Can the construction of Dongguan’s first unmanned factory alleviate the labor shortage?

Recently, the first private "unmanned factory" in Dongguan, Guangdong, has begun construction, marking a new stage in the local "machine replacement" strategy. The reporter learned that Dongguan's current labor shortage has reached more than 100,000 people. The construction of the "unmanned factory" may alleviate the labor shortage and will also have a positive impact on my country's robot industry.

"Unmanned factory" can reduce labor by 90%

Dongguan Songshan Lake Changying Precision Technology Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise that produces and sells mobile phone series connectors, shielding parts and ultra-precision hardware terminals and molds.

Recently, the reporter saw that the manipulators were being installed and debugged at the construction site of the first "unmanned factory" branch project. It is understood that the company is promoting the "unmanned factory" construction system. The first phase plans to invest 1,000 unmanned manipulators, and 100 manipulators have been put into operation in the early stage.

Ren Xiangsheng, the company's executive vice general manager, said that in the past, product processing using manually operated CNC machine tools was often prone to safety problems and the stability of product quality was also relatively poor.

"Against the backdrop of Dongguan's vigorous implementation of the 'machine replacing people' strategy, we are determined to establish an intelligent unmanned factory, replace manual labor with hardware robots, and then build a highly intelligent software control system for remote network control, which will greatly improve the factory's work efficiency and product quality." Ren Xiangsheng said.

"'Unmanned factory' does not mean there will be no people at all, but it will greatly reduce the number of workers, even to 90%." Chen Qixing, chairman of the company, said that after the "smart factory" is built, some software systems and middle and back-end management personnel will still be needed, and it is estimated that no more than 200 people will be needed; if calculated based on the current manual production level, more than 2,000 staff will be needed.

In fact, since Dongguan, Foshan and other cities in the Pearl River Delta successively released the "machine replacing people" strategic plan in 2014, under the subsidy incentives of special funds, the atmosphere of transformation of physical manufacturing enterprises in these regions to industrial robot intelligent equipment has become increasingly strong.

Taking Dongguan as an example, the municipal government has set up a special fund for "replacing people with machines" in Dongguan. Since 2014, it has invested 200 million yuan each year, and a total of 600 million yuan for three consecutive years to support enterprises in implementing "replacing people with machines". The maximum subsidy ratio can reach 15% of the total equipment value.

According to the person in charge of Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Dongguan has promoted 505 "machine replacement" application projects in traditional industries and advantageous industries, with an investment of 4.2 billion yuan, which can reduce the number of employees in enterprises by more than 30,000. The investment costs of enterprises are expected to be recovered within two years.

Can the labor shortage be alleviated?

In fact, the current situation of rising labor costs determines the necessity of implementing the "machine replacing people" strategy in Dongguan and other places.

With the rapid increase in labor costs in the Pearl River Delta, companies generally feel great pressure to survive. Zhai Suoling, president of the Dongguan Taiwan Enterprises Association, believes that although the initial investment in infrastructure such as industrial robots is large, companies with strong growth potential are expected to recover their costs within a few years. "Compared with the uncertainty of more than 20% annual growth in labor costs, it is still more cost-effective."

At the same time, "replacing people with machines" has raised concerns about whether it will increase factory layoffs and employee unemployment.

The reporter's on-site investigation found that, taking Dongguan as an example, phenomena such as "labor shortage" and "difficulty in recruiting workers" are very common, showing the current reality of labor shortage rather than labor surplus.

In Houjie Town, Dongguan, reporters saw recruitment advertisements from companies everywhere, and companies generally reported that "recruiting people is more difficult this year than in previous years."

"The situation of reduced employment does exist. The number of people applying for jobs here this year is about 20% less than last year." Li Yingsui, manager of the human resources department of Dongguan Oasis Shoes, told reporters at an on-site recruitment booth of a company in Houjie Town.

Wan Zhuopei, secretary of the Houjie Town Committee, told reporters that Houjie Town currently has a labor shortage of 14,000 people, and according to data from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, Dongguan City currently has a labor shortage of more than 100,000 people. In this light, the more than 30,000 people replaced by machines since Dongguan implemented the strategy of replacing people is still far from enough to make up for the labor shortage.

"In the process of implementing the strategy of replacing people with machines, we will not lay off employees. Instead, we will increase the number of employees as the scale of the factory expands," Ren Xiangsheng told reporters.

Stimulate the development of domestic robot industry

"I fully support 'machine replacement'," said Shi Jinbo, general manager of Liqun Automation Technology Co., Ltd. "For some companies, the investment of hundreds of millions of yuan in machinery and equipment puts them under great pressure. The government's subsidy funds for 'machine replacement' have a positive role in policy guidance. At the same time, the maximum subsidy rate of 15% has also reduced the anxiety of companies in investment to a certain extent and lightened their burden."

Many industry insiders believe that at a critical time when manufacturing enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are transforming to "Made in China", the implementation of the local government's "machine replacing people" strategy has given enterprises "reassurance" and has important guiding significance.

As market demand increases significantly, industry insiders predict that the domestic robotics industry will also usher in a golden period of rapid growth.

Statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) show that in my country's industrial robot market last year, overseas companies such as Switzerland's ABB, Germany's Kuka, Japan's Yaskawa and Fanuc accounted for more than 70% of the market share.

Dr. Huang Yanghua, assistant researcher at the Industrial Development Research Office of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that with the advancement and implementation of strategies such as "replacing people with machines", my country's robot market will rapidly develop to a trillion-level level. While "making the cake bigger", it will stimulate more market players to enter this industry.

"As labor shortages become increasingly severe in some areas, the demand for robots will gradually increase, which will also force robot research and development technology to achieve more breakthroughs and more localization," said Li Yuewei, marketing director of Shenzhen Zhongweixing Technology Co., Ltd.

In March 2015, the Guangdong Provincial Government issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Industrial Transformation and Upgrading in Guangdong Province (2015-2017)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which marked that Guangdong has entered the stage of comprehensively promoting the "machine replacement" strategy.

The plan states that by the end of 2017, Guangdong Province will strive to guide 20,000 industrial enterprises above designated size, or more than 50%, to complete a new round of technological transformation in three years; a total investment of 943 billion yuan will be completed in industrial technological transformation in three years. By the end of 2017, 10 intelligent manufacturing industrial bases with great influence in the country will be initially built, 2 domestic leading robot manufacturing industrial bases will be built, and 1,950 industrial enterprises above designated size will be promoted to carry out "machine replacement".

"With the promotion of replacing humans with machines, my country's robotics industry will develop rapidly, and the era of 'Made in China' is coming," said Hu Wen, financial director of Liqun Automation Technology Co., Ltd.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.