China is practically the global hub for manufacturing, with practically everything we use in our daily lives sporting a “Made in China” tag. Given this information, its obvious that China employs a massive amount of people within its manufacturing facilities. However, given the rising concerns over worker treatment and rise in wages, China has started to use robots in its manufacturing facilities and ABB, the Swiss Engineering Group plans to fully capitalise in that.
ABB is setting up a robot manufacturing plant in Shanghai which is slated to be operational by 2020. The facility will manufacture robots for use in factories across China and ABB is hopeful that the current trade war between U.S. and China will not have an adverse impact on the company’s plans. The facility being setup by ABB will also use robots for the manufacturing process alongside humans thanks to the company’s YuMi robots which are designed to work alongside people. The factory will also use a custom software that will allow man and machine to work side-by-side in close proximity.
China is ABB’s second largest market for robots after the United States of America. One in three robots shipped in 2017 were destined for China, making the country a very lucrative market for ABB. Given the country’s recent history with issues of worker compensation and work conditions, China has increasingly been turning to robots in their manufacturing facilities, especially for electronics. While ABB did not specifify the number of people that will be employed in the new factory, it did say that the new factory, which would cost $150 Million, would boost the number of workers in the robotics segment in China.