Foxconn replaces 60k human jobs with robots

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., or Foxxconn, is a multinational electronics contract manufacturing company based in Taiwan. The company that is one of the hardware supplier for Apple and Samsung has been replacing 60,000 of its human workers with robots. One of its factory has "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots", said a government official to the South China Morning Post. Foxconn in replacing its human workforce is by applying robotic engineering as well as other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace the repetitive tasks previously done by human employees. Through training, some of the said reduced employees could focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process. This include R&D, process control and quality control. Furthermore, the company could cut labor cost significantly. "It has tasted success in reduction of labor costs," said the department's head Xu Yulian. "We will continue to harness automation and manpower in our manufacturing operations, and we expect to maintain our significant workforce in China." China has been focusing in robots to replace humans. Since September 2014, 505 factories in across Dongguan, Guangdong province, have invested 4.2 billion yuan (£430 million) in robots, aiming to replace thousands of workers.