Some time ago, the news that Haier will cut tens of thousands of jobs provoked much discussion. The main reason for the staff reduction is that the company has begun to expand its use of automatic equipment or robots. 

In fact more and more robots are being used by consumer-electronics manufacturers like Foxconn, Canon, Philips and Apple.

Foxconn CEO Guo Taiming said at a shareholders' meeting that the company might use robots on its production lines for Apple equipment before the production of IPhone6. It is understood that initially Foxconn will deploy 10,000 robots to replace workers, who will include employees on the iPhone production line.

However, robots have long been used in some European plants.

The cost of robots is gradually falling, and work skills are becoming more and more delicate. As a result, some experts believe that the emergence of low cost automation robots will repeat the mass change of the agricultural technology revolution of the last century.

In this skill that will bring change to the world, China, known as the world factory, has huge market potential. According to analysis by the IFR (International Federation of Robotics), world sales of industrial robots in 2013 reached 168,000 units, an increase of 5 percent compared to 2012. Sales in China achieved a 15 percent rise. The IFR also predicted that in 2016 China will become the largest industrial robot market.

The article is edited and translated from《机器人替代人工渐成电子制造业趋势》, source: Economic Information, author: Xiao Xiao