Capitalism² – Unmanned Factories versus Wage Hikes: Employing the Robot

What comes first? The chicken or the egg, or in this case, as one person put it: Do humans make the robots or do robots make the robots? 

It’s a question asked more and more, and now with new technology replacing its human counterparts, it becomes legitimate in a world where the minimum wage isn’t enough to support a person, and companies continually search for cheaper means for production. 

In one discussion highlighted by CBS News, the minimum wage for a fast food worker can rest between $9 an hour to $15 in only 29 states.

“The reality is that most business are not going to pay $15 dollars an hour and keep their doors open,” says David Sutz, who owns four Burger Kings in New York. “It just won’t happen. The economics don’t work in this industry. There is a limit to what you’re going to pay for a hamburger.”

And this is where it gets interesting, folks. Interesting and concerning. We’ve all seen the new automated machines that can take your hamburger order in MacDonalds. The resourceful decision to hire more efficient employees in the form of, well, robots, has cut costs for the fast-food giant. Less people are required to work which equates to higher profits. The Changying Precision Technology Company can also share in a similar story on a larger scale:

“There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there’s now only 60.” Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, also said that “the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future. The robots have produced…three times as many pieces as were produced before…production per person has increased from 8,000 to 21,000 pieces. That’s a 162.5% increase.”

“In fact, quality has improved. Before the robots, the product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.”

So forget about the minimum wage hike. This new trend introduces a whole new meaning to employability.

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