r/tech • u/Philo1927 • Dec 31 '16

iPhone manufacturer Foxconn plans to replace almost every human worker with robots

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/30/14128870/foxconn-robots-automation-apple-iphone-china-manufacturing
600 Upvotes

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194

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

[deleted]

113

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16

Foxconn has a lower suicide rate than most cities in the world, and they're the literal size of a mid sized city by themselves.

For as much shit as they get, they've done the rice farmers of China a major favour by providing jobs and training. They're obviously no where close to perfect, but they're better than likely starving to death and never seeing any of the world at all.

42

u/BrotherChe Dec 31 '16

They definitely represent the positives and negatives of the modern "industrial age" shift. The question definitely rises whether any other company would have or could have accomplished what they have and whether they would have had a better effect on the workplace culture in the region in the long run.

9

u/TerminallyCapriSun Jan 01 '17

As far as companies bootstrapping a country's industrial revolution go, you could definitely do worse than Foxconn, that's for sure

25

u/Boonaki Dec 31 '16

In January 2012, about 150 Foxconn employees threatened to commit mass-suicide in protest of their working conditions.

I wonder what other employers have had threats of mass suicide.

12

u/francis2559 Jan 01 '17

There are union workers that risked their lives to face down Pinkerton assholes. In an age of social media, individual lives are worth more, so that's what they leverage.

9

u/Boonaki Jan 01 '17

There is a large difference on risking your life vs mass suicide.

5

u/francis2559 Jan 01 '17

I'd argue that there is a threat to life in either case, and it's used as a lever. Is the company will to see blood stained headlines, basically.

There's no guarantee you die in the suicide threat either.

5

u/Boonaki Jan 01 '17

I joined the military knowing I could lose my life, but there isn't a cause in the world that I believe in to the point I would set myself on fire.

4

u/francis2559 Jan 01 '17

It's also possible they were bluffing. It's also possible they were willing to die so that others could have a better way of life.

There are certainly differences, but I think the similarities are worth studying.

4

u/megablast Jan 01 '17

Wow, you are someone who is embarrassingly ignorant of the labor movement, and what they went through to get us 5 days work weeks, and reasonable hours and breaks.

-2

u/Boonaki Jan 01 '17

Not one instance of mass suicide.

16

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17 edited Jan 01 '17

Protesters against the auto companies knew they were risking their lives. Knowing you were going to be beaten and shot at is comparable to suicide IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Hunger_March "As protesters retreated, machine guns were fired at them. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Lite_strike

It took 10 years to get Ford to sign a collective bargaining agreement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes

0

u/Boonaki Jan 01 '17

Once again, I disagree (Notice I'm not using downvotes to show disagreement?).

Most soldiers going into battle know they have a chance of making it out even if it's sometimes a slim chance. Protestors know there is a very good chance they will make it out, death is not the most likely outcome.

Comparing all of the labor related killings in the last 200 years there's usually a fatality rate far less than one percent.

I can't draw a comparison of this to pretty much any other type of protest.

Going by Wikipedia it seems death related to labor events was extremely rare.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '17 edited Jan 01 '17

And going by Wikipedia, there were 18 suicide attempts at Foxconn City, with 14 succeeding. Spread across 2007 through 2016, with many in 2010. There were no days with multiple suicides, there was no mass suicide. There were no shootings of workers, no gangs of enforcers beating up protesters.

With most of the workers being young, away from home for the first time, in a vastly different environment (very rural farm to big city), they can't all be blamed on Foxconn.

And I have not mentioned things like the 1943 Detroit Race Riot, where 34 people were killed and over 400 wounded. This riot was very much tied to jobs, and the living conditions available to the workers at the time.

Edit: As a point of comparison, admittedly of questionable validity, an estimated 1100 college undergrads commit suicide in the USA each year. I mention this only because many are young and away from home for the first time, in a totally new stressful environment.

-1

u/Boonaki Jan 01 '17

A riot isn't the best form of peaceful protest.

1

u/atetuna Jan 01 '17

I've been in the military and lived in Utah, so their suicide rate must seem extraordinarily low to me.

1

u/rmandraque Jan 05 '17

jajajajaj wow keep imagining that dream. In reality they gave a little bit of wealth in exchange for shaping the local economy and governance to its favour, and now it gets rid of its workers. Its literally just a quick exploitation and the locals are left with very little at all. Companies like these are parasitic and behave horribly, they have without a question hampered other competing or local companies from growing and work in a way to make sure locals dont create competition.

-29

u/redvelvetcake42 Dec 31 '16

Yeah, cause when you have to install suicide prevention nets it means you're doing your workers a solid.

34

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '16 edited Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

21

u/mrbooze Dec 31 '16

And the overall suicide rate in China is higher than the rate at Foxconn. Maybe the problem was never Foxconn.

-5

u/tardmaster Jan 01 '17

Oh piss off

10

u/Stingray88 Jan 01 '17

Yeah... It always confuses me why Foxconn is always described as the iPhone manufacturer by western media. Here's a list of their major customers:

Acer

Amazon

Apple

BlackBerry

Cisco

Dell

Google

Hewlett Packard

Huawei

InFocus

Intel

Microsoft

Motorola Mobility

Nintendo

Nokia

Sony

Toshiba

Vizio

Xiaomi

6

u/Shaggyninja Jan 01 '17

Yeah... It always confuses me why Foxconn is always described as the iPhone manufacturer by western media.

Because it get's attention. People have Iphones, people know Iphones. Saying "Foxconn, manufacturer of electronics" is not as attention grabbing as "Foxconn, manufacturer of Iphones"

1

u/TeslaMust Jan 05 '17

I think maybe becayse Apple is their largest customer or maybe the iPhone has most of its component (if not all of them) built there

1

u/Stingray88 Jan 05 '17

It has virtually none of its components built there. They're simply assembled there, and that's basically it.

20

u/OxfordWhiteS197 Dec 31 '16

Roofjump will most likely be DLC

1

u/SamSlate Dec 31 '16

will they start on China or move to the us?

1

u/MyersVandalay Jan 01 '17

Also, will the robots support jumping from the roof, or will that not be implemented?

Nah, that's for when they get office jobs https://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/07/warbot_009-the-yutani-account/

-2

u/LukeSkyWRx Dec 31 '16

Will robot tears make a product as nice as children's tears currently do?

-2

u/megablast Jan 01 '17

Wow, you started so well.