iPhone製造商富士康計劃用機器人更換幾乎所有的人類員工

Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant behind Apple’s iPhone and numerous other major electronics devices, aims to automate away a vast majority of its human employees, according to a report from DigiTimes. Dai Jia-peng, the general manager of Foxconn’s automation committee, says the company has a three-phase plan in place to automate its Chinese factories using software and in-house robotics units, known as Foxbots.

據DigiTimes消息，臺灣製造業巨頭，蘋果IPHONE以及多家知名電子產品的代工廠富士康打算以自動化取代大量人工勞動力。戴佳鵬，富士康自動化委員會總經理說富士康的三步走計劃已經就位，富士康中國工廠將以軟件配合室內機器人，也就是FOXBOTS來實現自動化

The first phase of Foxconn’s automation plans involve replacing the work that is either dangerous or involves repetitious labor humans are unwilling to do. The second phase involves improving efficiency by streamlining production lines to reduce the number of excess robots in use. The third and final phase involves automating entire factories, “with only a minimal number of workers assigned for production, logistics, testing, and inspection processes,” according to Jia-peng.

富士康計劃第一階段將首先替代人力不願意做的危險工作或者高重複性工作。第二階段是精簡產線削減多餘機器人提高生產效率。第三階段是將整個工廠都自動化。 “只留極少數員工來做生產，物流，測試和檢查。”

The slow and steady march of manufacturing automation has been in place at Foxconn for years. The company said last year that it had set a benchmark of 30 percent automation at its Chinese factories by 2020. The company can now produce around 10,000 Foxbots a year, Jia-peng says, all of which can be used to replace human labor. In March, Foxconn said it had automated away 60,000 jobs at one of its factories.

在富士康，製造自動化進程已經緩慢穩步的實施了多年。富士康去年聲稱已經設定目標，在2020年之前中國工廠實現30%自動化。戴佳鵬說現在公司每年生產1萬臺foxbots，足夠取代人力。三月時，富士康說在一家工廠實行自動化後少用了6萬人。

In the long term, robots are cheaper than human labor. However, the initial investment can be costly. It’s also difficult, expensive, and time consuming to program robots to perform multiple tasks, or to reprogram a robot to perform tasks outside its original function. That is why, in labor markets like China, human workers have thus far been cheaper than robots. To stay competitive though, Foxconn understands it will have to transition to automation.

長遠看來用機器人比人力便宜，不過初始投資會很多。給機器人編程然後讓它完成多種任務，或者重新編程讓它更改原來設定的功能無一不是費力，費時，費錢。所以像在中國這種勞動力市場人力遠比機器人便宜。然而爲了保持競爭力，富士康知道他必須完成自動化升級。

Complicating the matter is the Chinese government, which has incentivized human employment in the country. In areas like Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Zhengzhou, local governments have doled out billions of dollars in bonuses, energy contracts, and public infrastructure to Foxconn to allow the company to expand. As of last year, Foxconn employed as many as 1.2 million people, making it one of the largest employers in the world. More than 1 million of those workers reside in China, often at elaborate, city-like campuses that house and feed employees.

中國政府讓事情更加複雜化了，因爲它正在刺激就業。在成都，深圳，鄭州，當地政府拿出數十億美元用於獎金，能源合同，公共建設，允許富士康擴張地盤。到去年爲止，富士康僱員120萬人，躋身世界最大僱主行列。而其中超過一百萬人都在中國，他們吃住都在城市一般的工廠生活區，裏面應有盡有設施齊全。

In an in-depth report published yesterday, The New York Times detailed these government incentivizes for Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory, its largest and most capable plant that produces 500,000 iPhones a day and is known locally as “iPhone City.” According to Foxconn’s Jia-peng, the Zhengzhou factory has some production lines already at the second automation phase and on track to become fully automated in a few years’ time. So it may not be long before one of China’s largest employers will be forced to grapple with its automation ambitions and the benefits it receives to transform rural parts of the country into industrial powerhouses.

在昨天發表的一則深度報告中，紐約時報詳盡講述了鄭州政府的刺激政策，富士康鄭州工廠是其產能最大規模最大的工廠，日產iPhone50萬支，被當地稱作蘋果城。根據戴佳鵬的說法，鄭州工廠也已有某些產線進入了自動化第二階段，並且將在未來幾年穩步邁進全面自動化。所以用不了多久富士康就將面臨抉擇，是實現自己的自動化野心呢，還是繼續收好處幫這個國家實現農村地區工業化。

There is, however, a central side effect to automation that would specifically benefit a company like Foxconn. The manufacturer has been plagued by its sometimes abysmal worker conditions and a high rate of employee suicide. So much so in fact that Foxconn had to install suicide netting at factories throughout China and take measures to protect itself against employee litigation. By replacing humans with robots, Foxconn would relieve itself of any issues stemming from its treatment of workers without having to actually improve living and working conditions or increase wages. But in doing so, it will ultimately end up putting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people out of work.

不過自動化對富士康而言有一個很重要的附帶好處。糟糕的工作條件和高自殺率經常困擾富士康，以至於富士康現在在各地工廠都安裝了防自殺網並採取各種手段應對員工的法律訴訟來保護自己。換上機器人，富士康就可以解脫了，不需要提高員工生活條件，不需要漲薪水。不過這麼做的後果是，他會讓很多人失去工作，就算沒有幾百萬，也會有幾十萬人將丟掉飯碗。