Getting ready for the age of robots taking over factory jobs

Driven by a desire to reduce high labour costs and replace it with inexpensive automation, factories around the globe are already beginning to see a rapid rise in the number of robots on assembly lines, they said.

It’s a trend most noticeable in China but one that will surely continue to gain ground and take over the industrial and manufacturing landscape of tomorrow, from the emerging economies in Southeast Asia to most the modernized industrial countries such as those in the US and Japan.

The point, said one expert, is that one of the comparative advantages of Vietnam is its deep pool of relatively lower labour costs. But with this trend in automation that advantage could likely be wiped out by as early as 2020.

One of first unmanned factories in China has reportedly already replaced 600 workers at a mobile phone maker with robots. Out of a total of 660 workers now only 60 jobs remain. That’s more than a whopping 90% cutback in jobs.

Even more startling are the claims by the Chinese mobile phone maker that productivity has increased by 250% and product defects have dropped 80%.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Thanh of Public Security said this phenomenon has particularly far reaching implications for the clothing, textiles, leather and footwear segments.

According to International Labour Organization figures, Mr Thanh noted that there are 9.2 million Vietnamese workers in these segments and two-thirds of them are at risk of losing their jobs to robots.

According to the ILO, jobs for as many as 86% of workers in on the clothing segment are threatened, he emphasized. Moreover, the employment of millions of workers in the telecom, banking, insurance and securities segments is threatened as well.

Representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs echoed Mr Thanh’s sentiments, noting that robot technology will force many local companies to shutter their doors over the next decade if remedial action isn’t successfully undertaken.

First, they said, local companies need to focus on increasing labour productivity and automation, particularly in manufacturing. Secondly, they need to raise the investment in human capital to create value.

The national plan of Vietnam manufacturing is not to become and stay a low-cost manufacturing hub, which is the low end of the ladder. But rather the end goal is to move up the ladder to high value-added, high-end manufacturing.

To transform Vietnam into such a global manufacturing powerhouse in the fourth industrial revolution, Vietnamese factories need to climb the ladder and be at the forefront of automation.

Human labour in Vietnam cannot stay as inexpensive as it is today and remain on a level competing with low end rival manufacturing hubs Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Manufacturers in Vietnam must plan to transform their production processes using robotics and automation as well as invest in human capital and innovation on an unprecedented scale.

Automation and other innovative technologies must be applied in all manufacturing facilities in the country to maximize efficiency and to carry out every conceivable repetitive task with the end goal of continuously enhancing the quality of products.

And through training, said the Ministry representatives, in line with a national strategy, fewer workers can focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development in addition to quality control.

As part of the national strategy, manufacturing processes and products will become more technologically advanced with automation playing an all-encompassing role with Vietnam at the vanguard of the fourth industrial revolution.