There is an interesting article in The Telegraph that cites some western executives who have toured Chinese factories recently.
They also quoted a statistic that I think might be the most-important one in the world: China added 295K robots last year, the US added 34,000.
Fortescue Metals Group President Andrew Forrest:
“I can take you to factories [in China] now, where you’ll basically be alongside a big conveyor and the machines come out of the floor and begin to assemble parts,” he says.
“And you’re walking alongside this conveyor, and after about 800, 900 metres, a truck drives out. There are no people – everything is robotic.”
Greg Jackson, the boss of British energy supplier Octopus.
“We visited a dark factory producing some astronomical number of mobile phones”
“The process was so heavily automated that there were no workers on the manufacturing side, just a small number who were there to ensure the plant was working.
“You get this sense of a change, where China’s competitiveness has gone from being about government subsidies and low wages to a tremendous number of highly skilled, educated engineers who are innovating like mad.”
Ford CEO Jim Farley from July:
“It’s the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Their cost and the quality of their vehicles is far superior to what I see in the West.”
“We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs. And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford.”
There is a good chance the battle is already lost
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.