Samsung has reported to start designs of opening a new highly precision robotics assembly line in South Korea. This robotic assembly line will be in charge of assembling Samsung products like their mobile phone and other electronic devices.
This article mentioned many great befits that can come from the new robotic assembly line. One area that this would befit immensely would be in cut the labor cost for Samsung significantly. Because of the automatic assembly of the products Samsung would need less employees in the factory. This is especially relevant with the research I found, that their has be a slight rise in the chines labor forces. Another major advantage would be that these robotics would be a more efficient way of assembly the products. Products would be assembled in a quicker and efficient way causing Samsung to be able to increase their daily production output. Last this robotic assembly line would be extremely precise. This is extremely important, especially dealing with electronics. “Making products such as mobile phones and other consumer electronics that require the level of precision often only possible with human hands.” (Wired.com). This is a huge breakthrough in the assemble process, where before it could only have been done by hand. This ensures that Samsung is producing quality style products for their customers.
There were some areas though that I found that this article might have overlooked. For example it would cost a great deal of electricity in order to run these robotics. This could add up and be very costly for Samsung. Another area would be that if the factory were to lose power all manufacturing would cease. This would cause total production to stop and cause a major lag in products for Samsung. Finally over time the automatic robotic machinery might break down or become obsolete. This would not be easily replaceable and cost a lot to fix, as opposed to simply replacing another worker in the assembly line.
I would suggest to Samsung that they find equilibrium between robotic assembly and manual labor. Having both work forces would cut some cost with out taking to many of the risk of having a fully robotic assembly line. Thought overtime I see problems like I mention to become more and more obsolete.
Sources: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/samsung-build-robots-cheap-chinese-labor-article-1.2403149
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/19/samsung-south-korea-robots-cheap-labour
Samsung is making a bold move in creating a fully automated assembly line in their factory in South Korea. There are Positives and negatives in this that need to be addressed. As you mentioned, the machinery would reduce the labor cost almost to zero, and would greatly increase the output of products from this factory. In addition to this, these machines would be able to work all night without receiving “overtime” as a human worker would. Also, with these machines being almost just as precise as the human hand, they will be able to create more while making fewer mistakes. On the downside, as you mentioned, production would cease if there were a power outage in the factory, as human workers would likely be able to keep working. Also, these machines would cost a great deal to install and maintain. However, in a normal dual human and autonomous factory, the machinery that the workers use may become obsolete and need to be replaced and the workers trained for the new machinery. If Samsung were to use a fully autonomous assembly line, then these complex machines would be able to be updated and modified to keep them from becoming obsolete. While I find using these machines to have great benefits, I agree with you in that Samsung needs to somewhat keep a balance between man and machine.
ReplyDeleteSamsung building robots to outsource labor is an essential part of Samsung’s initiative towards maximizing productivity. Samsung initiating designs of these precision robots demonstrates how they are adapting to their competitors and attempting to start a new bottom line initiative, by cutting costs.
ReplyDeleteSamsung building robots to cut costs has positive and negative implications. One of the positive implications for Samsung is that they are now able to cut costs. They no longer have to pay humans to create phones, because they now have robots to do it for them. Although Samsung now has to pay substantially more in electricity costs, they are fine with it due to the fact that these robots will not only increase productivity, but minimize errors as well. Although Samsung may see this as a positive implication of building these robots, this is a negative implication to Samsung’s work force. Samsung already has many employees working in factories to create these phones. However, many of these people may have to be laid off because these robots are outsourcing these people’s jobs.
Although Samsung’s new robots will help increase productivity, one negative e implication for Samsung would be that they are limited to their power and electricity output. Hypothetically, if one of Samsung’s factories lost power, then they would not be able to produce any phones. Although they might be able to counter this by having backup generators on site, this would be a very expensive ordeal. It may not even be a good decision economically to keep enough backup generators to support the factory and robots running the factory.
Although Samsung may be spending a lot of money to create these robots in the first place, the possible return on investment on these robots is tremendous. If executed correctly, the creation of these robots and integration of them into a factory could maximize production, while minimizing errors.
In conclusion, Samsung making robots to outsource labor has negative and positive implications, both for Samsung, and for the labor force that Samsung may be eradicating. Although Samsung’s labor force may no longer find themselves working for Samsung in the near future, they may find new opportunities away from Samsung due to the fact that they may leave Samsung soon. I believe that Samsung using robots to increase productivity in creating their phones is a good move that will help them minimize errors, as well as save money in the long run.