Will the large-scale application of robots snatch away human jobs? If factories use robots, where is the future for workers? "Machine replacement" not only brings positive effects to the transformation and upgrading of enterprises, but also attracts many controversies in society.
The panic about robots has a long history. As early as the 1960s, industrial robots were born in the United States. At that time, the unemployment rate in the United States was high, and due to concerns about the economic impact and social unrest caused by unemployment, the US government did not support the development of robotics companies. The limited development of industrial robotics technology in the United States has brought good news to Japan, which is facing labor shortages, and it quickly entered the practical stage.
In the following decades, industrial robots were widely used in various fields such as automotive production lines, 3C industries (i.e. computers, communication, and consumer electronics), and mechanical processing. Industrial robots demonstrate unparalleled efficiency advantages in terms of large amounts of repetitive, heavy, toxic, and hazardous operations.
Especially, the current demographic dividend period in China has come to an end, and the aging population is driving up labor costs. It will be the trend for machines to replace manual labor.
Made in China 2025 stands at a new height in history, making "high-end CNC machine tools and robots" one of the key areas vigorously promoted. At the beginning of 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the Implementation Plan for "Robot+" Application Action, which clearly stated that in the manufacturing industry, we will promote the construction of intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories and create typical application scenarios for industrial robots. Enterprises are also increasingly valuing the significance of intelligent manufacturing in their development, and are carrying out large-scale "machine to human" actions in many regions.
In the eyes of some industry insiders, although this slogan is easy to understand and helps companies understand and promote the implementation of intelligent manufacturing, some companies overly emphasize the value of equipment and technology, simply purchasing a large number of high-end machine tools, industrial robots, and advanced computer software systems, ignoring the value of people in the enterprise. If industrial robots are always just auxiliary tools without truly overcoming existing production limitations, exploring new independent production fields, generating new knowledge and technologies, then the impact of "machine replacement" is short-lived.
"The application of industrial robots can promote industrial upgrading through improving efficiency, product quality, and other means. However, the most important feature of industrial upgrading - technological progress - is not within the reach of industrial machinery and manpower, and must be achieved through the company's own research and development investment." said Dr. Cai Zhenkun from the School of Economics at Shandong University, who has been studying this field for a long time.
They believe that replacing humans with machines is only an external feature of intelligent manufacturing and should not be the focus of implementing intelligent manufacturing. Replacing people is not the goal, machines helping talents is the future development direction.
"The impact of the application of robots on the labor market is mainly reflected in changes in employment structure, adjustments in labor demand, and improvements in labor skill requirements. Generally speaking, industries with relatively simple and repetitive job content and low skill requirements are more susceptible to impact. For example, work in simple data processing, data entry, customer service, transportation, and logistics can usually be automated through preset programs and algorithms, making them more susceptible to the impact of robots. However, in many highly creative, flexible, and interpersonal communication fields, humans still have unique advantages."
The application of industrial robots will inevitably replace traditional labor and create new jobs, which is a consensus among professionals. On the one hand, with the continuous progress of robot technology and the expansion of its application scope, the demand for senior technical workers such as robot technicians and robot R&D engineers is growing day by day. On the other hand, with the development of technology, many emerging industries will emerge, opening up a brand new career field for people.
Post time: Apr-29-2024
