ZHENGZHOU, China—An employee at Foxconn’s electronics manufacturing operation here committed suicide by jumping off a building at the complex. The death comes after Foxconn had worked to improve labor conditions following a series of suicides in 2010 and 2011, mostly at the company’s Shenzhen factory.
CHARLESTON, SC—Twenty Chinese companies have put down $669 million in capital investment in South Carolina since 2000, according to that state's Department of Commerce. Together, they employ 3,253 workers.
DONGGUAN, China—Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology Co., a manufacturer of connectors and other electronics components, is building a new factory here that will use only robots for production. The factory will initially be equipped with 1,000 robots, with the aim of reducing the current workforce of 1,800 to about 200.
TAIPEI, Taiwan—Electronics manufacturer Foxconn hopes to automate 70 percent of assembly tasks within three years, according to Terry Gou, the company’s chairman.
BEIJING—The number of industrial robots in use in China will more than double over the next two years—from 182,000 today to 428,000 by 2017—thus overtaking the robot populations of either North America or the EU’s five largest economies.
BEIJING — In one factory in southern China, sleeping on the job is not frowned upon. In fact, it's being strongly encouraged by management. Workers at the computer hardware factory in the Dongguan have been encouraged to use two ten minute breaks to rest their eyes and sleep.
BEIJING—China is planning to invest $16 billion to build more charging facilities for electric vehicles. The country is trying to stem air pollution by boosting the use of electric vehicles.
BEIJING—China has imposed fine of $202 million on 12 Japanese car parts makers for allegedly price-fixing. The ruling came after Chinese regulators raided several foreign companies, including Mitsubishi Electric, Sumitomo Electric, Audi, BMW, Daimler and General Motors.