is there anyone in the manufacturing industry that can answer this question? Seems to me that if i wanted to make millions of all identical thing I'd try to find a way to have a machine do it.

Are the tolerences just too small for what robots and machines can do?

Or is it just so much cheaper to employ poor second worlders?

 

[ericwn]

I am not a manufacturing expert but many things come down to cost.

If the chips can be mass produced by robots then the rest of the device can be as well. It’s just too expensive for the manufacturers. And that extends to most other electronics that are produced in a similar fashion.

 

[NickName99]

It’s probably just cheaper to have human workers do it, for now anyways.

 

[now i see it]

obviously because today's state of the art assembly machines/robots can't build something as complicated as an iPhone

 

[JPack]

You can't get a robot to attach two electrical connectors together.

Tesla tried a few years ago and went back to human labor. And car parts 100x bigger than smartphones.

 

[BATman.Berlin]

It is cheaper. Simple. Humans can also adopt easily to changes in production demand and produce more pro’s on short notice for example. Reconfigurations of a robot line is complicated and slows responses to market demands.

 

[maerz001]

You can't get a robot to attach two electrical connectors together.

Tesla tried a few years ago and went back to human labor. And car parts 100x bigger than smartphones.

U are speaking of flexible cables dingling around. Yes thats hard to automate.

But rigid connections are no problem. The logic board industry works with pick and place robots for decades. So size isn’t an issue either.

Quite some part as well is automated like milling the housing, display and battery production.

The longer u produce the same products the more u automate. phones are changing fast.

 

[JPack]

U are speaking of flexible cables dingling around. Yes thats hard to automate.

But rigid connections are no problem. The logic board industry works with pick and place robots for decades. So size isn’t an issue either.

Quite some part as well is automated like milling the housing, display and battery production.

The longer u produce the same products the more u automate. phones are changing fast.

The iPhone is full of flex cables - everything from the Lightning port to the cameras are connected that way. I've never seen a robot with enough precision or speed to handle that task.

The most sophisticated factory robots are in Shenzhen. None of those robots can put together a Mac Pro much less a much smaller iPhone.

 

[44267547]

It’s probably just cheaper to have human workers do it, for now anyways.

This. Automation Systematic robotics takes years of engineering for precision, where as you can instruct a person to create the same tolerances, but a slower pace, however The main caveat, is the inconsistency that a person will likely falter, where machines have lower failure rate when Considering computerized Metrics are Universally programed.

 

[maerz001]

The iPhone is full of flex cables - everything from the Lightning port to the cameras are connected that way. I've never seen a robot with enough precision or speed to handle that task.

The most sophisticated factory robots are in Shenzhen. None of those robots can put together a Mac Pro much less a much smaller iPhone.

Im with you that flex cables are a problem.

But it has nothing to do with speed or precision of a robot itself. They are much faster and more precise than a human. Have a look at a pick and place robot video. Thats how they do also iphone logic boards. With much smaller components than a cable.

Its that u need a sensor like a camera to locate flexible parts which makes it complicated and slower.

There are/were phones with display and battery connected without cable. Its doable but compromise other fields.

 

[Nordichund]

Give it time!