It Is Inevitable To Replace Robots With Robots In The Next Few Years.

In February last year, the Boston consulting company issued a report predicting that by the end of 2025, the annual growth rate of industrial robot investment in the world's 25 largest exporters will accelerate from 2%-3% to 10%, and the labor cost of factories will be reduced by 16%.

Harold L. Sirkin, a senior partner of the company, said that with the rise of global labor costs, manufacturers are becoming more and more critical to take measures to maintain competitiveness and increase per capita output. Harold Sirkin,

The report also pointed out that the global sales of industrial robots increased by 23% in 2014 and doubled by 2018.

The field brought about great changes.

According to a study in the United States, in the next ten years, with the cheaper robot cost, not only can it be competent for more kinds of jobs, but also can effectively control the wage increase of the workers.

Moreover, from a macro perspective, this is the inevitable trend of the development of productive forces, and can reduce international development.

The global factories do not get cheap labor and continue to migrate.

Similar reports have been made in the United Kingdom, especially in large scale labor export markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia, where more and more jobs will be replaced by robots in many industries including automation and electronic products.

Of course,

Manufacturing is also a typical industry.

It has been reported recently that Foxconn, a well-known electronics manufacturer, has installed 40 thousand robots in China's major production bases, which is also seen as a signal for the company to vigorously promote robot production.

Most of China's manufacturing industry is still in the labor intensive stage, which requires a lot of labor costs, especially in the electronics and footwear industry.

Today's market environment is undergoing rapid changes. The iteration cycle of many commodities is shortened, and there are many competitors with the category. Enterprises have to pay more cost in channel sales, brand promotion and even warehousing and pportation. Therefore, reducing capital investment in production stage is a natural practice.

Replacing labor with robots can reduce labor expenditure, and more importantly, it can solve the cost of production and operation.

Taking Foxconn as an example, the promotion of robot production line has reduced the demand for labor. In the factory of Kunshan alone, the company planned to lay off 60 thousand employees.

Robot "post" has quietly come to our eyes.

East Asia and Southeast Asia are also the center of shoes and clothing production in the world. China used to be the main force, but now it is more concentrated in Southeast Asia.

But the field is also suffering from "Robot Invasion", though it only releases some of the signals.

Last year, the famous sports brand Adidas began to launch a Speedfactory program, which is the future of a robot shoemaking factory in Germany, the United States and even more areas.

Here we have to lament the implementation of Adidas's work.

In December last year, the Adidas robotics factory in Germany began to trial operation. In May this year, the plant was officially launched and entered the production rhythm.

According to the schedule, the first batch of finished shoes produced by Speedfactory will be available in the second half of the year.

Sure enough, at the end of September, Adidas showed the first batch of finished products of the factory, named Futurecraft M.F.G., which is a fashionable running shoe.

Adidas official video did not reveal the production process of too many shoes, but we can also find that the whole production process is mainly based on robot work, but it is still indispensable for manual assistance.

Although robots are produced, there are many technological elements for new shoes.

Ben Heath, vice president of Adidas design (Ben Heath), said that Futurecraft M.F.G. is a model of using robots to design more suitable shoes for athletes.

"In the Speedyfactory factory, we can use data and analysis to shape the future of high-performance products. We use the insights of real life to create shoes, which will provide more beneficial products for athletes."

So replacing robots with robots is challenging for brands like Adidas, and the whole technology change is going to take a long time. While saving labor costs, the technology requirements can not be reduced. Instead, more technology is needed to cooperate with machine users.

Adidas also said that the Futurecraft M.F.G. project is just the beginning and there will be more products in the coming months.

The company will also expand the production line of the Futurecraft production line, including the use of 3D printing materials to make sports shoes.

Of course, this step also requires market tests, and Adidas strives to be cautious.

This year, Adidas plans to produce 500 pairs of finished products through robotic factories.

On the one hand, after all, this is a huge technological production line reform. Besides the continuous exploration of production technology, it is also necessary for the relevant talents to follow up and follow up. This is not a minor project.

In addition, the calculation of comprehensive cost may follow up systematically. If it is naive to think that robot production will surely reduce costs, it is totally wrong.

Of course, in any case, Adidas has set an example in the industry.

Although the robot factory will not be able to replace the existing production mode in a short time, from the whole schedule, the production scale of Adidas robot factory will develop rapidly in the next few years.

Adidas's second robot factory is scheduled to start in Atlanta next year, when Adidas's robot production will take a new stage.

It is estimated that in the second half of next year, the production capacity of Atlanta plant can reach 50 thousand pairs.

If it goes well, the robot factory will produce 1 million pairs of output a year in the next few years.

But even so, its share is only a small part of Adidas's total supply chain.

You know that in Asia's main production area, Adidas can produce about 300 million pairs of sneakers every year.

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Speaking of China's footwear manufacturing, we have to say Yuyuan group.

Yuyuan group's main business focus in the manufacturing sector is the sports industry, but it also began to adjust in the first half of this year.

By the end of June 30th, Yuyuan's footwear manufacturing revenue had declined slightly, but the sports shoe business still rose.

However, it should be pointed out that in the first half of the year, Yuyuan's footwear output was only 22% from China, far behind Vietnam and Indonesia, compared with 25% in the same period last year.

It can be seen that China's shoes and clothing manufacturing industry has been quietly pforming.

At least from the perspective of labor output, China no longer has any advantages.

Yuyuan is the foundry of more than 60 sports brands of the world's major sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma and so on. Its parent company Taiwan Baocheng group accounts for about 20% of the global sports shoes production market, and its annual output exceeds 300 million pairs.

However, in the first half of this year, Yuyuan's direct labor cost was up to US $600 million, an increase of 20% over the same period last year. In this case, the group controlled overall expenditure by reducing material costs, while the overall manufacturing revenue also declined slightly.

It can be seen that Yu Yuan has also experienced intermittent swings under the background of the whole industry adjustment.

The status quo of China has also given warning to many sports giants that they should not only put their treasure in the main labor export market.

The increase in labor costs and the reduction in total volume are the main trends. Many other well-known enterprises have begun to implement manufacturing pfer to other industries.