China; when do we stop using it for cheap tat?

the_syco

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/chinese-factory-replaces-90-of-humans-with-robots-production-soars/

Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.

The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.

If this trend expands, the only reason for choosing China to build stuff will be its lax laws on dumping crap into the river.

Fix the pollution output, and the factory could be put in the USA for cheaper import, or just closer to the source of the raw materials.

The frightening thing is; this is done in the cheapest country. If robots replace workers in the cheapest country, what hope do those in countries that have workers rights have in terms of competition?

Interesting times ahead.

Atlantic Dawn

Yes but it's not just cheap tat they are making, if you look at your laptop, your mobile phone, your tv, chances are if you bought them in the last 5 years they were all made in China, nobody can really compete with them.

the_syco

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Yes but it's not just cheap tat they are making, if you look at your laptop, your mobile phone, your tv, chances are if you bought them in the last 5 years they were all made in China, nobody can really compete with them.

Actually, a lot were made by human robots. The process of replacing the humans with mechanical robots is already underway.

Foxconn is already doing it. Foxconn are major providers of laptops, phones, etc.

My point is that the companies are making the machines to cut the cost of the cheapest workers. But once the machine is made, it can be theoretically moved elsewhere.

5uspect

Its has being going this way for many years, globally. Several manufacturing industries have moved to robotics rather than to China, automotive in particular.

What's interesting here is that the capital cost of the robotics is becoming more attractive than the cheap labour. This is probably due to maturation of the technology as well as a rising cost of living in China.

It also means that we have to rethink how our roles in our increasingly automated economy. Everything from banking to transport to manufacturing can now be significantly automated. This will drive down costs but also reduce the availability of low skilled jobs.

What do we do when there's nothing left to build?

doolox

As economies develop it is possible that the material element of trade will reduce drastically in value in relation to other facets of trade.

Our houses, cars, toys, instruments, tools etc will become cheap and labour intensive things like care of children and the elderly, counselling and medical care, catering, entertainment, education, coaching, training and development at a personal level will become more common for more people and a bigger part of the economy.

This is already happening as manufacturing joins agriculture and mining in having only single digit levels of employment where historically these sectors employed huge numbers of people for long hours.

New ways will have to be found to arbitrate the distribution of wealth in future societies that is fair, moral, decent and just.

Iwasfrozen

doolox wrote: »

As economies develop it is possible that the material element of trade will reduce drastically in value in relation to other facets of trade.

Our houses, cars, toys, instruments, tools etc will become cheap and labour intensive things like care of children and the elderly, counselling and medical care, catering, entertainment, education, coaching, training and development at a personal level will become more common for more people and a bigger part of the economy.

This is already happening as manufacturing joins agriculture and mining in having only single digit levels of employment where historically these sectors employed huge numbers of people for long hours.

New ways will have to be found to arbitrate the distribution of wealth in future societies that is fair, moral, decent and just.

Why would houses, cars, toys, instruments, tools etc become cheaper? Surely the price of materials will stay the same or even rise as our population increases?

Dohnjoe

According to a recent Guardian article, over the last 140 years of automation more jobs have actually been created through the development of technology than lost to the automation - also the quality of these jobs has increased, people would rather think and create than act like robots

China has cheap labour and conditions for now, that will change as living standards and expectations catch up meet first world standards