This week in the news, Guandong factories are having robots replace workers. Tens of thousands of employees are being replaced, with more plans to become entirely robot run. BMW furthers its localization efforts into India by increasing their parts production in Chennai. And finally, 3D printers become even more handy and are used to create space suits for astronauts in China, or key parts of the suits at least.
BMW Increases Localization of Production in India
BMW has increased parts localization in India by 50% as they start producing their gearboxes and engines at the production facility in Chennai. The move aims to control the impact of inflation as well as to keep input costs in check. BMW currently assembles 8 models at this production site and expects the luxury car market to continue to grow over the next 10 years. Despite a 10% decrease in the volume of cars sold last year, the company is undeterred and plans to launch 15 new models in India by the end of this year. (Indian Express)
Chinese Researchers Use 3D printers to Make Space Suits
A Chinese aerospace science and technology research centre in Beijing has successfully used 3D printing devices to form space exploration suits for astronauts. The technology has been given the go-ahead to start manufacturing other parts as well. Currently, the vent pipes and flanges that the technology can create in just 16 hours would take up to two weeks to make. Not only are they made much more quickly using printers but they are said to be more reliable. Researchers say there are still a lot of issues to overcome but it is definitely the method for production in the future. (XinhuaNet)
Construction on the First ‘All-robot’ Manufacturing Plant Begins in China
A factory in Dongguan, in Guangdong Province, is in the process of having robots replace workers. It is fast-becoming the first factory that only uses robots for production. The initial aim is to cut the number of human employees by 90% to just 200 by introducing a total of 1000 robots, thought to cost up to 2 billion RMB ($322 million). In the midst of economic slowdown, more and more factories in southern China are lured into replacing human labor with robots. It is estimated that 30,000 workers have been replaced in 505 factories in Dongguan alone at the cost of 4.2 billion RMB ($677 million), with these figures rising every year. (Business Insider)
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