April 28, 2024

Foxconn Replaces Over 50% of Kunshan Factory Employees With Robots

Posted May 25, 2016 at 4:13pm by iClarified · 12793 views
Foxconn has replaced over 50% of workers at its Kunshan factory with robots, according to the South China Morning Post.

According to the city government's publicity department, 35 Taiwanese companies including Apple supplier Foxconn, spent 4 billion yuan (~610 Million USD) on artificial intelligence last year.

“The Foxconn factory has reduced its employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000, thanks to the introduction of robots. It has tasted success in reduction of labour costs,” said the department’s head Xu Yulian. “More companies are likely to follow suit.”

In a statement to BBC, Foxconn confirmed that it was automating "many of the manufacturing tasks associated with our operations" but denied that the introduction of robots means long-term job losses.

"We are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees, and through training, also enable our employees to focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development, process control and quality control. We will continue to harness automation and manpower in our manufacturing operations, and we expect to maintain our significant workforce in China."

More details at the link below...

Read More [via BBC]