China’s declining labor force and need to boost productivity has led the government to promote the use of industrial robots.
The Robotics-plus Application plan aims to double the industrial sector’s robot density by 2025 from 246 per 10,000 workers in 2020.
Homegrown companies are producing fast and accurate machines that can assemble cars, move in three-dimensional planes, and twist in complex ways.
However, having more robots on factory floors does not necessarily result in swift technological gains and productivity leaps.
Without highly skilled personnel to program and operate the automated equipment, the returns of smart manufacturing cannot be realized.
Only 12.6% of China’s estimated 300 million migrant workers are college-educated or above, which is concerning as 40% of their activities stand to be automated by the end of the decade.
Policymakers are turning their attention to training and upskilling the labor pool to catch up with the increasing robot density.
Beijing will need to do more for its workers to avoid a heap of idle machines.
