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}); </script> </div> <div id="content" class="narrow_content" data-article="20389"> <div id="article_top" class="summary_details">  <div class="sd_top"> <script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[ var mobile = (/iphone|ipad|ipod|android|blackberry|mini|windows\sce|palm/i.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase())); if (mobile) { var mob_link = "<img src='https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/cellphone.png'/><a id='article_mobile_link' class='small' href='https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://m.gizmag.com/article/20389'>View on mobile site</a>"; $jqr('.sd_top').append(mob_link); } // ]]></script> <a class="small" href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/robotics/" style="float: left; ">ROBOTICS</a> </div> <h2>Foxconn gears up to build industrial robots - world industrial robot population to double</h2> <div class="summary_details_left"> <p>By <a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/author/mike-hanlon/" rel="author">Mike Hanlon</a></p> <p><em>23:22 November 3, 2011</em></p> </div> <div class="summary_details_right"> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comments.png" alt=""/> <a href="#comments">10 Comments</a> </p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/image_modernist.png" alt=""/> <a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146585/">5 Pictures</a></p> </div> </div> <div id="hero_box" style="width: 530px;"> <a id="hero_link" href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146585/"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/hero/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics.jpg" title="Foxconn's parent company, Taiwan-registered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is getting int..." width="530" height="297" alt="Foxconn's parent company, Taiwan-registered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is getting int..." border="0"/></a><div class="pic_caption"> <p>Foxconn's parent company, Taiwan-registered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is getting into the industrial robot business in a big way</p> <strong><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146585/" class="orange">Image Gallery</a> (5 images)</strong> </div> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div class="article_body"> <div id="top_unit"></div> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> <p>The world's industrial robotics industry will get considerably larger in the near future as Taiwan-registered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (best known as Foxconn) has announced plans to begin building industrial robots. Its initial plans of building one million industrial robots for its own purposes will nearly double the number of industrial robots in the world (currently <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://www.ifr.org/" target="_blank">The International Federation of Robotics</a> puts that number at 1,095,000). Foxconn is best known as the largest exporter in China, the assembler/manufacturer of Apple's iPad and iPhone and for the extraordinarily high suicide rate of its employees.</p> <ul id="gallery_images"> <li><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146587/" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-2.png" title="The estimated worldwide annual supply of industrial robot as compiled by the International..." alt="The estimated worldwide annual supply of industrial robot as compiled by the International..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146588/" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-3.png" title="The estimated worldwide annual supply of industrial robots by industries 2008 - 2010, as c..." alt="The estimated worldwide annual supply of industrial robots by industries 2008 - 2010, as c..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146589/" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-4.png" title="The estimated operational stock of multipurpose industrial robots at year-end in selected ..." alt="The estimated operational stock of multipurpose industrial robots at year-end in selected ..."/></a></li> <li><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146590/" class="image"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_tn/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-5.png" title="The annual supply of industrial robots (and forecast) as compiled by the International Fed..." alt="The annual supply of industrial robots (and forecast) as compiled by the International Fed..."/></a></li> </ul> <div class="clear_both"></div> <p>Hon Nai is planning to invest heavily in the robotics area, with US$223 million for a new Research and Development facility and more for a robot manufacturing plant. The company is expecting to gross NT$120 billion (US$4 billion) from robot sales over the next 3-5 years and it has the additional benefit of its own diverse manufacturing facilities becoming its first and biggest customer.</p> <p>Industry analyst and the publisher of the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://www.therobotreport.com/" target="_blank">Robot Report</a>, Frank Tobe, told Gizmag that Foxconn's move has massive ramifications for the robotics industry, which has previously been dominated by Japan and Germany.</p> <p><div style="width: 530px; height: 339px" class="article_img"><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146589/" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/inline/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-4.png" width="530"/></a></div></p> <p>"It's a painful wakeup call to ABB, KUKA and Fanuc that their products are not flexible and easily trainable enough to be useful to Foxconn or any other new-tech electronics assembler and sub-components manufacturer even though the electronics business is a big client of those very same robot manufacturers", said Tobe.</p> <p>"Things are changing from robots having a small library of moves, where they precisely and reliably repeat those moves 24/7. New tech is more personalized and manufacturing is following with small quantities of thousands of variants of base products. Industrial robots now need to keep up with those changes, and at present they have not, hence, Foxconn's intent to build robots that will," said Tobe.</p> <p>"Some are skeptical that what they are planning isn't really to build robots but rather automation machinery. My sources are saying the opposite - Foxconn is planning on entering the robot manufacturing business with a variety of flexible, easily trainable and low-cost assembly-line robots."</p> <p><div style="width: 530px; height: 311px" class="article_img"><a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/picture/146588/" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/inline/foxconn-honhai-to-build-industrial-robotics-3.png" width="530"/></a></div></p> <p>The project is expected to create around 2,000 jobs in Taiwan, and initial indications from other news sources that the million industrial robots would replace the jobs of half a million Chinese workers have now been clarified.</p> <p>The robots are intended to assist in overcoming Foxconn's well-documented workforce problems, not by replacing those workers with robots, but by supplementing those workers.</p> <p>Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said that the company intends to maintain its workforce and train existing workers for more important tasks. Gou founded Hon Hai in 1974 and now produces consumer electronics products for the likes of Apple, Acer, Amazon, Intel, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Nintendo, Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.</p> <p>Foxconn has had a lot of trouble hiring, training and maintaining a workforce capable of such massive output and the industrial robots will enable the company to reduce its hiring frenzy while improving output and workforce morale.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://www.foxconn.com/" target="_blank">Foxconn</a> has 13 factories in China (including the massive industrial complex referred to as "Foxconn City" in Shenzen, plus manufacturing facilities in India, Mexico, Brazil, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic, where it is the country's second largest exporter.</p> <p>A letter of intent with the local Taiwanese Government was signed last week signifying the company's intention to build an intelligent robotics and automation equipment manufacturing hub in Taiwan under the name of Hon Hai subsidiary, Foxnum Technology.</p> <p>The current size of the industrial robotics market puts Foxconn's investment and intent to build a million industrial robots for its own use in perspective.</p> <p>In 2011 around 140,000 industrial robots will be sold globally, an increase of 18% on 2010, and the largest number ever, after the global financial uncertainty of 2009 saw just 60,000 units sold, the lowest number for 15 years. The automotive and electronics industries were the main drivers of the strong recovery.</p> <p>In 2010, industrial robot sales were valued by the IFR at US$ 5.7 billion. It should be noted that the figures cited above generally do not include the cost of software, peripherals and systems engineering. Including the mentioned costs might result in the actual robotic systems market value to be about three times as high. The worldwide market value for robot systems in 2010 is hence estimated by IFR to be US$17.5 billion.</p> <p>Interestingly, the massive growth of industrial robots being deployed over the next few years will undoubtedly put China at the top of the automation industry.</p>  <div id="bottom_unit"> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script> </div> </div>  <span class="title">Share</span> <div id="article_share" class="dotsontop"> <span class="as_button"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="horizontal" data-via="gizmag">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> twttr.events.bind('tweet', function(event) { if (event) { var targetUrl; if (event.target && event.target.nodeName == 'IFRAME') { targetUrl = extractParamFromUri(event.target.src, 'url'); } _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'twitter', 'tweet', targetUrl]); } }); twttr.events.bind('retweet', function(){ var targetUrl; if (event.target && event.target.nodeName == 'IFRAME') { targetUrl = extractParamFromUri(event.target.src, 'url'); } _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'twitter', 'retweet', targetUrl]); }); function extractParamFromUri(uri, paramName){ if(!uri){ return; } var uri = uri.split('#')[0]; //remove anchor var parts = uri.split('?'); //check for query params if(parts.length == 1){ return; //no params } var query = decodeURI(parts[1]); //find the url param paramName += '='; var params = query.split('&'); for(var i = 0, param; param = params[i]; ++i){ if(param.indexOf(paramName) === 0){ return unescape(param.split('=')[1]); } } } </script> </span> <span class="as_button"><script src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=1"></script></span> <span class="as_button"><g:plusone size="medium" count="true" href="http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/"></g:plusone></span> <span class="as_button"><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js"></script><script type="in/share" data-counter="right"></script></span> <span class="as_button"><script type="text/javascript">reddit_newwindow='1'</script><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026js_/http://www.reddit.com/static/button/button1.js"></script></span> <fb:like href="http://www.gizmag.com/foxconn-gears-up-to-build-industrial-robots/20389/" send="false" width="450" show_faces="false" font="" id="facebook_like"></fb:like><script type="text/javascript">_ga.trackFacebook();</script> </div>   <div id="tags"> <span class="title">Tags</span> <div class="dotsontop"> <ul> <li>» <a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/industry/" rel="tag">Industry</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/robot/" rel="tag">Robot</a></li> <li>» <a href="/web/20120130230026/http://www.gizmag.com/tag/robotics/" rel="tag">Robotics</a></li> <li class="clear_both"></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="bing_unit"></div>  <span class="title" id="comments">User Comments (10)</span> <div class="dotsontop" id="comment_dots">  <div id="comment-89713" class="a_comment"> <p>Technology gives one person the abilities of a thousand, and then it burdens the Earth with the thousand people it just made obsolete. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Nelson</span> <span class="date">- November 4, 2011 @ 01:22 pm PDT</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89734" class="a_comment"> <p>Foxconn needs more automation. The Chinese workforce is starting to demand higher wages due to stronger competition for skilled workers. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Gadgeteer</span> <span class="date">- November 4, 2011 @ 03:58 pm PDT</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89770" class="a_comment"> <p>Come on Nelson. </p> <p>So the more technology we have the more people the earth is "burdened with" and made "obsolete". </p> <p>Please enlighten us. Show me your brilliance. Can you actually show me examples of technology causing an economy to shrink? </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Dennis</span> <span class="date">- November 4, 2011 @ 06:09 pm PDT</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89821" class="a_comment"> <p>"...and for the extraordinarily high suicide rate of its employees." </p> <p></p> <p>So, their employees are killing themselves at a record rate, so they plan to xxxreplacexxx augment them with robots... </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">William H Lanteigne</span> <span class="date">- November 5, 2011 @ 10:17 am PDT</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89860" class="a_comment"> <p>Hi Dennis </p> <p></p> <p>The desire to possess neat technology does create demand, but if the humans remain out of work, then they are by some standards obsolete - even if their govt somehow finds the budget required to keep them housed and fed - and buying the techno-bling. </p> <p></p> <p>So the economy expands, but not sustainably. We do need to find 'valuable' work for the majority of people, or the system is essentially a Ponzi scheme. Inevitably, there will be 'corrections'. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Chris Clarke</span> <span class="date">- November 6, 2011 @ 01:55 am PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89866" class="a_comment"> <p>So what are all the redundant factory workers going to do? If they don't have jobs, they won't be able to buy all the fantastic stuff the robots manufacture, and the consumer-based economy will tank, if it hasn't already!!! </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Olaf the Orful</span> <span class="date">- November 6, 2011 @ 02:59 am PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89869" class="a_comment"> <p>@Olaf the Orful: yes, that is at least the claim of Michael Ford in "The Light in the Tunnel" book (available at Singularity Hub). </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">nehopsa</span> <span class="date">- November 6, 2011 @ 06:11 am PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89872" class="a_comment"> <p>...oops Martin Ford, not "Michael". Sorry. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">nehopsa</span> <span class="date">- November 6, 2011 @ 06:13 am PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-89887" class="a_comment"> <p>Well thank you Nelson, Mr. Clarke and Olaf. </p> <p>Obviously, with your logic, factories of any sort are putting people out of work. </p> <p>Which in turn is making people obsolete and a burden. </p> <p>So the obvious solution is to get rid of all factories and go back to making everything in a mud hut. </p> <p>Back to my initial request. Can anyone point to an actual instance where new technology made an economy contract? And stay contracted? </p> <p>Anyone? Really? </p> <p>I am really tired of people claiming technology is an overall negative. It has become a mantra in some circles and the argument is wishful thinking. It does not hold water. </p> <p>There have been instances where new technology has caused the workforce of a sector to shrink. Like Cotton. The advent of machines to pick the cotton caused the loss of many cotton picking jobs. </p> <p>But it also caused the price of cotton to go way down resulting in cheap clothing. Not spending half your paycheck on a pair of jeans and a shirt is a positive thing. </p> <p>This goes for clothing, vehicles, food, cell phones and cell phone towers. Bridges. Machines to build roads. Machines to process asphalt. </p> <p>You know, the stuff that makes up the world we occupy and allows people to be middle class. </p> <p>Stuff like the computer you are going to try to refute my argument with. </p> <p>If technology is such a negative, please throw your computer out. This away I will not have to hear this tired nonsense anymore. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Dennis</span> <span class="date">- November 6, 2011 @ 04:15 pm PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> <div id="comment-90046" class="a_comment"> <p>@Nelson, airline travel took a big bite out of the passenger train market. By your logic, we should be lamenting the loss of the rail jobs without considering how many the airline industry created, right back up the chain. </p> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20120130230026im_/http://images.gizmag.com/layout/icons/comment.png" alt="comment"> <span class="name">Marcus Carr</span> <span class="date">- November 7, 2011 @ 02:36 pm PST</span> <div class="clear_both"></div> </div> </div> <span class="title">Post a Comment</span> <div class="dotsontop" id="comment_form_div"> <div id="comment_form" data-article="20389"> <div id="comments_login"> <form action="" style="clear: both; padding-top: 0px;" name="login_form" id="login_form" onsubmit="return false;"> <p><strong>Login with your gizmag account:</strong></p> <p id="login_status"></p> <label for="email">Email</label><input type="text" class="text" name="email" id="email" value=""/><br/><br/> <label for="password">Password</label><input type="password" class="text" name="password" id="password" 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