|
As intelligent robots get cheaper, it may help bring back some car manufacturing from low-cost locations like China and to factories in Germany and North America, according to Donald Walker, CEO of auto supplier Magna, who spoke to Reuters.
Rising wages in China and the cost of importing heavy components like electric car batteries into Europe may lead established car makers to introduce more highly efficient automated manufacturing closer to home, Walker said in an interview at the Frankfurt auto show.
"If you have a high labor, easy-to-ship part, it has already gone, for the most part, to a low-cost jurisdiction," Walker said about the evolution of assembly work in the car manufacturing business.
"A bigger issue is how fast do you have intelligent robotics replace manual labor everywhere in the world."
By 2025 the total cost of manufacturing labor is
|
projected to fall between 18 and 33 percent in countries which already deploy industrial robots, including South Korea, China, the U.S. Germany and Japan, according to a study on advanced manufacturing technologies by the Boston Consulting Group.
The emergence of hybrid and electric cars means automakers have seen an increasing demand for large batteries, Walker explained.
"If you look at a battery, it is a big heavy thing to ship. The things that hold the battery, the bumpers, the wheels, those are big bulky parts," Walker said. "I think you will still see cars made where the market is. And based on that, the big bulky parts and a lot of the technology in there, will probably be made locally," Walker said.
For more of the Reuters story: www.reuters.com
|
