Xiaomi unveils new autonomous smart factory that operates 24/7 without human labor

midian182

midian182

Posts: 9,953   +128
Staff member
In brief: In what could be a worrying sign of things to come, Chinese phone maker Xiaomi has built a new autonomous smart factory that can not only make 10 million handsets per year, but can also identify and correct production issues while optimizing the entire process.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said the 860,000-square-foot facility, located in the Changping district on the northeast outskirts of Beijing, follows a lab-level smart factory built in 2019 that produced around 1 million phones per year – it handled the entire production of the Xiaomi Mix Fold.

The new facility is described by Jun as a truly automated mass-production factory. It features 11 production lines, able to produce the company's upcoming flagship MIX Fold 4 and the MIX Flip phones at a constant rate of one every few seconds.

The factory can operate 24 hours a day without people on the floor, writes Gizmochina, though the video shows a handful of people in what Jun calls the War Room, monitoring the Xiaomi Hyper IMP (Intelligent Manufacturing Platform).

These types of 24/7 factories aren't new, but Xiaomi's facility further reduces the need for human workers by using AI to identify and solve any issues that may appear during production.

According to a Weibo post (via New Atlas), the IMP is able to improve process flows, make decisions, and execute commands. It can also realize full-scenario digital management, from the procurement of raw materials to delivery. All of which makes it a factory that's able to "evolve" itself, according to the post.

Robots have been replacing factory workers for a couple of decades now; one of the largest cuts came in 2016 when Foxconn reduced its workforce by 60,000 by swapping them out for unpaid machines that toil 24/7. But Xiaomi's smart factory takes automation to the extreme by potentially replacing those who would diagnose or fix problems with the production and help optimize processes.

It's not just manufacturing plants where robots are taking human jobs. Amazon has recently started ramping up the use of autonomous machines in its fulfillment centers and warehouses, from 350,000 robots in 2021 to more than 750,000 by June 2023.

In October last year, the tech giant announced Digit, a 5-foot 9-inch 143-pound robot from Agility Robotics, was being deployed to warehouses. The two-legged machine can walk forward, backward, and sideways; squat and bend; and move, grasp, and handle items using its arm/hand-like clasps. It can imitate almost everything that a human can do, without needing to perform bodily functions or take time off due to stress.

Permalink to story:

Xiaomi unveils new autonomous smart factory that operates 24/7 without human labor

 
Not good for a country with billions of people. The government's hand will be on the back of their heads at any moment.

Anyone with a brain knows that this is not sustainable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BogdanR
Now the interesting thing to watch for is the quality and durability of their products. If they have both it will be a great advantage for them but the question also begs, what happens to the people and are they able to get new jobs of equal or greater value?
 
  • Like
Reactions: rondean2000
Full automation, brought to you by the same people who are arguing you should work harder, who are paying less taxes than you or no taxes at all and who pay to get elected people who would dismantle social security nets but prop up corporate welfare.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Clynt
It doesn't take any human labor to create the oxygen we breathe, and we're all fine with that. The more essential needs that can have their cost driven down to zero, the happier I'll be.

That said I call BS on this factory not needing people. Machines break and require maintenance. Input goods become unavailable and substitutions must be accommodated. And if they truly did achieve perfect automation everything that happens in a plant, it must have taken far more person-hours to design & implement that system, than it would have taken to staff it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PurpaFur and BogdanR
A) How is it going to optimize processes? Isn't the line already built, and the phone designed? I mean it's not like it can just skip steps (... or at least it shouldn't, it'd be amusing if it decided to just start spitting out phones with no screws, the glue holds it for a while then it just falls apart.) I'm guessing most of this part is hype.

b) I wonder what'll happen if they have any equipment faults? I worked as a machine operator, and when that machine acted up, it could just start churning out faulty product; the line could "jam" and you could have stuff just build up there and dump onto the floor. Have you seen that old "I love lucy" thing with the production line, where she falls behind and it just starts piling up? This. I never let it get that far but I saw it happen. Their equipment can probably detect faults better and shut itself down. But it seems a bit troubling how the war room had this big video wall with just graphs and charts, and no actual view of the production equipment running. It made me wonder if things went haywire, how long would it take them to notice?

Really though, those are just concerns. That's one fancy production line and I'm duly impressed!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clynt
IMO as long as consumers get what they need or want it will not matter if it came from an all exclusive AI plant or semi-AI plant. Consumer goods, parts, there will always be need for them. Of course you will still need support staff to maintain and service the equipment. I see most stories like this referring to assembly and distribution jobs/floors.
 
Last edited:
WhiteLeaff said:
Not good for a country with billions of people. The government's hand will be on the back of their heads at any moment.

Anyone with a brain knows that this is not sustainable.
Click to expand...
The truth is, it is not good for any country. The direct impact is in China itself, but that does not mean the Chinese workers will not go elsewhere to look for jobs. At the end of the day, people need money to spend. So they need a job. Assuming you automate all jobs 1 day, then who is going to buy those products? A rich man can still afford, but he/she won't need to buy 1 million phones from Xiaomi for example. Hence, is it sustainable? You be the judge. To me, its just an act of foolishness. There are problems with manual work, but bots are not free of issues. You don't pay the bot a salary, but you pay the electricity and maintenance cost. So the combination of reduced revenue and running cost pretty much negates the cost savings of hiring manual labor.
 
Curious about the main image in the article - is it an actual image from the factory or just an AI image of some futuristic looking place? I only ask as I can't see anything being assembled. I also can't see why there are displays in the floor and who would read them in a factory with no people? Why are there even lights?

Would it be a good idea if TS states when the images they are using are AI generated?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

zohaibahd
Kirigami-inspired mechanical computer operates without electricity
Replies
3
Views
77
Mjsun
M
Daniel Sims
AI and Ukraine drone warfare are bringing us one step closer to killer robots
Replies
10
Views
120
TheBigT42
TheBigT42
Shawn Knight
Microsoft's AI speech generator achieves human parity but is too dangerous for the public
Replies
20
Views
142
zulu53
Z

Latest posts

Back