China Moves Toward Robotic Era, Reduces Dependence On Manual Labour

By Niam Seet Wei DONGGUAN (China), May 14 (Bernama) -- Workers in Dongguan, an industrial district dubbed as the “factory of the world” in Guandong, South China have every reason to smile. Effective May 1 their minimum wage increased by 19 percent from 1310 yuan (US$211) per month to 1510 yuan (US$243), an increase of 200 yuan (US$32). The increase is not only to help workers keep up with the rising cost of living but also help the industries address labour shortage. However, it may not be a win-win situation as the higher salary would be reflected in the higher cost of factory productions. Cheap labour, considered a strong point in China's industrial revolution is now history. And the woes are never ending with labour shortages clearly being felt as younger migrant workers are no longer keen to leave their hometowns or work in factories, all the result of changing lifestyles, urbanisation and graying population in China. ROBOTS TO THE AID China's administrators are already looking ahead in addressing the changing scenario. They are now setting the foundation for China to move towards greater automation, with robots replacing much of the manual labour in production lines. Last year, Dongguan passed the resolution for Dongguan Enterprises to ‘Switch from Human to Machine Labour’ Plan (2014-2016)”, in which some 1,000 to 1,500 projects where robots replace human were expected to take place in the city by 2016. From last September to the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, Dongguan had received some 500 application for the robots-replacing-human-projects with a total investment value of 4.5 billion yuan (US$725.75 million), said Dongguan Mayor Yuan Baocheng. (US$1 = 6.2 yuan) "Dongguan municipal government will allocate a total of 200 million yuan (US$32.25 million) in subsidies annually to support the project with enterprises applying for the project receiving up to 5 million yuan in subsidies," he told a press conference here, recently. When the robots are ready, they would replace some 35,000 manual workers and generate 30 billion yuan (US$4.83 billion) in annual revenue. In Foshan, another manufacturing hub in Guangdong, its vice mayor Song Deping said the city was currently putting great effort into promoting the implementation of intelligent Foshan Manufacturing Action Plan 2025. "So far, there are some 125 robot manufacturing companies in Foshan and they are expected to produce 15,000 to 20,000 robots and their spare parts in the next three years," he added. Last year, Foshan's core equipment manufacturing output value hit 60 billion yuan (US$9.67 billion). WILL THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SURGE IN CHINA However, there also genuine fears of surging unemployment rates if workers are replaced by robots. Asked if the robotic manufacturing would lead to the spike in unemployment rate in the city, Yuan pointed out factory assembly line workers could switch from manufacturing to services sector. "Besides reducing the manufacturing costs, the implementation of robotic manufacturing aims at providing a better working environment for the workers," he said adding that it could also increase the productivity. Meanwhile, Coobie Zhang, international division president of Midea Group Co., Ltd. said the company had intentionally cut the employment rate to reduce the manufacturing costs. The number of workers hired by the Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer dropped to 108,000 in Q1 2015, compared with 126,000 people at the end of 2014. SONGSHAN LAKE INTERNATIONAL ROBOT INDUSTRY BASE (SSL) While China is moving towards its goal of achieving 100,000 units of robots sales by 2017, Songshan Lake International Robot Industry Base (SSL) is playing a vital role in realising this Chinese goal. The robot industry base, with a total investment of 270 million yuan, was listed as National High-tech Industrial Development Zone by the State Council in September 2010. "A total of five high-tech companies had joined us since the operation kicked off on Nov 6 last year," said chief executive officer (CEO) of the industry base, Bonnie Shi. Shi said currently, the industry base had sold several robots to the United States and Korea costing around 250,000 yuan (US$40,314) each. Covering an area of 72 square kilometres, the SSL will be developed in three phases, the first phase will comprise a robot research institute, technology investment school; phase two to establish an international school branch and high-end talent community; while in third phase, the head offices and Research and Development (R&D) centres of robot key enterprises will be constructed. -- BERNAMA