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PepsiCo Is Laying Off Corporate Employees As the Company Commits To 'Relentlessly Automating' (businessinsider.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the sign-of-the-times dept.

PepsiCo is kicking off a four-year restructuring plan that is expected to cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars in severance pay. "This week, PepsiCo employees in offices including Plano, Texas, and the company's headquarters in Purchase, New York, were alerted that they are being laid off," reports Business Insider, citing two people directly impacted by the layoffs.

The latest job cuts come after CFO Hugh Johnston told CNBC that the company plans to lay off workers in positions that can be automated. CEO Ramon Laguarta said on Friday that PepsiCo is "relentlessly automating and merging the best of our optimized business models with the best new thinking and technologies." From a report: This week, PepsiCo employees in offices including Plano, Texas, and the company's headquarters in Purchase, New York, were alerted that they are being laid off, according to two people who were directly impacted by the layoffs. These two workers were granted anonymity in order to speak frankly without risking professional ramifications. At least some of the workers who were alerted about layoffs will continue to work at PepsiCo until late April as they train their replacements in the coming weeks, the two workers told Business Insider.

By PepsiCo's own estimates, the company's layoffs are expected to be a multimillion-dollar project in 2019. Last Friday, PepsiCo announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is expected to incur $2.5 billion in pretax restructuring costs through 2023, with 70% of charges linked to severance and other employee costs. The company is also planning to close factories, with an additional 15% tied to plant closures and "related actions." Roughly $800 million of the $2.5 billion is expected to impact 2019 results, in addition to the $138 million that was included in 2018 results, the company said in the SEC filing.

107 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. My job can't be automated by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am a professional chess and Go player. Fortunately for me I am safe from automation.

    1. Re:My job can't be automated by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am a professional chess and Go player. Fortunately for me I am safe from automation.

      The funny thing is they are. Humans haven't won at chess since Kasparov lost to Deep Blue, but Carlsen is making more than a million dollars a year as the world champion and is approaching $10 million in career earnings. You'd better be in the absolute elite though, it's like all sports the top athletes bring in way more than then second-best and being 100th best is worth almost nothing.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:My job can't be automated by jpaine619 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      .... it's like all sports the top athletes bring in way more than then second-best and being 100th best is worth almost nothing.

      A new rookie to the NFL can expect to make around $365,000 per year, which constantly rises by about $5,000 to $10,000 per year

      The very first stat I looked up destroyed your argument so..... Well, unless you think $365K/year is almost nothing..

      Shall I go for average salary of NBA or MLB?

    3. Re: My job can't be automated by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      My job at the dick sucking factory is likewise safe.

      Oh yeah? Fleshlite: https://au.askmen.com/dating/p... (NSFW)

    4. Re:My job can't be automated by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      A new rookie to the NFL can expect to make around $365,000 per year

      99.9% of wannabe football players never make it to the NFL. The vast majority earn nothing.

    5. Re:My job can't be automated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am a professional chess and Go player. Fortunately for me I am safe from automation.

      The funny thing is they are. Humans haven't won at chess since Kasparov lost to Deep Blue

      Whoosh!

    6. Re:My job can't be automated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      99.9% of wannabe football players never make it to the NFL. The vast majority earn nothing.

      Here is a non political suggestion I wish I could see made reality. Make a serious part of education the understanding and interpretation of risk and probability. If people understood, beyond any doubt, that becoming a top tier star of any form was incredibly unlikely, and instead made realistic plans and _worked_ to achieve them, we would be so much better off. It would also make the average Joe far harder to manipulate.

    7. Re:My job can't be automated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      99.9% of wannabe football players never make it to the NFL. The vast majority earn nothing.

      Here is a non political suggestion I wish I could see made reality. Make a serious part of education the understanding and interpretation of risk and probability. If people understood, beyond any doubt, that becoming a top tier star of any form was incredibly unlikely, and instead made realistic plans and _worked_ to achieve them, we would be so much better off. It would also make the average Joe far harder to manipulate.

      I'd rather they just explained to everyone how retarded sports are, so that people would stop paying money to watch men in tights/shorts throwing a ball around.
      I wouldn't give anyone money to play a game, would you?
      Why?

    8. Re:My job can't be automated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      More meta I doubt many left on Slashdot understand..

      Soon, very soon... it will be a crime to discriminate against AI / robots. That is the problem. The other issues are with people using AI to game what is otherwise a human field. A simple example is an aim bot in computer games. They are at a point were the "bots" no longer NEED game engine input, the traditional means of hacking. Instead they are able to analyse video in almost real time as if a player would.. and they can do that from anywhere in the world thanks to Amazon'n co. The risk to them is basically zero but the rewards can be quite profitable (click bots for example).

      Of all things not even Star Trek covered this with Data since everyone had a home, food and basic living under the Starfleet. Before you laugh that is one critical component to why it "worked", you no longer need to worry about living, rather bettering yourself. Also helped to know there were other planets...

      Technology of any kind can be weaponized. AI is no exception. The companies buying are not the ones MAKING it.

    9. Re: My job can't be automated by sheramil · · Score: 1

      No. Humans have a soul,

      prove it.

      something a machine will not easily emulate.

      prove it.

    10. Re:My job can't be automated by Kjella · · Score: 1

      A new rookie to the NFL can expect to make around $365,000 per year, which constantly rises by about $5,000 to $10,000 per year. The very first stat I looked up destroyed your argument so..... Well, unless you think $365K/year is almost nothing..

      Well I was thinking individual athletes like the 100th fastest at 100m dash or 100th highest ranked tennis player, like you're not even qualifying for the top events. For a team sport a fair comparison would be by position, where's the 100th best quarterback? With 32 NFL teams and one substitute each he's still playing college football where they're not paid except for a $20-$30k/year athletic scholarship. League sports are probably still easier though, all teams have their fans who have you as their favorite. In most other sports you're either a gold/silver/bronze medalist winning championships and tournaments or you're nobody, it's better to the be 5th best quarterback in the NFL than be the 5th fastest man in the world.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    11. Re: My job can't be automated by TuballoyThunder · · Score: 2
      One can make that argument about any entertainment activity. Some people enjoy watching eSports, which seems absolutely boring to me. Other people enjoy opera. I don't see a problem having a diversity of entertainment options.

      The issue for me is using tax dollars or issuing municipal bonds to subsidize profit-making sports teams. They should go to the corporate bond market if they need money.

    12. Re:My job can't be automated by C0C0C0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      99.9% of wannabe football players never make it to the NFL. The vast majority earn nothing.

      ... and those that do have an average career of 3 years, and significant risk of permanent brain damage.

      --
      You are totally blocking my view of the wall. - Dogbert
    13. Re:My job can't be automated by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      I presume the GP was thinking about sports where people compete as individuals. Some team sports do indeed have a broader base of well-paid players, though still miniscule compared to the total number of people who play the sport.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    14. Re:My job can't be automated by MBGMorden · · Score: 2

      To a large degree I agree with this.

      I think part of the problem (at least for my generation growing up in the 80's and 90's) was there was a big push on this motivational stuff of "Don't let anybody tell you you can't make it.", along with inspirational photographs and stories of pop stars, pro-athletes, and billionaires.

      While the motives were admirable and there is some element of truth there, the reality is that MOST people WON'T become those things. Even if they work hard for it. Most of those things are a combination of hard work (you can do that), genetics (you may or may not have lucked out there), and pure random luck (you have no control over that).

      So sure, if you want to try to become those things have a shot, but there was always be a realistic, more mundane, and far more likely backup plan for what you're going to do with your life.

      I personally grew up poor. My mom didn't work until I was about 10 years old. My dad dropped out of school in the 8th grade and worked construction. Until my mom went to work we lived in a run-down mobile home where I shared a room with my brother sleeping on a mattress laying on the floor. They didn't try to get me to be rich: they just insisted that I work hard in school, go to college, and get a regular job. That's what I did. I went to an in-state public school, got a STEM degree, graduated, and got a good but mundane job. I had my student loans paid off in 10 years and make around $80k per year. I'm not rich, but I'm doing pretty good, and focusing on realistic goals helped me get there.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    15. Re:My job can't be automated by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      When I was in elementary school, I was repeatedly told that I could do anything I wanted because I was highly intelligent. Then I saw assorted career options close for reasons not related to intelligence. I've been tempted to write a book "Everything that held me back I learned in kindergarten".

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    16. Re: My job can't be automated by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Why don't you give a brief rundown of evidence for a soul, rather than giving up immediately when challenged?

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    17. Re:My job can't be automated by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Fair enough, but your argument was open to interpretation and... that's how I interpreted it :)

    18. Re:My job can't be automated by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Here is a non political suggestion I wish I could see made reality. Make a serious part of education the understanding and interpretation of risk and probability. If people understood, beyond any doubt, that becoming a top tier star of any form was incredibly unlikely, and instead made realistic plans and _worked_ to achieve them, we would be so much better off. It would also make the average Joe far harder to manipulate.

      When you figure out how to do that, I'd like to point you towards the morons buying lottery tickets :)

    19. Re: My job can't be automated by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      No matter what you do, if you work, you've already lost.

      Work doesn't get you anything.

      What pays today is popularity.

      Care to explain that? I work and I have a pretty good life.. However, I don't work FOR someone. I keep the profits of my labor (minus what the government takes from me). But, that's just me.. I know plenty of people who work for others who do quite well...Your statement is dripping with anarchism and possibly socialism.... Good luck with that buddy..

    20. Re:My job can't be automated by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      I'd rather they just explained to everyone how retarded sports are, so that people would stop paying money to watch men in tights/shorts throwing a ball around. I wouldn't give anyone money to play a game, would you? Why?

      You go to the movies? If yes, then you're paying to watch some guy pretend to be a CIA operative... Same/Same.... I don't watch sports on TV, but I do enjoy a good live game now and then.. If it helps, think of them as actors....

    21. Re: My job can't be automated by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      I can provide evidence. It would then be up to you to show why the evidence is insufficient.

      I have a hunch that no evidence would be sufficient for you.

      Let me ask you this: what proof would compel you to believe in a human soul? Anything I showed you you would dismiss as science we simply donâ(TM)t understand.

      Maybe literally anything showing it to be a real thing and not just a concept we like because it makes us feel superior to the rest of the animals. Present your evidence but if that evidence is feelings then it's not going to get very far.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    22. Re:My job can't be automated by Anonymice · · Score: 1

      Intelligence is only a part of the recipe for success. You also need discipline, motivation, people skills, a good balance of executive functions (eg. organisation) "common sense", etc, etc

      I've known plenty of very intelligent people, who know a lot about a wide range of subjects & are excellent problem solvers, but have been held back by a lack of focus, organisation & people skills.

  2. Training their replacements by MikeRT · · Score: 1

    as they train their replacements in the coming weeks

    Sounds more like Wipro or Infosys got a sweet contract than just "automation."

    1. Re:Training their replacements by Livius · · Score: 1

      By 'automation' they mean replacing one form of labour by another which is cheaper and more compliant. To management humans and machines are all the same.

    2. Re:Training their replacements by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      The point is employees don't train robots to do their jobs. Technicians program machines to perform the tasks the humans did before. So clearly some of these "new workers" don't run on AC power.

    3. Re:Training their replacements by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Replace a hundred workers with machines and 5 highly educated workers who have to know the job to make sure the machines are working right and to fix/reprogram them when not?
      (Numbers pulled out of my ass)

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    4. Re:Training their replacements by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Replace a hundred workers with machines and 5 highly educated workers who have to know the job to make sure the machines are working right and to fix/reprogram them when not?

      You mean sort of like the way the PC replaced all the Computers used in the Manhattan Project, right? You remember the Computers used in engineering back then, right? A bunch of (usually) women who did the multiplication and division and such for the engineers?

      Or maybe you're talking about the way that the combine harvester replaced a bunch of guys harvesting whatever was in that particular field?

      Or tractors? Same deal, though they put more horses out of business (and life - why keep a horse that does nothing but eat?) than humans.

      Trains? Yep, they put people (and animals) out of work (and usually life, in the case of the work animals)....

      Seriously, the last couple centuries are all about increasing use of machines to do things. You're used to the ones that happened before you were born, and hate/fear the ones that happened since....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    5. Re:Training their replacements by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Huh? All those jobs still needed a few workers who knew the old or new domain. Combine operator should have some understanding of how farms operate, train engineer is a job that takes some skill. The automated factory needs people who can spot when the automation breaks and fixes it.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  3. Management says "Relentless" by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    but they really mean that their jobs are safe from being replaced by small shell scripts or primitive AI services.

    And some wonder why employee loyalty is so low...

    1. Re:Management says "Relentless" by HiThere · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You underrate the skills required by management. A good manager is nearly as rare as a good plumber. Both exist.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:Management says "Relentless" by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      but they really mean that their jobs are safe

      RTFA. These are white collar "corporate" jobs being eliminated. They aren't laying off workers at the bottling plants.

    3. Re:Management says "Relentless" by OpenSourced · · Score: 1

      A good manager is nearly as rare as a good plumber

      A good anything, in my experience, is rare. If you want a lawyer, you find ten that are just form-filling paper-rustling head-nodding nulls for one that really can tell you what's your situation and what are your options.

      Same for accountants. For doctors I'd say it's on the "one in twenty" order. Electricians, builders, you name it, and you have to really search to find somebody that is good at their jobs.

      Sometimes you don't even notice because you have never ever seen a good doctor, or a good lawyer, and so you know no better. And then you meet one, and it's like a whole new universe opens for you.

      --
      Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
  4. Bonuses by alexgieg · · Score: 2, Funny

    In other words, all the involved will receive huge quarter bonuses for a few years, then once it badly backfires they will have departed with golden parachutes, while PepsiCo fills for bankruptcy, right?

    --
    Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
    1. Re:Bonuses by Kjella · · Score: 1

      In other words, all the involved will receive huge quarter bonuses for a few years, then once it badly backfires they will have departed with golden parachutes, while PepsiCo fills for bankruptcy, right?

      Don't confuse creative industries like writing code with production industries like making beverages. They've been automating that since the industrial revolution and it's an ongoing process of more and more self-regulating, self-diagnosing and self-correcting machinery that's quite often successful. It's not like a code base where it takes a few years to turn a well-maintained product into a train wreck.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Bonuses by apoc.famine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you underestimate how much mid-level busywork can get automated in most businesses. In my own organization, I can think of a good half-dozen people who are going to be missing half their workload once their managers decide to get on the automation train.

      One person spends a good day a week doing data entry into one system of data we already have in another system. Then they spend another half day dealing with the data entry errors causing problems down the line. Even if we just get them access to the one system and a script to change the data format and upload it into the other system, we're chopping a day and a half of work down to about 15 minutes of work. (Ideally we'd just link the systems, but that's a bit bigger project.)

      There are piles of things like this in every organization.

      It's quite possible that there are a few visionary people now in management positions who know full-well the rot and waste of time within the organization, and who are going to try to slim it down. Depending on how thoughtful they are, this could be a massive cost savings with minimal impact to the day-to-day operations.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    3. Re:Bonuses by vux984 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      One person spends a good day a week doing data entry into one system of data we already have in another system. Then they spend another half day dealing with the data entry errors causing problems down the line.

      LMAO. You are so right.

      On the other hand, it's not so simple a problem to solve; i've seen it tried. Sure it sounds like its a few lines of script... but inevitably there's a bunch of domain knowledge and data transformations being applied; and you end up 100k into developer time and it's still not quite right because the process was poorly documented, the consultants are money grubbing assholes, and the people with the information to fix it are the ones being fired so they're not exactly happy to help assuming they stuck around. Then it turns out you need a data feed from yet another system...

      And the whole thing needs a highly technically skilled babysitter now to watch the logs and fix the problems in the automated process. He only needs 30 minutes a day instead of 1.5 days to do the data shunt, but he costs 10x as much; so the return on investment is taking a lot longer, especially after you factor the initial dev cost.

        And then one morning the data format from one of the feeds changes without announcement from the producer (at the very least another department you don't have any control over... or often a customer, vendor, other 3rd party; and the whole thing implodes... and the consultants are billing doubletime to try and fix it. :p

    4. Re: Bonuses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      From my personal experience, I worked with a group that had a project that involved a study covering a bunch of environmental data and there was a lot of knowledge required about sensors, approaches to data reporting, theory of approaches to reporting data due to limitations of data collection mechanisms, sampling methodologies used, etc.

      I automated much of the transcription error detection and adjustments, however, I also had to understand how the data was going to be analyzed and what was/wasn't critical. There was also a lot of science required just to understand each stage of the process that your average data entry clerk isn't going to know or care about.

      To be fair, this wasn't business data but I imagine most domains are fairly similar if you expect useful results form an analysis and not perform an analysis on garbage input data.

    5. Re:Bonuses by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      If you have a process where only one guy knows how to do it, you already have a problem. If that guy gets hit by a truck, or even just take a vacation, the entire business would come to a halt.

    6. Re:Bonuses by vux984 · · Score: 1

      It's not so much that only one person knows how to do it, its just that its not as rigid and simple as everyone assumes it is. A new hire can be trained on the basics in a day or two, and when exceptions come in they can just ask; the accountants all know or can deduce what to do with them on the fly. Or they can look how it was handled in the past to jog their memory.

      Worst of all the specs are often constantly shifting. New customers and contracts are taken on and special handling is needed for them. The human data entry person can be advised pretty easily; for the next 2 weeks any jobs for this account for this description need to be discounted 50%, and the other half entered as a co-pay from marketings budget as a separate transaction with this memo attached ... or whatever. And then 2 weeks later some other special handling is needed for something else. Then a new transaction coding is added. A new vendor comes online and formats their data just a bit differently.

      The problem is that you can't tackle this problem by just attempting to automate the data entry persons job because that is doomed to fail. You need a broader vision -- you need to define and publish the data specs, and get your producers to adhere to the spec FIRST.

      Then you can build automation to process it.

      And if you defined a robust enough spec and implemented it, it will all just work. If you didn't then the minute something unusual is needed it grinds to a halt.

      The problem is that you are still screwed. A simple spec isn't going to catch the edge cases and a robust enough spec is a big project; so its better to use an existing standard.

      And then you are looking at something like this
      http://www.pidx.org/our-standa...

      And you're going to soak a million bucks implementing it. And your smaller vendors are going to dump you if you demand they adhere to it if they don't already support it. So the solution there is to get 3rd party intermediaries translating their CSV and excel dumps to PIDX, to bring it into your system... and you've got an ongoing maintenance contract with PIDX experts to keep things humming.

      And it all makes sense, and saves you money, and improves your efficiency if you were big enough; but in a lot of smaller cases it's better to just suck it up and pay someone to do the work manually.

  5. Looking forward... by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    I am totally looking forward to the significant cost savings of these changes being passed on to us consumers.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry. Couldn't keep a straight face.

    1. Re:Looking forward... by xack · · Score: 2

      The “cost savings” shold be taxed for the obesity effects their products cause.

    2. Re:Looking forward... by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Their products cause zero obesity. Fuckheads drinking it like water causes obesity. But, we all know libs don't accept personal responsibility for anything...

      HEY! I may be fat but I'm NOT a lib -- them's fightin' words! Water is good for ice and mixed drink "rocks", nothing more, I'll have you know. I only drink 2L of *Coke* a day, the stores hate to see me when it's dollar day, the limits they put on are for ME. (I asked one store about their purchase limit, and they mentioned that it wasn't for commercial use. I didn't ask what that was, I just got a 6-pack of 2Ls and went on my merry way. For a few hours.) Still trying to lose weight, but those pizza boxes always get in the way. Buying 30 x 2L within a few days is not uncommon, that gets me thru to the next sale. Of if there's a drought I manage to suffer thru it. (My precious...)

      When I was a teenager, I noticed that after exercising for 30+ minutes and drank a coke, I came out even. So I switched to diet drinks and haven't looked back. A friend of mine (Hi Jimmy at Novell) always nagged me that it would turn into formaldehyde; I always rebuffed that I was saving the undertaker time and they should be paying me for it. We agreed to disagree. I'm going to see the doctor Tuesday about other things, I'll ask him. (And he'll say yes and so I'll drown my sorrows with some added cherries in my drink.)

      Next thing you know you'll be calling them "sodas." Pshaw, neophytes. I may be fat, but not from Cokes. And NEVER Pepsi, the world's worst drink -- although Tab does give it a run for the money. Coke's just all around better: Try it, you'll like it.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    3. Re:Looking forward... by lord_mike · · Score: 4, Informative

      People aren't drinking as much soda pop anymore. The sugar stuff is bad for you with lots of calories. The diet stuff is turning out to be even worse for weight and blood sugar. Flavored waters are now the thing. I'm sure pepsi has some skin in that game, too, but not as much as they do traditional soda pop.

    4. Re:Looking forward... by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Let's not forget the tooth damage, either. That stuff is bad for you on many different levels. It also tastes really good and is habit-forming, so it took a long time for me to get away from it.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    5. Re:Looking forward... by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Or, maybe you shouldn't have to pay for my healthcare and vice versa. Personal responsibility... I also oppose mandatory helmet laws.. But, if you crash, with no helmet, I shouldn't have to pay for you to live as a vegetable... Crash WITH a helmet on and that's a different story..

  6. Wait a second... by alzoron · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At least some of the workers who were alerted about layoffs will continue to work at PepsiCo until late April as they train their replacements in the coming weeks

    Are they training the robots?

    1. Re: Wait a second... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Maybe they are training the engineering teams that will be automating their jobs.

      It just seems like they're going about this all wrong. A big waterfall project that isn't likely to be on time or om budget.

    2. Re:Wait a second... by Livius · · Score: 2

      Automation isn't necessarily all or nothing. Automation tools might allow a team of ten experienced and expensive workers to be replaced with a team of three uneducated minimum-wage workers. Those three will still need a bit of training.

    3. Re:Wait a second... by quantaman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Automation isn't necessarily all or nothing. Automation tools might allow a team of ten experienced and expensive workers to be replaced with a team of three uneducated minimum-wage workers. Those three will still need a bit of training.

      I think that's backwards. The jobs eliminated by automation are typically the simpler and more repetitive ones, but even though those tasks are now automated you still need people around who understand those tasks well enough to ensure the automation is working properly.

      So you're more likely to replace ten uneducated minimum-wage workers with three experienced and expensive workers.

      If there is automation-related training of replacements I suspect they're training the technicians who know how to maintain the automated process with the tasks that are being automated.

      Of course, this is /. so I'm mostly speculating and don't have a lot of actual experience.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    4. Re:Wait a second... by Livius · · Score: 1

      Most jobs - office jobs anyway - are not a single thing. For example, 80% might be manipulating spreadsheets and could be replaced with some Perl scripts and 20% something difficult to automate. You now need access to a Perl expert occasionally, but the day-to-day work might be reduced to the point of being done by a small number of people, and that small number might be entirely, or perhaps partly, low-skill.

      That might be an extreme example, but there will be lots of possibilities and management will find the cheapest one, maybe even making compromises in terms of quality or risk management.

    5. Re:Wait a second... by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Most jobs - office jobs anyway - are not a single thing. For example, 80% might be manipulating spreadsheets and could be replaced with some Perl scripts and 20% something difficult to automate. You now need access to a Perl expert occasionally, but the day-to-day work might be reduced to the point of being done by a small number of people, and that small number might be entirely, or perhaps partly, low-skill.

      That might be an extreme example, but there will be lots of possibilities and management will find the cheapest one, maybe even making compromises in terms of quality or risk management.

      They were already making that compromise. The automation trend now is the same as the automation trend for the last 50 years. The least skilled people are the first ones to get replaced.

      Sure there might be a few specialized skills that are lost post-automation, but the way to think of automation is as a productivity multiplier. If 10 cheap minimally qualified people can make 100 widgets ten while 10 expensive highly qualified people can make 120 widgets you take the 10 cheap people.

      But if automation means one cheap minimally qualified person can make 100 widgets while one expensive highly qualified person can make 120 widgets you now get the expensive person.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    6. Re:Wait a second... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re " The jobs eliminated by automation are typically the simpler and more repetitive ones"
      Not with todays robot production lines.
      Shareholders and owners want the human risk out.
      No unions, no wage pressure.
      Robots all the way.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    7. Re:Wait a second... by sheramil · · Score: 1

      ... until late April as they train their replacements in the coming weeks

      Are they training the robots?

      Last place I worked was partly to fill in for another operator who had been redeployed to the far side of the facility, teaching a robot arm to do her (and my) job.

  7. I retrained by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After I aged out of my engineering job, I knocked off a MD. it was four years of memorization. All it takes is understanding of basic science.

    I wish I just went directly into medicine. I'd be rich and it would have a lot easier than engineering. My colleague has an undergrad in art. The other in accounting!

    1. Re:I retrained by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, there is no lack in demand for creative accountants, you have to give him that.

    2. Re: I retrained by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Should we tell him that there will be a time when we lower H1B visa restrictions and import docs who have been educated to greater levels and at a tiny fraction of the cost he has, so are far more inexpensive to employ?

      That's why there is such a cry in the tech sector about "lack of interest" in tech related fields in the US by students...when there actually isn't. It's just cheaper to get those workers from abroad. Workers who have grown up and been educated in economies with much lower costs of living and education.

      The US could be pumping out 100% stem students (and lowering costs for employers through an over supply of workers) and still NOT reach the level of cheapness that tech sector empoyers who are crying for few restrictions on immigration. And they aren't even the least bit ashamed by it. They build a company in the US do to the legal and trade framework doing so gives them access to, then turn right the feck around and hire from abroad and laugh all the way to the bank, knowing US consumers will still likely buy their products. Like idiots.

    3. Re: I retrained by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And yet they come to countries like the US and Canada for their Education. Kinda funny.. Until you realize the pending brain drain. The way they have normalized cheating on a massive scale is staggering.

      There SHOULD be restrictions on Education, and you SHOULD be required to remain the the country you trained in. It helps to prevent brain drain but also the extremely fluid movement of people. They require more then a shit hole room for a place to sleep, at least in normal countries. They require infrastrucuture, which can't be built overnigh, it needs panning, funding and quite franly comitment We have so many fucking cities that are ghost towns because they were built up around one sector or one employer that it's not sustainable.

      Ironic hearing India passing laws that would be considered "protectionism" anywhere else but because of their influence in foreign companies you can't even talk about it.

    4. Re: I retrained by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Should be required to remain in the country..." you mean like East Germany? Yeah, it worked out so well.

    5. Re:I retrained by supercell · · Score: 2

      I call bullshit. You don't age out of engineering. No Med-school is going to accept a 55 year old undergrad.

  8. "workers" ? by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much talent does it take to sell diabetes-inducing sugar water anyway? "Automation" is is another word for "contractors in India".

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    1. Re:"workers" ? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      So you think they're gonna move the bottling to India and then ship the product back here? Okay.............

    2. Re:"workers" ? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      So you think they're gonna move the bottling to India and then ship the product back here? Okay.............

      RTFA. They aren't laying off the bottlers. It is white collar "corporate" employees getting the ax.

    3. Re:"workers" ? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      It's a competition. If Coke's better than Pepsi at selling diabetes, Pepsi loses business. There is no "good enough".

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  9. train automated replacements? by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

    The statement is BS.. You're not automating if " layoffs will continue to work at PepsiCo until late April as they train their replacements".. You don't train your automated replacements. You're outsourcing existing high priced labor to cheap (aka illegal?) labor.

    1. Re:train automated replacements? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Yeah, the summary is pretty bad. The layoffs are part of a “restructuring” and are more or less unrelated to the additional announcement that the company is “also relentlessly pursuing automation”.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:train automated replacements? by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe they're automating the layoff process?

  10. Fortunately by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1, Funny

    Fortunately India, which is where production is largely being moved to, is known for its quality drinking water.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Fortunately by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      Fortunately India, which is where production is largely being moved to, is known for its quality drinking water.

      Pepsi Max, new flavour and now with intestinal parasites.

  11. Indra Nuii did better by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    What a difference between a soft spoken empathetic Indra and this guy. She built the company up. Now he is going to loot it along with his other C suite cronies. The c stands for crony or criminal I wonder.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  12. Sounds like by jmccue · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like a method of getting rid of all the old people working there, then in a year or two will say they failed and hire young people. Sounds like a good plan to avoid all those pesky US regulations.

    1. Re:Sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Corporations don't like old people because they've seen too many management and IT fads come and go like potted plants. It's hard to remain enthusiastic for yet more cycles of bullshit for decades on end.

    2. Re:Sounds like by AndrewFlagg · · Score: 1

      that's exactly what management does; says they are doing one thing... RIFs everyone related... comes back a year later and says.. change of plans.. and rehires all new 1/2 the age, and 1/2 the cost. simple plan actually. seen it done a dozen times in 20 years and affected so many of my friends here and abroad. no such thing as protected classes or age protection anymore. prove it. oh, and the outsourcing thing... nothing new there.. hard to beat $3/hour vs $20/hr. peace. amen. sorry folks. learn a new skill. watch youtube for 30 hours per week while doing your 40 hour per week job before it is gone.

  13. Re:News for ...? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

    And your attitude seems to indicate this hasn't been happening for 5,000 years. Any job that can be automated will be automated. It's stupid not to automate when you can. Generally it's the highly repetitive and mind-numbing tasks that get automated first. You know, that shit you people like to claim is "spirit crushing" for humans to do..

  14. This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    PepsiCo's board chose to further their cost-saving automation by replacing the CEO with a Magic 8 Ball, which they said "gives predictions which are just as accurate".

  15. Translation from corporate to English by Gorkamecha · · Score: 1

    "relentlessly automating and merging the best of our optimized business models with the best new thinking and technologies." AKA let the best PowerPoint win.

  16. Re:A real UBI by drinkypoo · · Score: 3

    You want a Universal Basic Income? Buy shares in PepsiCo. [...] UBI for shareholders of the ETF.

    Do you find yourself confused by the world "universal"?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  17. Re:Maybe they can put that savings... by SeaFox · · Score: 2

    Personally I haven't seriously drank pepsi products in over a decade and this decision will just make that easier to swallow, heh heh.

    So you completely missed the "retro" soda trend where makers bottled limited editions of their old sodas using real sugar?
    You don't even have to do that. Just check your local grocer's "ethnic" foods section for the Mexican versions of your favorite soda. It wont be HFCS. My closet grocer doesn't even segregate them that way. Bottled Mexican Coke is in the same cooler as all the other 20oz-1 L bottles. Normally with the Boylan, Jones, and other more niche drinks.

  18. Re:"train their replacements" by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    'training' their robots

    It's R2D2's brother, H-1B.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  19. Re:makes no sense by PPH · · Score: 1

    Plano, Texas and Purchase, New York are corporate offices. Bottling plants are spread all over the place. So yeah, office jobs. Sadly, they didn't consider replacing Ramon Laguarta with a very small shell script.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  20. In civilized countries automation = shorter week by Uberbah · · Score: 2

    ...not just more profits for robber barons and vulture capitalists.

    German workers win right to 28-hour working week

    German metal workers have won the right to a 28-hour working week in a landmark deal between employers and Europe's biggest union.

    Under the deal, workers will be allowed to reduce their working week to just 28 hours for a temporary period of up to two years. Employers will not be able to block individual workers from taking up the offer.

  21. Re:Yay, hope it backfires by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    People should boycott all Pepsi products and send a message.

    You can count me in! In fact, I started boycotting them over 30 years ago.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  22. Not to worry by melted · · Score: 1

    I "automated" not giving myself diabetes with their product a decade ago.

  23. Re:Maybe they can put that savings... by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    That's because the average person is a dumb sheep with no taste to speak of and is used to crappy HFCS so they don't know what to make of actual sucrose when they get it.

  24. Re:Yay, hope it backfires by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    "..fizzy piss water."
    You're confused, AC; you're actually thinking of Budweiser, or maybe Pabst Blue Ribbon.

  25. It's not India either by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're automating a ton of back office work that used to be done by people. The jobs aren't going overseas. They don't exist anymore.

    This is gonna be "interesting times" as more and more work is automated. It's the #1 buzzword at every tech place I know of. And it's happening faster than new jobs can be created.

    Good thing millions of unemployed and unemployable people are never a problem for long term social stability.

    --
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    1. Re:It's not India either by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      And it's happening faster than new jobs can be created.

      No it isn't. We have record low unemployment, and productivity growth is sharply lower than in the past.

      A big problem in our economy is that automation is happening too slowly, causing weak wage growth.

    2. Re:It's not India either by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Good thing millions of unemployed and unemployable people are never a problem for long term social stability.

      Have a little more faith in the system... New jobs are created every day and humans can learn to do new things.. We're pretty adaptable..

  26. There are not pesky US regulations by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    seriously. Yes, age discrimination is technically illegal. You'd have a better chance getting H1-B restrictions enforced than age discrimination rules. There is literally nobody enforcing it. Remember, it's not a law if it's not enforced.

    And this is automation. They're not hiring young folk. They're not hiring _anyone_. The jobs are just gone. Poof.

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  27. Re:News for ...? by dryeo · · Score: 1

    Any job that can be automated will be automated when it makes economic sense.
    No sense in replacing 10 minimum wage workers with millions in equipment and a $300,000 a year technician to run the machines. When the day comes that those machines are an order of magnitude cheaper and technicians are desperate enough for work that they can be paid double minimum wage.

    --
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  28. Re:News for ...? by Potor · · Score: 2

    At the previous turn of the millennium, Adolf Loos too though that automation would save us from soul-crushing labour and lead to lives of leisure. Boy was he wrong. But he was just an architect, so we can forgive him.

  29. Huh? by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 1

    "At least some of the workers who were alerted about layoffs will continue to work at PepsiCo until late April as they train their replacements in the coming weeks, the two workers told Business Insider. "

    then

    "At least some of the workers who were alerted about layoffs will continue to work at PepsiCo until late April as they train their replacements in the coming weeks, the two workers told Business Insider. "

    They're training the robots or the other automation? Uhhh....

  30. "professional ramifications" by BoogieChile · · Score: 1

    "professional ramifications"

    What professional ramifications? You're already losing your job.

    1. Re:"professional ramifications" by virtig01 · · Score: 1

      They probably risk losing the severance package as well.

  31. And then what? by virtig01 · · Score: 1

    Under the deal, workers will be allowed to reduce their working week to just 28 hours for a temporary period of up to two years.

    ....what happens after two years?

    1. Re:And then what? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      And then if trends continue, they can strike for another 28 hour work week. Or 26. Or 22. As opposed to the Bezos's of the world just pocketing all the gains for themselves.

  32. Who will buy pepsi... by jarle.aase · · Score: 1

    ... in the future, when only the AI's have a job?

  33. Re:Yay, hope it backfires by scottrocket · · Score: 1

    "..fizzy piss water." You're confused, AC; you're actually thinking of Budweiser, or maybe Pabst Blue Ribbon.

    We used to call Miller's beer "Panther Piss", so maybe that's the one he's thinking of.

  34. Obvious targets for automation by r2kordmaa · · Score: 1

    Inventory management, sales and purchasing. Like most companies, they have an army of paper pushers on payroll, dealing with customer orders, submitting orders to suppliers, keeping track of how much of what needs to get to any given location at any given time, paying bills and checking that customers have paid their bills. Most of it is boring repetitive work that doesn't actually need human interaction and can be better handled by a sufficiently clever accounting program. It's pointless busywork and there is no good reason anyone should waste their lives on that crap.

  35. Re:In civilized countries automation = shorter wee by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Wait what? No sorry a bunch of people wanting to work part time for reduced pay is not the civilised end-result of automation. This is even temporary so workers aren't able to elect to do this beyond 2 years. This was nothing more than a work-life balance related negotiation tactic to not offer the original promised pay increases. It's great virtue signalling because we all know that people desperate for a 6.8% pay increase will jump at the idea of a 27% reduction in pay.

    They also took careful aim at their foot there. The logical end game of their shorter weeks which the company can't deny is for a company to automate their work. Expect these people to ultimately lose their jobs when it becomes clear that they weren't providing 37 hours of value in the first place.

  36. Re:Actually it's red states that are most obese. by gtall · · Score: 1

    Bingo, the southern states in the U.S. have the worst obesity rates in the country. The are also the most opposed to the ACA and Medicare for all. They simply do not equate their lifestyle with their death and health rates, and the Republican pols are not about to inform them of the link.

  37. Pepsi for a new generation by ElitistWhiner · · Score: 1

    Always looking for their market.

    Good luck with the automated. I won't be supporting the company nor its product.

  38. Productivity stats are phony by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    they're measuring productivity growth in all sectors of the economy, specifically they're measuring productivity of retail workers. Think cashiers and stockers.

    There's a finite amount of work you can get out of a retail worker. Walmarts added robots to take inventory and Amazon's working them to the bone, but we're hitting the limits there.

    Manufacturing & Farm outputs, which is the real measure of productivity increases, are way, way up.

    As for unemployment, more lies. They're including "gig economy" workers. e.g. Uber drivers. Those aren't real jobs. Most of those folks are basically mortgaging their cars to get by. Eventually the maintenance will come due and the whole system will collapse. With modern cars we've got about 5 more years. Incidentally, a major recession just happens to be on the way....

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  39. Re:News for ...? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

    Automation has saved us from LOTS of soul crushing labor.. Maybe we've replaced it with others, but I'm not so sure... If nothing else, homemakers have been saved from LOTS of back breaking labor... Washing clothes by hand? Fuck that! I'd guess that washing machines save the average person... nope, I'm gonna say it and the feminists can go fuck themselves, it saves the average "mom" enormous amounts of time..

    Sometimes I think that the easier we have it, the more items somehow become "soul crushing". Planting fields by hand.. that's hard.. Driving a tractor all day? Hard too, but certainly less hard than doing that shit manually.

  40. Re:News for ...? by Potor · · Score: 1

    That was not his point nor mine. He meant that factories could replace tradesmen, and that they'd be better for it. He utterly failed to see that people take pride in making handcrafts, and express their personality in them. In his drive for efficiency, he thought even happiness could be efficient...

  41. Re:News for ...? by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

    Okay. I'll accept that, but I think we can both agree that our lives, today, are hardly as difficult, physically, as they were 100 years ago.. Far more people today are middle class.. Because we don't have to spend the bulk of our lives laboring to eat... We've all specialized.. Maybe I'm an optimist but even really shitty jobs today are generally not as bad as trying to grow your dinner from the dirt..

  42. Re:News for ...? by Potor · · Score: 1

    Oh I can fully agree with that. I am no Luddite.