Robot workers will make more robots at ABB’s new China factory

Swiss multi-national corporation ABB is known as a robotics giant – and it certainly takes its focus on automation and technology very seriously. At its new factory in Shanghai, China, the company will have robots doing the work of manufacturing even more robots.

The YuMi robots, which are designed to function safely in tandem with human workers, will be deployed on the new factory’s assembly line to “allow close collaboration on many of the small parts assembly tasks needed to manufacture an ABB robot”.

Check out the video below for a preview of such human-robot collaboration:

The factory will cost US$150 million (SG$120 million) to build, and is slated to become fully operational by the end of 2020.

ABB says it will be the world’s most advanced robotics factory, and will “combine connected digital technologies, state-of-the-art collaborative robotics and cutting-edge artificial intelligence research to create the most sophisticated, automated and flexible Factory of the Future.”

“The concept behind this factory is the same advice we give our customers every day: invest in automation solutions that provide flexibility and agility to grow in whichever direction the market goes,” said Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s robotics and motion division.

China is a key market for the engineering titan. It employs some 18,000 people across China, including 5,000 in Shangai. Its global workforce numbers 147,000.