Pros and Cons of Automation in Asia-Pacific
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As businesses look to streamline their operations and improve efficiency, automation has emerged as a powerful tool that can help them achieve their goals. However, there are many concerns about the human impact that automation will have on the global workforce, especially in manufacturing hubs within the Asia-Pacific region.
Human Resources must carefully communicate the benefits of the technology to staff while mitigating the fears and changes that accompany the shift to automation. In this article, we'll examine the pros and cons of automation in the region and the ways HR are addressing them.
Pros of Automation
Automation will have numerous benefits for organizations around the globe, including:
Improved Efficiency
Automation can help companies achieve greater levels of efficiency by automating routine, repetitive tasks. This frees up employees to focus on more strategic tasks that require human input, such as problem-solving and decision-making.
Samsung Electronics uses its Samsung Cloud Orchestrator (SCO) to support the automation of lifecycle management of large-scale virtualized Radio Access Networks (vRAN) in Asia. The SCO supports the automation of vRAN deployments on private and public clouds and enables network services to be provisioned across multiple cloud environments. It offers a highly flexible scaling option for operators, tailored to various deployment scenarios.
"Automation adds incredible value for operators who are rapidly shifting to software-centric networks," has said June Moon, Executive Vice President, Head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. "With our enhanced Samsung Cloud Orchestrator, operators have a necessary platform to deploy and manage their vRAN with maximum efficiency and greater flexibility.”
Cost Savings
Automation can also help companies save money by reducing the need for human labor. In China, Foxconn, a major electronics manufacturer, has been investing heavily in automation to reduce its reliance on human workers. The company set a goal to achieve 30% automation by 2020. There is a human cost to this shift, however. According to the South China Morning Post, one factory reduced its overall workforce from 110,000 to 50,000 as a direct result of automation.
"Our robotics and automation efforts are driven by the needs of each manufacturing process and our goal of continuously enhancing the quality of our products. Across all of our facilities today, we are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees and, through training, also enable our employees to focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development, process control, and quality control," Foxconn said in a statement.
Improved Safety and Job Satisfaction
Automation can also improve workplace safety by reducing the need for human workers to perform dangerous or hazardous tasks. In Japan, companies such as Hitachi have developed robotic systems for inspecting nuclear power plants, which can help improve safety and reduce the risk of accidents.
Companies like Toyota also began using automation because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At Musashi Seimitsu Industry Co Ltd, robotic arms scan bevel gears for surface flaws at two seconds per inspection, freeing up workers to focus on more creative work. "Inspecting 1,000 of the exact same thing day-in day-out requires a lot of skill and expertise, but it's not very creative," has said Chief Executive Hiroshi Otsuka, according to Reuters. “We'd like to release workers from those tasks."
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Cons of Automation in APAC
While there are many pros to automation, there are numerous cons to consider as well.
Job Losses
One of the biggest concerns about automation is that it will lead to job losses. In many cases, this fear is not unfounded. Forrester predicts that 63 million jobs will be lost to automation across the five largest economies in APAC by 2040. Australia will see 11% of jobs lost to automation by 2040. China will lose 7% of jobs to automation by 2040, but the ICT industry will create 3.8 million additional new jobs. Nearly 70% of India's jobs are under threat from automation, and Japan's working population will contract by 19% between 2020 and 2040 and by almost one-third by 2050. South Korea's workforce will contract by 23% over the next 20 years, driven by its aging population and its dependency on industries susceptible to automation.
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"To prepare for the changes brought on by automation, the five largest economies in APAC will have to radically rethink their workforce strategies," said Michael O'Grady, Principal Forecast Analyst at Forrester.
Skill Gaps
As automation replaces more jobs, there is a risk that it will create skill gaps in the workforce. This is because the jobs that are most likely to be automated tend to be lower-skilled, while the jobs that require human input tend to be higher-skilled. NASSCOM, an Indian IT industry body, believes 20% to 25% of jobs in the industry will be lost because of automation within the next three years.
"The solution lies in pressing the button on modernizing the workforce and delivering skills for the future. A rudimentary first step is to ensure everyone becomes literate in the use of technology followed by systems that deliver continuous and lifelong learning while simultaneously encouraging a culture of being versatile and adaptable," has said Atul Raja, Executive Vice President at the Wadhwani Foundation.
Morale Issues
Finally, there is a risk that automation can have a negative impact on employee morale. Employees may feel that their jobs are at risk and that their employers do not value their contributions. Back in 2017 the Commonwealth Bank in Australia already had faced criticism over its use of automation to cut jobs, with some employees complaining that they were not given enough warning or support.
How HR Can Manage Talent
HR has a role to play in both promoting the pros of automation and managing organizational talent as automation starts to impact the workforce. This may include implementing strategies to upskill and reskill workers to fill any skill gaps created by automation. They can provide training opportunities and encourage a culture of continuous learning to ensure job losses are minimized.
HR can also address morale issues by communicating transparently with employees about the company's automation plans and providing support and assistance to affected employees.
In addition, HR should focus on talent acquisition and retention to ensure that the company has the right mix of skills and capabilities to succeed in an increasingly automated world.
The key is not to push back against progress, but to adapt to it.
Photo by Michelangelo Buonarroti for Pexels
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