Automation is quickly becoming a byword for companies’ attempts to boost productivity in a fast-changing global market place.
An example of this comes from a factory in Dongguan, China, which replaced 90% of its human workers with robots and consequentially experienced a 250% boost in productivity.
The factory, owned by Changying Precision Technology, produces mobile phone technologies and has reduce its 650 staff to just 60. The factory general manager explains he has further plans to reduce employee numbers to 20, claiming that automation has ensured better quality and less mistakes.
This isn’t a one-off, Adidas has plans to move from Asia to Germany, trialing a robot-only factory.
However, a recently study by University of Oxford named a long list of jobs that are at-risk of automation including watch repairers, retail sales persons, cooks, cashiers, loan officers, accountants and casino dealers. Coupled with predations that hundreds of thousands of UK public sector jobs will soon be lost to artificial intelligence and improvements in technology, there is little to prevent concerns that for human workers, little can be done to protect their jobs.
Think tank, Reform, has just finished a study that suggests 90% of Whitehall administration roles could be automated, saving £2.7billion a year. Similar changes to the NHS could save £1.7billion.
However recent reports have found that 80% of global firms adopting artificial intelligence have pledged to retain and retrain existing staff.
If you are a human or a robot looking to make your next career move, contact the Leap29 team today for a confidential chat on how we can help.
