A three-year-old Chinese artificial intelligence and robotics maker no one has heard of is quietly preparing to flood its array of robots across North America starting this month.
Automation expansion in the United States happens to be more bad news for the Trump administration, as the collision of demographics, automation, and inequality, as highlighted by Bain & Company’s recent report, will unleash the perfect economic storm for at least a decade — until about 2030. Bain believes “automation will eliminate up to 25% of US jobs by 2030, with the lower-wage tiers getting hit the hardest and earliest.” This will be truly devastating, as it now seems the Chinese will be lending a further hand in the controlled demolition of the United States.
This perfect economic storm Bain speaks off is not too far away, the report detailed. According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), 2017 was a “milestone” year for the North American robotics market, as a record number of order units, order revenue, shipment units, and shipment revenue flourished on the continent. What is particularly troubling about the “findings is that purchases of these technologies are coming from industries that have not traditionally been known for using robotics,” said ZDNet. In other words, robots are expanding like mad in North America, turning Bain’s prediction of an automation takeover into a frightening reality.
ZDNet has recently gained knowledge of Geek+ (Beijing Geekplus Technology), a Chinese artificial intelligence and robot maker, who has exited “startup mode” and is now “China’s number one native supplier of logistics automation.”
Founded in 2015, Geek+ has shipped well over 3,000 logistics and sorting robots and developed ten robotic systems for more than thirty supply chain clients. Geek+ has grown into China’s number one supplier of warehousing and logistics robots for Southeast Asia.
From a market standpoint, however, ZDNet indicates that “non-Chinese automation suppliers” should be warned about Geek+ rapid rise to power.
“China is the largest market for industrial automation in the world, so that’s certainly a big deal for a young company. There’s reason to believe this is the inevitable shot across the bow for non-Chinese automation suppliers, which have been cashing in as China scrambles to react to rising wages with more robots. If Geek+ is any indication, native robotics companies are ascendant, which means the Chinese gravy train could be coming to a screeching halt for outsiders.
That’s very much by design. Historically, China has lagged behind Asian rivals Japan and South Korea in robotics development. But with Chinese firms spending huge money on automation technology, the central government has sought to spur native development and keep as much of that spending onshore as possible.”
ZDNet further explains how Geek+ is strong evidence that China is preparing to flood the world with robots.
“In 2015, China launched the Made in China 2025 plan, which provides a roadmap for Chinese dominance in several high-tech sectors, including robotics. Bolstered by incentives and government investment, the Chinese robotics market has ballooned ever since. Founded in 2015, Geek+ is a product of that program, and it’s providing strong evidence the 2025 plan is working. Part of the reason Geek+ has flown under the radar is that the company’s leadership, backed by a cheerleading government and substantial funding, has taken dead aim at building market share while spending relatively little effort touting its technology portfolio.”
In the coming days, Geek+ is debuting its latest laser-guided warehouse picking robot at Modex, the largest supply chain expo in North and South America. For Geek Plus, the attendance is part of the company’s global expansion plans, to flood the United States with cheap robots.
Video: Geek Plus Moving System with SLAM Navigation by Geek+
A spokesperson for Geek Plus said the Modex expo is a critical part of the company’s new marketing expansion in the West.
“The main investors in our global operation are US companies,” explained the spokesperson. “We want to showcase our warehouse solutions to the US market at Modex.”
“Research shows that material handling occupies 75 percent of labor costs, 25 percent of human resources, 55 percent of production space and 87 percent of production time. The main pain points to customers are wasted human resources and rising labor costs. On the other hand, the traditional AGV with fixed transporting track is no longer suitable for this high-demand and changeable market. As we begin to bring our products and services to North America, we really want supply chain business executives and MODEX attendees to visit our booth and see our solutions,” said Geek+ CEO Yong Zheng.
In short, Geek+ is strong evidence that China plans to flood the United States with automation, which by the way, could lead to further job losses — something that Bain & Company has recently warned about in their analysis of the perfect economic storm: Demographics, Automation, and Inequality. As for the Trump administration, this is more bad news for the labor market, as there are some “95 million Americans not in the labor force,” according to the Federal Reserve.