If manufacturing becomes more automated and relies less on human workers, is there any reason to continue to do it in China?
Bring some back to the U.S. Of course those jobs will be high skill, high pay, so no, minimum wage McDonalds workers won’t be assembling iPhones any time soon.
Dont count on it - the typical assembly line requires the worker to do the same thing the whole day, and every single day. The emphasis is on doing that one thing more efficiently. Typically, this isnt much more sophisticated than flipping burgers the whole day. Believe me, even the highest tech assembly gets extremely boring and low skilled.
In fact, the typical skills required are that one must have very small and nimble fingers. And good eyes. And thats the reason these jobs can be easily replaced by robots.
The people who are comparing Western labour standards and western wages with those in China, are doing China a major disservice. When you have a billion plus workers, some things that you take for granted in the West become luxuries. The trouble is, instead of getting any decent paying job that allows people to put food on the table, and stay in a decent warm home, these activists will only end up destroying job prospects for many millions of people. And probably, that is their primary goal.
Fast food chains will be doing the same cause of $15/hr minimum wage.
Nah. Australia raised their minimum wage a big amount, and despite all the furor, it raised the price of a Big Mac about $0.45. The gloom-and-doomers are full of it. You can pay a lot of workers a lot of hours before you get to the cost of robotics for a burger job.
These would be famous last words if you are a burger flipper. It isn't all that expensive these days. Don't assume Robots have arms, that need to move, and hold objects.
Modern robots are no bigger than a regular food processor - take ingredients directly, and produce the output customized and fine tuned to your specific preferences each time. And cost probably less than 2 week's wages of the typical burger flipper.
FWIW Foxconn's robotics partner was reported to be Google.
Per the WSJ several months ago:
"...the partnership makes sense as Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics devices, can provide Google the best testing ground for its new robotics technology. They said Google is expected to build a new robotic operating system for manufacturers, just like the Android operating system for mobile computing devices. A successful robotics operating system would further strengthen Google’s position in the technology industry.
“Foxconn needs Google’s help to step up automation at its factories as the company has the lowest sales per employee among the contract makers, given its large workforce,” said Wanli Wang, an analyst at CIMB Securities. “Using robots to replace human workers would be the next big thing in the technology industry."
FWIW Foxconn's robotics partner was reported to be Google.
Per the WSJ several months ago:
"...the partnership makes sense as Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics devices, can provide Google the best testing ground for its new robotics technology. They said Google is expected to build a new robotic operating system for manufacturers, just like the Android operating system for mobile computing devices. A successful robotics operating system would further strengthen Google’s position in the technology industry.
“Foxconn needs Google’s help to step up automation at its factories as the company has the lowest sales per employee among the contract makers, given its large workforce,” said Wanli Wang, an analyst at CIMB Securities. “Using robots to replace human workers would be the next big thing in the technology industry."
and...?
Gator had to interject a Google non sequitur again. Yep, nothing to see there hey Gator bud.... I sure have "not" got you pegged (sic).
Why of course so you can blame Google instead of Apple for people losing their jobs silly. An obvious case of sine qua non isn't it? I would have thought so. You should use it. (Besides a couple of posters wondering where the robots might be coming from, so there's that answer too)
Nah. Australia raised their minimum wage a big amount, and despite all the furor, it raised the price of a Big Mac about $0.45. The gloom-and-doomers are full of it. You can pay a lot of workers a lot of hours before you get to the cost of robotics for a burger job.
These would be famous last words if you are a burger flipper. It isn't all that expensive these days. Don't assume Robots have arms, that need to move, and hold objects.
Modern robots are no bigger than a regular food processor - take ingredients directly, and produce the output customized and fine tuned to your specific preferences each time. And cost probably less than 2 week's wages of the typical burger flipper.
This is a residential machine, the industrial heavy duty version is probably twice as expensive - about a month's wages.
Very cool food prep robot. Really no more complicated than a simple 3D printer or an advanced breadmaker. Imagine products like this in 5 or more years and you can see most restaurant staff being out of jobs, replaced by robots or other forms of automation capable of creating perfect food every time. Thanks to unions demanding $15 minimum wages, fast food workers will be among the first to be replaced. Eventually, bus, cab, truck and other drivers will be out of their jobs. As the goal of "general artificial intelligence" is eventually reached, many white collar jobs will change or disappear.
Comments
In fact, the typical skills required are that one must have very small and nimble fingers. And good eyes. And thats the reason these jobs can be easily replaced by robots.
The people who are comparing Western labour standards and western wages with those in China, are doing China a major disservice. When you have a billion plus workers, some things that you take for granted in the West become luxuries. The trouble is, instead of getting any decent paying job that allows people to put food on the table, and stay in a decent warm home, these activists will only end up destroying job prospects for many millions of people. And probably, that is their primary goal.
Modern robots are no bigger than a regular food processor - take ingredients directly, and produce the output customized and fine tuned to your specific preferences each time. And cost probably less than 2 week's wages of the typical burger flipper.
Check out https://rotimatic.com/
This is a residential machine, the industrial heavy duty version is probably twice as expensive - about a month's wages.