If you still think having robots doing manual labor is a dream, you are out of date. In fact, robots are playing an increasingly important role in the manufacturing sector, especially after the severe labor shortage in eastern China. As the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, China is set to become the world’s largest robot market in 2014.
During the May Day holiday, the largest air conditioner manufacturing company in Zhejiang province is working overtime. But there isn’t a single factory worker in sight. "With an annual production of 5 million compressors, our company would have needed 1,000 workers. But now, we only need 580 workers," said Zhou Jiansheng at Jiaxipera.
Industrial robots make up for the rest. This particular assembly line would require 6 to 7 people, but with robots, only one or two are sufficient. Since the beginning of this year, with the worsening labor shortage in east China, an increasing number of manufacturing businesses are adopting industrial robots. Foxcom, in particular, has announced plans to use one million robots. Some small companies as well are also looking at using them.