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African Manufacturing Jobs Could be Threatened by US Based Robots, Report Says (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Within less than two decades it will be cheaper to operate robots in US factories than hire workers in Africa, a new report warns. From the report: Falling automation costs are predicted to cause job losses as manufacturers return to richer economies. Some analysts say poorer countries could be less impacted by this trend, however the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) suggests otherwise. But its report adds African nations have time to prepare for the change. "African countries must not shy away from manufacturing, but instead prepare by increasing access to internet, investing in technical skills and promoting technological innovation," said Karishma Banga a senior research officer at ODI. "If done well, automation can present important opportunities for African countries by improving labour productivity in manufacturing," she said. It has been suggested that poorer countries will not as be affected by automation because they have less money to invest in it.

90 comments

  1. that's racist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nt

  2. Re: African slaves built the American south by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slave labor has built many societies. /cough Pyramids?

  3. free/cheap labor hard to beat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The story of all civilizations.

    1. Re: free/cheap labor hard to beat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      âoeCheap laborâ inevitably means your descendants are going to be footing the bill. Big time. Cheap labor is never cheap.

  4. This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Africa needs to get its shit straight and cook up an economy to support themselves. They do not need to be the world's latest source of cheapest available labour to be exploited for trinkets. No, "the internet" and other gimmicks are not even key here: The key is to get organised. This needs infrastructure, of which information tech is but one part. Africa doesn't need the rest of the world exploiting it, supporting its upper crust in the name of "development aid", patronising it, or anything else. Africa needs to get its own shit straight.

    1. Re:This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, but which warlord are you going to appeal your case to? As soon as one warlord decides they are going to work on infrastructure, that warlord's little chunk of turf will get overrun by others who are spending all their resources on warring with everyone else. This is a lot like the Middle Ages, where all the little dukedoms and duchies were at permanent conflict with each other, until the Black Death made that form of permanent conflict impossible, as there were too few backs to break by the nobility.

    2. Re:This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, but which warlord are you going to appeal your case to? As soon as one warlord decides they are going to work on infrastructure, that warlord's little chunk of turf will get overrun by others who are spending all their resources on warring with everyone else. This is a lot like the Middle Ages, where all the little dukedoms and duchies were at permanent conflict with each other, until the Black Death made that form of permanent conflict impossible, as there were too few backs to break by the nobility.

      So you're saying black on black violence is common in the motherland. It's almost as if there was a genetic component since we see the same behavior in civilized countries as well. It seems to follow them wherever they go.

    3. Re:This is actually good news by mikael · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We've tried for decades. As the charities say, they want someone else to pay their lunch for them.

        To solve the food crisis, we send them aid in the form of corn and grain seeds so they plant crops and have a self-sustaining agriculture. They either eat the grain or sell it for fast cash, then wait for the next airplane to deliver more aid.

      We can build self-maintaining water treatment works. These systems work on long-wave radio and satellite communications. Everything is designed to be animal proof. Satellite and radio antennae are high up, grounded to protect against lightning and lined with a box mesh to stop primates getting anywhere near. Any faults are broadcast upstream and a repair team is sent out. Systems have fault-tolerant redundancy built in. There isn't any way these systems could fail. Except that the operator in the control room would change the satellite channel to watch local soap operas and take the system off-line to do so.

      If we try and build roads, anyone with any equipment will suddenly have breakdowns and needs money to buy spare parts. If you provide your spare parts from warehouse, there will be break in and suddenly those spare parts turn up on the market.

      The only thing that can be done and that's what the Chinese do, is pay them to rent their land.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    4. Re:This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I imagine that everyone has noticed that Africans are getting ever more uppity lately. Considering the low IQ of Africans, it's a shame to encourage them in fields to which they are doomed to failure.

      Africans by physique and intelligence are not suited to the complexities of modern manufacturing. No, in point of fact, they are highly evolved toward the one task which they excel at: neolithic agriculture and animal husbandry.

      No greater sorrow is there than someone striving for what is intrinsically beyond his reach: a Downs child applying to MIT, or an African trying to assimilate into the modern world.

    5. Re: This is actually good news by orlanz · · Score: 1

      You know the Nazi, Brits, French, Spanish, Dutch, & Japanese weren't black right?

      Also, remember that one of those needed a giant dangerious island (Australia) on the other size of the world to hold their most dangerious.

    6. Re: This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So were you hired by Cambridge anlytica to post this?

    7. Re:This is actually good news by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, it looks that way. Incidentally, when you want somebody to say really, really bad things about Africans, ask an African refugee that has been in Europe for a while and is trying hard to make a new living (not all do, but many work really hard). The families back there expect them to send enough money to keep the whole (large) family afloat, pay for education, bicycles, etc, since they are now rich and, of course, nobody else in the family has to work anymore or even take good care of their things! And when they tell their family that living is expensive or you have to show up on time for work or that it is really cold in the winter and you simply cannot sleep outside, they are not believed.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    8. Re:This is actually good news by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Obvious troll is obvious.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    9. Re: This is actually good news by BlacKSacrificE · · Score: 1

      > Also, remember that one of those needed a giant dangerious island (Australia) on the other size of the world to hold their most dangerious.

      But that's completely incorrect. Britain began transporting convicts due to lack of land space for citizens, much less for the growing criminal underclass. Once they realised that sitting them in rotting boats in the harbour was a less than tenable solution, they started shipping them to the Scottish, Irish and American colonies in the early 1600's. The only reason Australia came into it was because of a tiny little spat in 1776 called the American Revolution, which, amongst other things, stopped the ability for Britain to ship its convicts there. With no other way to dispose of their criminal scum they decided 4 years later to go pave over the east coast of Australia and use it as a drop off instead, some 170 years after they began the transports.

      The danger of the criminals never came into it. Necessity did. Twice.

      Also, there is no "i" in dangerous, and the Nazi's were a political party, not a race, you silly bastard.

      --
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    10. Re:This is actually good news by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Put in copper communications systems? That gets stolen and sold.
      Put in optical? That gets dug up to see if it is copper and can be sold.
      Put in wireless system? Just lots of parts in one location to be recovered and sold.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    11. Re: This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The median and average iq of Africans is substantially lower than all other races. Facts are tough huh snowflake?

    12. Re:This is actually good news by mikael · · Score: 1

      Even the sub-station transformers aren't safe. Thieves will cut them down in order to extract the PCB based oils to sell for cooking.

      https://www.aljazeera.com/inde...

      More or less, anything that happens in Detroit, happens in Africa.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    13. Re:This is actually good news by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Better solution, leave them the fuck alone and of course the flip side, make fucking sure they leave us alone. When they are ready to advance they will, until then let them kill and eat other as they wish, just don't supply advanced weapons to make the situation worse. Nothing in and nothing out, refugess held in secured camps in country, boring as fuck but safe, until they are ready for leave. Sure select immigrants if they are good enough, smart enough, not psychopathic or sociopathic, fit and healthy. Freedom their choice, freedom our choice, take collective responsibility for collective decisions.

      By far the bulk of global social justice is nothing but psychopathic greed and the theft of resources at hugely discounted prices and marked up to the same prices as if it was produced in more enlightened societies and cultures, this murderous bullshit has to stop, as does us having to deal with the chaotic consequences or refugees. Refugees should always be contained in country, in boring, safe, secured, gender separated facilities, break the rules and out you go, it is not a home away from home. Where necessary those camps should be created by the minimal use of force and then secured by the minimal emphatic use of force.

      Human rights does mean if you want to live like a wild animal you have the right to but if we do not want to live like wild animals, we have the right to exclude you from our safer more civilised regions. We have no right to force behaviour on anyone to steal their resources, none what so ever.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    14. Re: This is actually good news by gweihir · · Score: 1

      If they actually were facts. They are not. Africa has severe problems, but this is not one of them. Your closet (or open) racism does not actually change the facts.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    15. Re:This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We've tried for decades. As the charities say, they want someone else to pay their lunch for them.

      No, "we" haven't tried. "We" have stuffed them full of free stuff "to get them started", but that overlooks a basic difference in outlook. They see the free stuff and make good use of it, then wait for more free stuff. And "we" gave them more free stuff. So "we" trained them to take our free stuff and use it up. They didn't get the hint that "we" expected them to lift themselves up so they no longer needed our free stuff. "We" kept them on our teat. So the logical conclusion is that "we" shouldn't do that. IOW, the charities are part of the problem.

      As some Africans themselves say: Put a wall around the thing and wait until they've sorted themselves out. They will eventually, or die trying. Yes, harsh. But Africa is a harsh place. You can't make that go away by pretending. All "charities" can do is maintain the status quo, which obviates their need to learn to get their own shit straight. And that's exactly what "we" have been doing.

      All the things you mention are us trying to live their lives for them. We shouldn't do that. That's the fundamental problem. The Chinese aren't doing that, so they win.

    16. Re:This is actually good news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geographic map of intelligence distribution. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away.

    17. Re: This is actually good news by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Wireless antennas and cheap routers aren't very appealing to small-time thieves. But the big car batteries that provide power when the grid is down are highly saleable. They must be locked in sturdy metal boxes, bolted to the floor.

    18. Re:This is actually good news by Thelasko · · Score: 1

      Norman Borlaug attempted to revolutionize the agricultural base of the African continent the same way he did India. Unfortunately, the environmental lobby had his funding cut off.

      People like to rip on big agriculture, but billions of people would starve without it. If the whole world switched to organic or "sustainable" farming, everything would look like Africa.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  5. US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1, Funny

    . . . African robots are cheaper than US robots.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank god for tariffs is what both I and the Founders say.

    2. Re:US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by santiago · · Score: 1

      Not if you take into account shipping to the US. If you want to sell in Africa, you'll produce in Africa, but if you want to sell in the US, you'll produce in the US. (And yes, you frequently need to ship the raw materials from somewhere, but producing at either the material source or the selling destination is cheaper than involving a third intermediary location for production.)

    3. Re:US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by butchersong · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure I see the reason to place robots in Africa. It isn't as if you have to pay the robots more that are in the states. The issue would be maintenance I suppose and environmental regulations and such but that would seem negligible compared to convenience of having the work done here (no transcontinental shipping) and the sad fact that well, African countries just aren't that stable.

    4. Re:US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      haha, shipping is so cheap that this wouldn't matter. The only way it would matter if the US government got serious about climate change... But now that we have Captain Cancer brought to you by "clean coal" as president, that's doubtful.

    5. Re:US robots are cheaper than African workers, but by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      . . . African robots are cheaper than US robots.

      https://www.theonion.com/ameri...

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  6. All six of them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Africa doesn't really have much of a "manufacturing" sector to begin with...

    1. Re:All six of them? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      One nation if Africa was able to design and produce their own deployed nuclear weapons. Ready for use and with an advanced delivery system.
      The government was replaced with a Communist government and the only policy is now forced land redistribution.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  7. Complete nonsense by sjbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Within less than two decades it will be cheaper to operate robots in US factories than hire workers in Africa

    Speaking as someone who runs a manufacturing plant and who has bought robots, this is complete bullshit. Anyone who actually believes this has no idea of the costs involved or the capabilities of robots or manufacturing automation. There is PLENTY of headroom in labor intensive industries for people to be employed in manufacturing including in Africa. Robots simply are not that cheap or capable and are in no danger of becoming so any time soon for most tasks.

    Robots are economically viable for high volume and/or dangerous work. They are not nearly as flexible or capable as many people imagine them to be and they certainly aren't cheap. There are some industries and products where they make a lot of sense and many more (especially low volume production) where they are not economically viable. Most automation actually doesn't come in robot form either for that matter.

    The problem Africa has in getting into manufacturing comes in several parts. 1) A lot of corruption, 2) extremely bad infrastructure, 3) An inexperienced talent pool for workers. All these are solvable problems but aren't easy ones either. Automation is far down the list of obstacles to manufacturing in Africa.

    1. Re:Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same thing was said about Japan with electronics, and then China with manufacturing, and now Africa with robots. Also, you're missing the point. Africa is now the low cost labor pool for China. The options aren't move manufacturing to the USA. They are move manufacturing to Africa and then decide to use cheap labor, or to use robots.

    2. Re:Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Speaking as someone who runs a manufacturing plant and who has bought robots, this is complete bullshit.

      Maybe not all manufacturing is the same? I'd imagine the clothing industry is going to be very prone to robot manufacturing. I don't think your experience translates to the entire manufacturing industry.

    3. Re:Complete nonsense by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Africa is now the low cost labor pool for China.

      One of the big complaints about Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa is that the Chinese companies bring in Chinese workers, and employ very few locals.

    4. Re:Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Africa is now the low cost labor pool for China.

      One of the big complaints about Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa is that the Chinese companies bring in Chinese workers, and employ very few locals.

      Chinese companies doing things like building roads in exchange for mining rights as such. Do they also maintain those roads or do they just fall apart after a decade because the locals lack the equipment and know-how to maintain them?

    5. Re:Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Automation is far down the list of obstacles to manufacturing in Africa.

      Which part of Africa? It's a pretty big place.

    6. Re:Complete nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Chinese leave once the minerals have been mined. That is what they were in the country for.
      In theory local maintainance contracts should be in place for the infrastructure by the time they go, but these contracts are usually given to a politician's nephew, who just siphons the money.

    7. Re:Complete nonsense by Kjella · · Score: 1

      The problem Africa has in getting into manufacturing comes in several parts. 1) A lot of corruption, 2) extremely bad infrastructure, 3) An inexperienced talent pool for workers. All these are solvable problems but aren't easy ones either. Automation is far down the list of obstacles to manufacturing in Africa.

      And - in some places at least - political instability. The list above are all day-to-day problems but when a powder keg goes off business can be seriously disrupted for a long time. You need it with natural disasters, there's flooding in Thailand and HDD supply is crippled. There's an earthquake in Japan and camera supply is crippled. What happens if there's a new Arab Spring or another war in CAR or Somalia or rioting in South Africa or a Boko Haram attack or the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda start killing each other again? You start investing in the whole supply chain from infrastructure and transportation to factories and training and then someone throws a monkey wrench in your plan. Unfortunately that's often a catch-22, stability brings prosperity and prosperity brings stability. If you haven't got either it's very hard to get businesses to commit to investments.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    8. Re:Complete nonsense by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Indeed. And a lot of places in Africa are also politically unstable, at war or run by cleptocrats, racists and religious crusaders. While some people there see that this cannot go on, most are simply far too selfish and want to just get rich quick. And, of course, the smartest ones leave and only very few come back.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    9. Re:Complete nonsense by gweihir · · Score: 1

      They need to get things done. Chinese workers have low work ethics, but they beat the average African worker by a large margin. And no, this is not racist. This is what African refugees have told me as their analysis of the problem.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    10. Re:Complete nonsense by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      then someone throws a monkey wrench in your plan.

      It's Africa; they just throw in a monkey.

  8. not a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news 99% of the population unemployed because of tractors.

  9. Robots "threaten" by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    When I saw the words "robots" and "threaten" in the title, I was thinking the US was using armed drones to take out African workers.

  10. Re: African slaves built the American south by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

    Slave labor has built many societies. /cough Pyramids?

    Slave labor indeed built the infrastructure of many societies. Strangely enough, though, not the pyramids (despite the persistent myth).

    The pyramids were, basically, a work project to keep people employed during the non-planting months.

      https://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html

      https://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/01/12/egypt-new-find-shows-slaves-didnt-build-pyramids

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  11. Permanent Institutional Poverty by mentil · · Score: 1

    Some regions could be stuck in a cycle of permanent poverty. That is, if you give them only fish, and no fishing nets, then they're dependent on you for fish. Now, replace a simple net with modern robots connected to modern computers, and it's obvious they can never build such a thing from scratch, starting with zero relevant knowledge or infrastructure. Worse, if somehow you happen upon a textbook that explains how to engineer or program computers or robots, chances are you won't try to make a robot manufacturing plant in your fish handout village... you'll go to where the robot and computer jobs are, somewhere that already has computers and robots.

    Either they'll be dependent on handouts from robot-owning regions, or robots are brought in locally to do the work locally. Either way they'll be unemployed. I guess what it all comes down to is: who owns the robots, and how are the fruits of their labor going to be distributed? We still don't have a good answer for that.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Permanent Institutional Poverty by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      modern robots connected to modern computers, and it's obvious they can never build such a thing from scratch

      Can you?

  12. oxen and draft horses out of work [Re:not a prob by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 1

    In other news 99% of the population unemployed because of tractors.

    99% of the oxen and draft horse population: yes.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  13. Future generations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This article can be applied to any target nation's economy, not just African nations. And the robots taking away jobs come from Asia as well as from the West. Where African nations will win, is by producing better quality products than anywhere else, and by protecting their resources for future generations to enjoy.

  14. Re:This is so sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Racist? Stupid? Unfunny?

    You expect us to believe Christopher Dale Reimer is gone from Slashdot with creimer shit like that?

  15. Everyone always loses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Science innovates for better technology. Better technology makes better automation. Better automation often leads to low-quality jobs being replaced.

    This has how it has always worked and will always work.

    1. Re:Everyone always loses by mikael · · Score: 1

      Containerization replaced dockworkers. Digital printing replaced print shop workers. Automated telephone exchanges replaced telephone operators. It's getting to the point where they can eliminate editors and allow anyone to automatically create a local newspaper anywhere simply by filtering for keywords, events and categories. Automated weaving looms replaced the need for four artisans to make one garment in several months to making hundreds of uniform garments in a week.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    2. Re:Everyone always loses by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Indeed. And add to that, that every job has a minimal level of talent it needs directly and indirectly (via the talents needed to benefit from education), and hence the better job quality gets, the fewer can do them. We seem to be now at a point where the part of the population that can newly created jobs is beginning to be a minority. That is a unique point in human history, because before most people could do most jobs and that is one reason why before there always were replacement jobs.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  16. Not so simple by sjbe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not if you take into account shipping to the US. If you want to sell in Africa, you'll produce in Africa, but if you want to sell in the US, you'll produce in the US.

    Sorry but it's not remotely that simple. US labor is among the most expensive in the world so labor intensive goods tend to be produced elsewhere, even for items consumed by the US. But even that doesn't capture it all. Supply chain location matters too. East Asia dominates electronics manufacturing in large part because that is where the supply chain is located. It's FAR cheaper to make the products there and then ship them to the US in most cases and that isn't really a function of labor rates for the most part. Japanese labor isn't much cheaper than US labor but Japan exports a huge amount of stuff to the US. Conversely the US has a HUGE export sector too even though the US is a net consumer.

    you frequently need to ship the raw materials from somewhere, but producing at either the material source or the selling destination is cheaper than involving a third intermediary location for production.

    The calculation isn't that simple. It depends on relative labor rates, tariffs, exchange rates, local supply chains, infrastructure, lead times, communication costs, administrative costs, and a host of other considerations. All other things being equal you would be right but things are rarely equal like that.

    1. Re:Not so simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's an issue with Just-In-Time supply chain structure. The loss of margin by manufacturing in Mexico vs China is worth the cost if the product is a fast moving item.

  17. Internet access? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think Africa has great access to the Internet. Various princes and other administrative people for the NNPC are constantly contacting the relatives of deceased foreigners about unclaimed riches in trunk boxes. Given the amount of 419 e-mails I would say they have plenty of bandwidth.

  18. simple answer right here. by gDLL · · Score: 0

    >> "I guess what it all comes down to is: who owns the robots, and how are the fruits of their labor going to be distributed? We still don't have a good answer for that."

    The group/state/organisation that owns said robots enjoys the fruits of the robots. This was worked out a few milenia ago.

  19. No shit. by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    Robots will lead to on-shoring. This isn't really news. Both Afrika and Asia will be selling way less finished goods to the first world.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:No shit. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Tey will be selling robots instead, at least Asia.

      --
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  20. You wanna tell that to Foxconn? by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    They seem to be doing pretty well with robots despite wages and working conditions we here in America find deplorable.

    Yeah, good infrastructure, skilled employees and a lack of (the wrong kind of) corruption is good. But those things are also expensive. You need schools and roads. And with schools and roads comes taxes and (worse) an educated and mobile workforce. If you're gonna pay that much you might as well build in American (or whatever country your selling in) and not pay the tariffs.

    The point of the article is that automation is going to hit the developing country (e.g. the ones without the stuff you're citing) hard. This is the thing that always drives me nuts about people. They want all the good stuff (skilled, hard working talent) and they _never_ want to pay for it. I get it. I don't want to pay for nice thing either. But sometimes you either do or you don't get it.

    --
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    1. Re:You wanna tell that to Foxconn? by sjbe · · Score: 1

      They seem to be doing pretty well with robots despite wages and working conditions we here in America find deplorable.

      Foxconn can make use of robots because of the product volume they produce. Labor is a lot cheaper in China than in the US but even so once you are making a product in the tens of millions (like an iPhone) it becomes pretty easy to justify automation. The equation is still the same but with lower labor rates it takes higher volumes to justify the automation. Foxconn seems to have achieved these.

      As for working conditions, I've been to China. I've been in factories in China that make Foxconn look like a paradise. I think a lot of this will solve itself as China's economy grows but it's going to be kind of a shit sandwich for a lot of factory workers until then.

      The point of the article is that automation is going to hit the developing country (e.g. the ones without the stuff you're citing) hard.

      And my point is that the impact of automation tends to be grossly overstated. Especially here on slashdot. I work with automation. In a few hours I'm going to be at work picking out tooling for an automated stamping press. I could easily see some countries in Africa competing in my industry. Right now if we need high volume production on a labor intensive product that business will go to someplace like Honduras or China. But Africa could easily get into the game because it is technically extremely difficult to automate certain assembly tasks. For example try to automate a machine to untwist cat 5 wire, sort the wire colors, insert into a connector and crimp. It can be done but not cheaply so it is almost always done by a human. Even an uneducated human with no previous experience can be taught to do this in minutes and doesn't require any upfront capital costs or expensive tools or engineers or maintenance. Developing a machine cheap enough to replace people for this job will be extremely challenging.

  21. Re:oxen and draft horses out of work [Re:not a pro by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    In other news 99% of the population unemployed because of tractors.

    99% of the oxen and draft horse population: yes.

    A single modern combine, operated by one driver, can do as much work as 100 horse pulled reapers driven by 100 men.

  22. Re:This is so sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cryptofeces Lepidoptera Creimerus infestation is a serious problem. Not only are they capable of reproducing asexually like amoebas, they can also lay eggs hermaphroditically in unexpected places. They can disguise eggs as something useful to fool the unaware, sometimes pretending to be a haiku author, blogger, vlogger, or IT closet cleaner.

    Very dangerous. They can seemingly reproduce out of the cosmic background radiation, even if you step on twelve of them, there's always one you miss.

    Don't be fooled by the C. Lepidoptera Creimerus's innocuous, rolly-polly [youtube.com], and almost friendly appearance; despite its great size, stupid demeanor, and bedraggled toothless appearance, they have the hardiness of a tardigrade.

    Only a concerted, targeted downmodding campaign has been shown effective in controlling this dangerous pest.

    Experience shows that stopping such a campaign leads to C. Lepidoptera Creimerus returning within days.

    Don't let it happen again!

  23. Except... by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    Only in a state that doesn't charge a business property tax.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  24. Re:This is so sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CREIMER' SUBMISSIONS UPDATE:
    Note also that creimer is trying to regain karma by getting his submissions published as articles on /. so make sure to go to:
    https://slashdot.org/~_sharp'r...
    https://slashdot.org/~crreimer
    https://slashdot.org/~cdreimer
    https://slashdot.org/~criss69
    https://slashdot.org/~Anonymou...
    https://slashdot.org/~FatCashe...
    https://slashdot.org/~ILoveFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IHateFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IAteFatC...
    https://slashdot.org/~ITapeFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IApeFatC...
    https://slashdot.org/~IPrayFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~FatCashe...
    and mod down his submissions as well. The great thing is that you don't even need mod points to mod down a submission, just click on the "minus" icon!

    Yes, believe it or not, creimer owns all the above sock puppet accounts. It is a mystery why Slashdot management tolerates it!

    creimer wrote:

    I don't bother with mod points. I'm doing something much more sinister. It took ten story submissions ? I'll have to double check the number ? to move cdreimer's karma from neutral to excellent without ever being exposed to the capricious mods. Mmmmmwwwwahahahahahahaha!

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Creimy is posting more than 2 posts a day. Hurry! mod down otherwise /. will go to hell again!

    Note: you can mod down even if already at -1 to lower karma and to prevent lost /. users to accidentally mod up.

    creimer wrote:

    All you need to do is find a website with a permissive TOS, say, Slashdot, create a Python script to scrape your own comments, sprinkle Amazon affiliate links in various posts, and then re-post past links whenever possible. Won't be long before you start making "coffee money" each month.

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    C.D. Reimer is a renowned Slashdot collaborator, as he puts it himself; "Because of the quality of my posts and my article submissions, I'm a highly rated commentator and moderator."

    But does anybody ever wondered what "C.D." stands for? Well, it stands for Creimy Dumpty of course!

    Creimy Dumpty sat on the wall,
    Creimy Dumpty had a great fall.
    All the king's horses
    And all the king's men
    Couldn't put Creimy Dumpty
    Together again.

    Creimy's siblings video and theme song, very realistic, especially the pants, just like Creimy's:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    With "Vice President Pence Vowing US Astronauts Will Return To the Moon", we are sure they will need miracle workers up there, here is what it would look like. Note that Creimy takes care of bringing a lot of food to the moon as depicted below:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Creimy's real pictures:
    Before the sex change:
    https://ibb.co/cc7Ddw
    After the sex change:
    https://ibb.co/gVad65

    Creimy's "enterprise-level" chair, he talks about it all the time on slashdot:

  25. Re: African slaves built the American south by Dusanyu · · Score: 2

    Slave labor has built many societies. /cough Pyramids?

    except evidence shows that the pyramids were not built by slaves the worker's villages in their shadow the worker's tombs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  26. I don't think we're in Kansas any more, Toto by GrumpySteen · · Score: 2

    A robot is gonna take your job away from you
    There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
    And now the jobs are lost in Africa
    Gonna take a miracle to keep the things we had

  27. Africa is doomed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The US military can't find a single positive use for anyone with an IQ below about 83. This includes ~10% of the population. Imagine that, they can't do anything productive. Africa has an average IQ of LESS than 80... Good f'ing luck...

    facts, look it up.. search IQ by nation etc .. Also theres no evidence that IQ can be improved from the biological, it can however be retarded(childhood abuse, malnutrition, public schools).

    1. Re:Africa is doomed. by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Nonsense. Actually competent measurements show this effect does not exist. Of course, if you have an African person fill out an IQ test in English, targeted at somebody with a western background and average western education, you get such results, but they are bogus.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:Africa is doomed. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The test used are not all in English and can be provided to not need English.
      The tests keep returning the same low results decade after decade.
      Take some effort to educate a population and the results for some get better.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Africa is doomed. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The US mil finally accepted the 83 IQ number after a lot of testing. Thats the very lowest number the US mill would accept that still has a person able to function without needing constant help all day. That a person could still take in new information and function alone with a new task.
      Thats the US mil emergency draft IQ number when the entire useful population has to be called up for war.
      The US mil set that IQ number so very low as to ensure they got the entire productive US population in for a war draft.
      Imagine what the IQ bell curve in nations with an average of 85 is like.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re: Africa is doomed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LMAO typical liberal dimwit. It's not true if it's racist. Very convincing.

    5. Re:Africa is doomed. by gweihir · · Score: 1

      And your last line very clearly indicates these test are bogus. IQ is not influenced by education. But the result if inadequate IQ tests are.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    6. Re:Africa is doomed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a good thing they stopped doing that decades ago. Modern intelligence tests are nonverbal and are actually a really good test of ability. They can sort people into the kinds of jobs that would be good for them. The US Army won't take anyone with an IQ of less than 83, for instance. Can't use them, can't train them. Heres one such test, designed by by Ilona Jerabek, a psychometrician who did her postdoctorate at McGill University, and a bunch of other professional statisticians, psychologists, and AI researchers. The test and score are free but you can pay for a detailed report. The Wonderlic test is another one that is highly credible. Intelligence is a heritable trait, which means it is passed down from parents to children. Of course, mention this in public and get fired, but it doesn't change it.

  28. Degenerate liar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You rage against reality to no effect. We can see what is right in front of us, even if you choose to cover your own eyes.

    Racism has a past, but antiracism has no future. Pluck the Talmudic mind virus from your brain, if you wish to live.

  29. Theyâ(TM)re called business people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A robot usually is made of metal.

    Business people are usually made bones and shit packed in skin.

  30. Automation calculations by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Maybe not all manufacturing is the same? I'd imagine the clothing industry is going to be very prone to robot manufacturing

    Clothing manufacturing is among the hardest industries to automate. Clothing manufacturing is among the most labor intensive industries in the world. This is why you almost invariably find clothing manufacturers to be clustered in places with extremely low labor rates. This includes making the cloth for the clothing too. Even the most automated looms require quite a lot of labor to operate.

    I don't think your experience translates to the entire manufacturing industry.

    The calculations for labor vs automation don't depend on what you are making. To oversimplify, you have material costs, labor hoursXrate required, and overhead / volume. Automation introduces some capital costs and reduces the labor hours. Whether or not automation makes sense depends on the size of the reduction in labor costs and how much volume you can amortize the fixed costs over. None of this depends explicitly on what sort of widget you are making.

  31. Good, it's about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We need to stop propping up crappy oppressive regimes (including China, truth be told) with shitty products at WalMart. Bring the jobs back to America, roboticize them and force some of these lazy maggots to get a better education. Simple math.

  32. What about the Pirates? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just think of all those poor African pirates who will be out of jobs! What will those poor innocent criminals do without lots of rich ships to plunder?

  33. I Don't Follow by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    Something about this article must be getting away from me. I would think that wealthier places than Africa where wages and benefits are high would be targeted sooner than low wage companies. If a $25.00 per hour employee is eliminated the savings is obvious but if you remove a worker who earns one dollar a day or whatever the economics are unclear to me. The new issue is whether my automation can do better and cheaper than the competitors automation. That leaves poor nations and businesses in a very bad position as the funds to automate a production facility are a huge barrier.

  34. Re:oxen and draft horses out of work [Re:not a pro by dwye · · Score: 1

    I don't know about that figure. There are a lot of Amish or Mennonite farmers using draft horses, and there are as many horses, today in the USA, as there were in 1900. A lot of non-Anabaptist farmers with draft horses for sport, as well, at least in PA.

    Oxen are SOL, though. The only oxen used, other than in historical parks, are steers being fattened for the table. Tasty for us, at least.

    Of course, 5% or more of the US populace is still employed in agriculture, so tractors didn't end 99% of the jobs.