China's robot revolution has foreign firms on edge
Aug 24 2017
http://www.afr.com/news/world/chinas-robot-revolution-has-foreign-firms-on-edge-20170824-gy2zgc
Juyi was founded by Pan's mother almost 30 years ago just as China was opening up to global trade. When Pan took over in 1997, the company had 213 staff and sales revenue of just over 15 million yuan. From there, the shoemaker grew quickly as China, with its army of low-cost workers, became the biggest manufacturer of export goods.
Juyi's staff numbers swelled to 7000 by 2010 but in recent years, as rising labour costs made China's factories less competitive and the government launched Made in China 2025 to upgrade the industry, Pan has been gradually replacing his workers with industrial robots. Total staff numbers have dropped to 5000 but sales keep rising, hitting 1.5 billion yuan ($280 million) last year.
Also: https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/robots-china-breaks-historic-records-in-automation