
Chinese Factory Replaces 90% of Humans with Robots Sees 250% Production Increase - SQL2219
http://monetarywatch.com/2017/01/chinese-factory-replaces-90-human-workers-robots-sees-250-production-increase/?doing_wp_cron=1484942344.6884350776672363281250
======
philipkglass
_One of China’s first unmanned factories in the city of Dongguan recently
replaced 590 of its workers with robots and the results were astounding. While
the factory used to be run by 650 employees, only 60 of those people still
work at the factory and their primary job is to make sure the machines are
running properly, not working on manufacturing._

 _Since the shift to robots, pieces per person per month has risen from 8,000
to 21,000—a whopping 250% increase. While some may argue that quality of the
product will decrease with the use of robots, this doesn’t appear to be the
case either. The number of product defects has decreased from 25% to just 5%._

So the old useful-output production per month was 650 * 8000 * 0.75 = 3900000
pieces. Now it's 60 * 21000 * 0.95 = 1197000.

Useful output in pieces per month is now only 31% of what it used to be. The
much lower defect rate might save a lot of money, but I wonder if profits
actually improved following such a dramatic output reduction, even considering
savings on wages and defective parts.

~~~
number6
Good find - I would have missed that they are speaking about pieces per person
and just asumed they really increased their output

------
RichardHeart
There is no reason to assume the 590 workers were replaced 1:1 with robots.
The number of robots is unknown. The known values are FiredWorkers:590
CurrentWorkers: 60 PiecesPerPersonOLD: 8000 PiecesPerPersonNEW: 21,000
DefectsOLD: 25% DefectsNEW: 5%

Using this data it would appear that the factory produces less as
philipkglass's math indicated. dingleberry's math assumes a 1:1 ratio of
persons turned into robots. The article never says this. It only says "pieces
per person." Robots are not yet persons.

A better written article wouldn't require this reading between the lines.

------
Pica_soO
Replicator make me a Cell-Phone

