China: Factory replaces workers demanding higher wages with robots to cut costs

Factory replaces workers demanding higher wages with robots to cut costs

The company has overhauled their workforce with automated machinery producing record units

BY KIRSTIE MCCRUM 13:58, 12 SEP 2016 UPDATED 14:01, 12 SEP 2016

Robots are being brought in to replace human workers in China because people are seeking higher wages.

This footage shows the production line in a factory which produces lenses for the German company Carl Zeiss.

The automated tasks being practised by the robotic workers include applying protection films, cutting, polishing and packaging.

Although the roles used to be performed by human beings, reports CCTV News, the change came as the manager of the plant in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

Zeng Zhiyong, Carl Zeiss Vision Technologies (Guangzhou) Ltd explains: "In 2012, the Zeiss Group informed us that labour in China was twice as expensive as in Mexico and four times that in India.

The cost per lens has dropped significantly since the new measures were introduced

"We were very surprised at this huge gap and started to think of how to improve productivity."

The installation of machines to carry out the tasks has seen the workforce shrink from 440 workers - who were producing four million lenses every year - to 370 humans in 2015 - with output increased to five million.

Zeng adds that their current cost per lens is the lowest of all the Zeiss factories in the world.

Zhiyong says that they were told their overheads were steep in 2012

Other factories including the Rongxin Packaging Corporation have made the switch, where Ji Yonghong explains they bought in a new $34 million - around £25.6 million - production line in 2013 and are now producing 1.8 million cans daily.

"We used to have 60 workers in one shift but now we only need 48. And they’re only responsible for quality control and machine maintenance," Ji says.

The machines are able to apply protection films, cut, polish and package

He adds that the complex processes mean better educated workers are required, and as a result earn 10-20% more than average.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/factory-replaces-workers-demanding-higher-8816889


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car Stealer's Wheel? Seattle police department quotes "Watchmen" movie in a recap of the recent arrest. Tech Culture by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper December 4, 2016 5:00 PM PST It's maybe the most satisfying arrest we can imagine. Seattle police caught an alleged car thief by enlisting the help of car maker BMW to both track and then remotely lock the luckless criminal in the very car he was trying to steal. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, deputy director of communications for the Seattle Police Department, posted a witty summary of the event on the SPD's blog on Wednesday. Turns out if you're inside a stolen car, it's perhaps not the best time to take a nap. "A car thief awoke from a sound slumber Sunday morning (Nov. 27) to find he had been remotely locked inside a stolen BMW, just as Seattle police officers were bearing down on him," Spangenthal-Lee wrote. The suspect found a ke...
Read more

Report: World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China

World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China Published time: 17 Mar, 2019 13:12 ·           A Chinese surgeon has performed the world’s first remote brain surgery using 5G technology, with the patient 3,000km away from the operating doctor. Dr. Ling Zhipei remotely implanted a neurostimulator into his patient’s brain on Saturday, Chinese state-run media  reports . The surgeon manipulated the instruments in the Beijing-based PLAGH hospital from a clinic subsidiary on the southern Hainan island, located 3,000km away. The surgery is said to have lasted three hours and ended successfully. The patient, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, is said to be feeling well after the pioneering operation. The doctor used a computer connected to the next-generation 5G network developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei. The new device enabled a near real-time connection, according to Dr. Ling.  “You barely feel that th...
Read more

New ATM's: withdraw money with veins in your finger

New cash machines: withdraw money with veins in your finger Cash machine technology that reads the pattern of finger veins is already available in Japan and Poland   By Telegraph Reporters 6:59PM BST 15 May 2014 Cash machines could soon be installed with devices that identify customers by reading the veins in their fingers. The technology is already being rolled out in Poland, where 1,730 cash machines will this year be installed with readers, negating the need for a debit card and Pin. Developed by Hitachi, the Japanese electronics firm, the machines read the patterns of the veins just below the surface of the skin on your finger using infra-red sensors. The light is partially absorbed by haemoglobin in the veins to capture a unique finger vein pattern profile, which is matched to a profile. The technology is used by Japanese banks and also in Turkey, offering “groundbreaking levels of accuracy and speed of authentication”, Hitachi said, which in t...
Read more