This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Finishing an item on an assembly line every 6 seconds does not mean it only takes 6 seconds to assemble the item. It only means that the slowest step of the process takes a maximum of 6 seconds/item to complete.
Not even that. For example if there are 10 assembly lines in parallel that the slowest step takes 60 seconds, you still get a phone each 6 seconds
I was considering parallel processes in the same facility as a single production line in this case, as the article seems to consider the production mentioned as a single line...but yes, if it is indeed split between multiple lines producing the phones entirely and in parallel that is the case.
Hell you can even parallelize the slow parts so the fast parts aren't waiting as much
Xiaomi said assembling a smartphone from circuit board to finished product takes about six seconds, and, at full capacity, the factory could produce more than 10 million devices annually.
That sounds like the final assembly takes six seconds, which is entirely plausible given how fast robots move.
assembling a smartphone from circuit board to finished product
I disagree, that phrasing suggests from assembling the circuit board to finished product, which I believe is impossible in 6 seconds, simply due to soldering time for components alone. The 6 seconds is only achievable on a "per unit" basis because they can make multiple units in parallel on the production line.
You should really read the article
Literally the sentence after that points out the production output is 10 million per year, which is 1 phone every ~3 seconds
They are indeed claiming to put together a unit, start to finish, in 6 seconds. Implying they only have 2-3 parallel production lines
You should really read the article
I love the optimism.
Claiming is one thing, showing video footage is another.
If true, very impressive.
I have seen videos of pick'n'place machines. But I can't imagine the solder baking, screwing and final assembly and preparing for the packaging taking only 6 seconds.
You should really think more about what you say. We're talking about final assembly, not soldering individual components onto the board.
That was my reaction to the headline. Then I read the article:
Xiaomi said assembling a smartphone from circuit board to finished product takes about six seconds, and, at full capacity, the factory could produce more than 10 million devices annually
They are indeed stating each phone only takes 6 seconds to complete
With ~30 million seconds in a year, their output is 1 phone every 3 seconds
Also that’s not that impressive. 30 million devices is roughly one per second year round. Phone manufacturers make many times that in a year.
Yeah, the "6 seconds" part is just a clickbait. The "near-fully automated" part is interesting.
How is it clickbait?
An estimated 1.4 billion cell phones are sold each year.
Apple clears about 8 iPhones a second year-round, with ~250 million.
How many cell phones does one need?
I need 8 per second. Keep dropping them.
If it were 9 that would just be e-wasteful. 7-8 is the sweet spot.
Ok, unlimited phones in a world that’s already flooded with the damn things….now what?
I my case, I use a 5 year old Xiaomi flagship, that still runs like a charm, and has a 1.5-2 day battery life. That means that having this phone has meant a 250% reduction in ewaste if we use the 24 month cycle average for the industry.
My s22 is 4th year and it is as good as new... to be honest, i only ever had problems with motorolla
Xiaomi said assembling a smartphone from circuit board to finished product takes about six seconds, and, at full capacity, the factory could produce more than 10 million devices annually
There are ~30 million seconds in a year. So this factory is only producing 2 phones at a time? Assuming the article is accurate, I'm very curious to hear why this was chosen as a design
Especially since it says 11 production lines...
11 lines = 57.8 million
57.8/~10 means their lines are down 38.5% of the time?!?!?
Edit: Maybe the nearly 40% downtime is retooling for different models?
The rule of thumb is to plan for machines having 80% uptime. Mind you, new lines, and especially new technologies are often a clusterfuck until they mature and you really understand the quirks of trying to do what you're trying to do with them. But yeah 20% retooling would make sense if they have a lot of models and a really complicated retooling process, but if that's the case, well listen, I believe it, but I'd be asking questions about how to cut the tool change time down.
I'm assuming there must be downtime for maintenance and quality checks.
Ah shit, I only want a phone made by children.
What Elon wished he could achieve
He is the single human with the most manufacturing knowledge in the world, after all.
