Apple wants to automate iPhone production: Robot colleague, take over
The assembly of many Apple products is still partly manual work. In view of a shortage of labor, the plan is now to automate (much) more.
Teardown on an iPhone 15.
(Image: iFixIt)
Apple wants to replace half of the people involved in the final assembly of the iPhone with machines. A corresponding project was initiated by Sabih Khan, Senior Vice President responsible for Operations. In cooperation with suppliers and manufacturers, implementation is planned "in the next few years", writes the Silicon Valley-based industry website The Information, citing people involved in the project. The number of employees required is to be reduced "by up to 50 percent".
A lot of money needed for automation
Several effects are said to be responsible for the drive towards more automation. Firstly, Apple's manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit sufficient workers, particularly in China, the main manufacturing country. Young people no longer want to work in the factories, and wage increases, improved working conditions and bonuses only help to a limited extent. In addition, there were riots in some factories in China during the late coronavirus phase due to quarantine measures, which apparently shook up Apple's management. Since then, the company has accelerated production in new markets such as Vietnam and India, but is presumably encountering the same labor problem there.
Apple is apparently also prepared to invest a lot of money in the automation of its supply chain. According to The Information, previously halted projects that were associated with high investments have been relaunched. This involves machines and robots worth hundreds of millions of US dollars, some of which have had quality problems in the past. Apple is also trying to exert pressure on manufacturers to invest more in automation, but this is only partially successful. This means that Apple has to spend a lot of money itself.
30 percent fewer employees in some processes
The degree of automation in final assembly is said to have already increased with the iPhone 15. This has been achieved with partners such as Luxshare, Pegatron and Foxconn. Machines install the metal clips on the housings and connect components to the flexible boards. In some processes, it is already possible to manage with up to 30 percent fewer employees. Apple has also recently acquired companies in the field of AI and robotics that could help with further automation, including Darwin AI.
Video surveillance has also been increased, and systems should be able to automatically detect production problems in real time. However, there still seem to be problems with the automation of iPhone 16 production. The installation of certain components and buttons was switched back to manual assembly because there were too many defects, according to The Information.
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