Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

These workers have the most automated job in America, and they say they wouldn’t have it any other way

These workers have the most automated job in America, and they say they wouldn’t have it any other way

To add a simple date to a tombstone in the late 90s, Ron Richard, an engraver based in Southern Massachusetts, would trace the numbers onto a sheet of rubber and cut them out with an X-acto knife. By the time he’d placed the stencil onto the stone and run over it with his sandblaster (sand bounces off of the rubber portions of the stencil and carves rock exposed in the voids in between), about 20 minutes had passed.

Today, the same process takes Richard about five minutes. “It’s far, far different,” Richard says of his job nearly 20 years after […]

Maruti Suzuki partially replaces manpower with robots at its Manesar and Gurugram plants

Maruti Suzuki partially replaces manpower with robots at its Manesar and Gurugram plants

AFP Auto major Maruti Suzuki India Limited has deployed more than 100 C-series high-speed robots to work in welding for its upcoming variant of the Dzire. The country’s largest automaker is, in fact, fast moving towards automation, deploying at least one robot for every four workers at its Manesar and Gurugram factories in Haryana.

Rajiv Gandhi, the executive director (production) of Maruti Suzuki, told Mint , “We have around 2,500 robots at the Manesar facility. In total, including the Gurgaon plant, there must be around 5,000 robots.”

The robots are being used in the automated weld, paint and press shops, while […]

Robots, Automation, and Jobs: A Primer for Policymakers

Robots, Automation, and Jobs: A Primer for Policymakers

Robert D. Atkinson

There is considerable interest, if not consternation, about the potential effects of emerging technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence on employment. There is also considerable confusion about the interaction between automation, technology, and jobs. Here are 13 key points that are important for policymakers to understand about that interaction.

Read Primer There is considerable interest, if not consternation, about the potential effects of emerging technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence on employment. There is also considerable confusion about the interaction between automation, technology, and jobs. Here are 13 key points that are important for […]

Fourth industrial revolution

Fourth industrial revolution

The writer is a South Asia analyst at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington D.C. BILL Gates made headlines earlier this year when he argued that robots taking away human jobs should be taxed. His argument is that governments have a responsibility to intervene in order to slow down the proliferation of automation, as it has the potential of creating mass unemployment. It is a sign of the times that the person who has made his fortune because of technological innovation is now arguing for the curtailment of coming technologies. Welcome to The Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The world has seen three […]

Agbots, next gen farming and how they can teach us about the future of work

Agbots, next gen farming and how they can teach us about the future of work

Technological unemployment is old news for farming. For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, people have left the land under the pressure of technological advance. Given the increased discussion about the future of work, the agricultural sector could offer some insight into what happens when machines take jobs.

This is even more true given the sector stands on the verge of another technological revolution, with artificial intelligence, algorithms, robots and other forms of automation set to realign its social and economic foundations. As with any change of this nature, there is likely to be unease but it is difficult to […]

Robots sweep across Maruti Suzuki’s shop floor

Robots sweep across Maruti Suzuki’s shop floor

For the new Maruti Suzuki Dzire, as many as 104 C-Series high-speed robots are being used for welding. New Delhi: Signalling the rising tide of automation in India, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd now has at least one robot for every four workers employed at its Manesar and Gurgaon car factories, the country’s largest.

Robots are deployed largely in the weld shop, the paint shop and the press shop, where automobile car bodies are shaped. The three are fully automated. Manual work is now done mostly in car assembly.

India’s largest carmaker is now buying C-series robots, which are smaller in size, […]

In Our View: Focus on Future Jobs

In Our View: Focus on Future Jobs

In striving to make America great again, President Trump is wise to focus upon jobs. His desire to bolster manufacturing in the United States and create a climate in which employment blossoms resonated with millions of voters across the country and played a key role in landing him in the White House.

But while Trump’s goal is lofty, the reality of modern industry requires a more thoughtful and nuanced approach than the one he has thus far embraced. Trump and his administration must prepare for the game-changing role that automation will continue to play in the economy.

This was driven home […]

The Fallacy Behind Populism And Automation Fears

The Fallacy Behind Populism And Automation Fears

Wade Slome The rise of global populism and anti-immigration sentiments, coupled with the perpetual rising trend of automation and robotics has stoked the fear fires of job security. Many stories perpetuate erroneous stereotypes and falsehoods. The news reports and blog articles come in various flavors, but in a nutshell the stories state the U.S. is hemorrhaging jobs due to the thieves of illegal immigration and heartless robotics. The job displacement theory is built upon the idea that these two sources of labor (immigrants & robots) are cheaper and more productive than traditional blue collar and white collar American workers.

Although […]

Job loss: FG rules out automation at Nigerian ports

Job loss: FG rules out automation at Nigerian ports

THE Federal Government has ruled out hopes of entire automation of Nigerian seaports, saying the nation cannot afford to have machines replace humans due to her very large population. This is even as government said that aside the Single Window initiative, every other aspect of Nigerian ports operation will be manually managed.

Speaking in Lagos last week during a 1-Day national conference on fast-tracking port reforms with the theme: ‘Making Nigerian Seaports World Class’, the Honorable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi stated that Nigeria cannot afford to follow the footsteps of world leading port, Port of Singapore, in the area […]

The Robot Economy: Ready or Not, Here It Comes

The Robot Economy: Ready or Not, Here It Comes

Duc Tran, an automation engineer, observes the fully autonomous robotic truck loader during a test at the Wynright Robotics facility in Arlington, Texas, July 18, 2012. (Photo: Brandon Thibodeaux / The New York Times) September 17 changed everything.

On that day in 2013, Oxford University published an innocuously titled academic paper by two mostly unknown economists. But " The Future of Employment " wasn’t just another number-crunching exercise in opacity by a couple of dreary scientists. No, their bombshell report portended a coming robot apocalypse that could change the nature of human civilization, and perhaps even human beings themselves.

Thankfully, the […]