Automation
Article

Labor costs, shortage, increasing reliability: Why we're seeing more robots inside plants

by
The Detroit News
April 12, 2024
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Summary

Our CEO Tom Kelly was quoted in this insightful piece on the rising trend of automation inside auto plants in Metro Detroit and beyond.

Long used mostly for the “dull, dirty and dangerous” tasks in manufacturing, robots are increasingly considered “desirable” amid rising labor costs and shortages, strike risks and the need for flexibility in navigating the bumpy electric vehicle transition.

A record contract between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three following an up-to 46-day strike last fall might’ve been the final "catalyst" for a boom in investment in more automation, according to Lou Finazzo, a vice president at Japanese robot supplier Fanuc Corp. Some workers at automakers as well as suppliers already are seeing it affect their jobs at assembly plants, too.

Read the story in full here.

The Detroit News
The Detroit News

Covering what matters to Metro Detroit and Michigan since 1873.

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