Just_Discussion6287 t1_iwjjfga wrote
Reply to comment by geedavey in Apple will begin sourcing chips from a plant in Arizona and from Europe in a major supply chain shift away from China, CEO Tim Cook told employees by flyingdutchgirll
Most jobs in the industry are going away. The factory that builds the PS5 has 5 floor workers.
When the factories are super autonomous it doesn't matter where they are built.
More jobs in shipping these products to the rest of the world than building them these days.
mipacu427 t1_iwk0r3u wrote
I disagree that "it doesn't matter where they are built". Even at heavily autonomous factories, skilled workers will be needed to maintain the machines, program the computers, maintain the facility, etc. Not to mention the logistics of shipping in materials, warehousing, and shipping out finished products.
IamChuckleseu t1_iwko2m0 wrote
Way more important than that is general safety of business. You can buy skilled workers if you have none (and China does not even have that many people on the top, they have more of a high skilled low and medium jobs workforce rather than high skilled job one). Either way you can not buy safe environment for your business where ruling dictator just does not wake up one day and steal all your stuff.
Just_Discussion6287 t1_iwkugcm wrote
"More jobs in shipping these products to the rest of the world than building them these days."
Maintaining a series of machines is a lot less laborious. My example in the sony factory, there are only 4 employees that handle those roles. Compared to the 1,000s that you would expect. There's just not a lot of roles to carry on.
Think about the PS2, that required chip designers(Which is now AMD outsourced), more marketers, every part of the supply chain was larger included used games sales. Sony had 2x the employees in 2009 than it did in 2022. And half the revenue.
CoquitlamFalcons t1_iwkcr9h wrote
I wonder why Foxconn’s Zhengzhou iPhone factory employs 200K workers…
PierG1 t1_iwks5x2 wrote
Because if you pay them less than what’s worth an assembly robot and it’s maintenance it’s still cheaper to hire people
Danji1 t1_iwkpfcl wrote
They are robots.
Just_Discussion6287 t1_iwku3ru wrote
Same reason the sony factories used to employ more people.
The automation doesn't destroy 200,000 jobs overnight. The factories you are referencing look a lot different post covid versus iphone 7. There are some design failures that are specific to apple products limiting automation for a couple of more years.
The technology for AI/ML digital twinning(nvidia omniverse isaac) and fine robot control is only months old not years.
quettil t1_iwn1ggl wrote
It's not just about jobs it's about national security and balance of trade.
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