[Dprglist] FYI: A Robot Revolution, This Time in China

Sun May 14 10:05:11 PDT 2017

Hi Y'all

Robots are taking over the world.

Dave

A Robot Revolution, This Time in China

By  <https://www.nytimes.com/by/keith-bradsher> KEITH BRADSHER

MAY 12, 2017 

HANGZHOU, China - Even a decade ago, car manufacturing in China was still a
fairly low-tech, labor-intensive endeavor. Thousands of workers in a
factory, earning little more than $1 an hour, performed highly repetitive
tasks, while just a handful of industrial robots dotted factory floors.

No longer.

At Ford's newest car assembly plant in Hangzhou in east-central China, at
least 650 robots, resembling huge, white-necked vultures, bob and weave to
assemble the steel structures of utility vehicles and midsize sedans.
Workers in blue uniforms and helmets still do some
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/business/international/china-jobs-donald
-trump.html>  of the welding, but much of the process has been automated.

The Ford plant in Hangzhou. Credit Giulia Marchi for The New York Times 

The state-of-the-art factory exemplifies the vast transformation that has
taken place across manufacturing in China. General Motors opened a similarly
ultra-modern Cadillac factory in the eastern suburbs of Shanghai, as well as
one in Wuhan. Other automakers are also pouring billions of dollars into
China, now the world's largest auto market.

Robots are critical to China's economic ambitions, as Chinese companies look
to move up the manufacturing chain. The Ford assembly plant is across the
street from a robot-producing factory owned by Kuka, the big German
manufacturer of industrial robots that a Chinese company bought last summer
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/business/dealbook/germany-china-technolo
gy-takeover.html> .

Automated machinery at the Ford plant. Credit Giulia Marchi for The New York
Times 

For carmakers, the reliance on robots is driven partly by cost. Blue-collar
wages have soared because multinational companies have moved much of their
production to China even as its labor force is rapidly changing. The
combination of the one-child policy, which cut the birth rate through the
1980s and '90s, and an eightfold increase in college enrollments has cut by
more than half the number of people entering the work force each year who
have less than a high school degree and may be willing to consider factory
work
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/business/as-graduates-rise-in-china-offic
e-jobs-fail-to-keep-up.html> .

Blue-collar wages are now $4 to $6 an hour in large, prosperous cities,
though still far lower than in the United States.

Automation is also a competitive necessity. As carmakers jockey for
customers' attention, they have no choice but to deploy the latest
technologies, even in research and development. The challenge is how to keep
a competitive edge, while trying to prevent
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/business/china-trade-manufacturing-europ
e.html> intellectual property
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/business/china-trade-manufacturing-europ
e.html> from being copied quickly by Chinese rivals.

Automakers see their reliance on robots as being driven by cost and
competitive demands. Credit Giulia Marchi for The New York Times 

"We're basically building an R&D center here in China, and test track, that
is on par with other parts of Ford," in North America, Europe and Australia,
said Mark Fields, the chief executive of Ford Motor. At the same time, he
said, the company would protect its intellectual property.

Robots perform tasks like welding in exactly the same way every time,
improving quality control. But they require a lot of fine-tuning along the
way.

The painting process is also mostly automated. Elaborate spraying robots,
their joints covered in many layers of plastic so that they do not become
clogged with paint mist, snake back and forth across each car body. Workers
still apply protective sealant to the vehicles' interiors and underbodies,
as Ford has been leery of depending entirely on robots for this step until
it is sure they work well. More robots are scheduled to be installed in
August, replacing manual labor for the protective sealant step as well.

Robots covered in multiple layers of plastic apply primer to vehicle frames
at Ford's Hangzhou plant. Credit Sarah Li for The New York Times 

Automation doesn't elicit the same fear of job losses
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/technology/personaltech/how-to-make-amer
icas-robots-great-again.html>  in China as in the United States. With car
demand in China growing quickly, ever more factories and workers are needed
to produce more cars. The Ford factory here in Hangzhou may have 650 robots,
but it also has 2,800 workers. Other automakers continue to hunt for skilled
workers to fill vacancies in their factories.

"Robots aren't the threat," said Paul Buetow, the director of China
manufacturing at General Motors. "The threat is not being able to run your
business with products that people want to buy."

A version of this article appears in print on May 13, 2017, on Page B3 of
the New York edition with the headline: A Robot Revolution in China as Car
Manufacturers Look to Cut Costs.

An excellent video of the robots building Ford cars in China is at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/business/a-robot-revolution-this-time-in-
china.html

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