Xiaomi’s 100% Autonomous, Self-Optimizing Factory, Needs Almost No Workers

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It has long been predicted that AI-driven robots will replace factory workers. Still, most companies rely on humans to oversee the process, particularly in areas like manufacturing optimization. But the doomsday might be closer than we imagined, as Xiaomi, the world’s third biggest smartphone maker, builds a smart, 100% autonomous factory that can self-optimize and evolve the process to achieve ever higher efficiency.

Appropriately called the “Xiaomi Smart Factory,” this facility will build the brand’s most advanced smartphones – MIX Fold 4 and MIX Flip. It is built in Changping, a district in the northeast of Beijing, and will take up 80,000 square meters (860,000-sq-ft). Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, says that the facility will have 11 fully automated production lines. “We developed our entire production and manufacturing software to achieve this,” says Lei.

Sounds armageddon-ish? Wait until you hear about the super-advanced AI brain that powers the Xiaomi Smart Factory. This thing not only monitors all production processes but also evolves them over time. Everything, from optimization to developing new techniques is done by the AI brain. 

As Jun puts it, “What’s most impressive, is that this platform can identify and solve issues, while also helping to improve the production process. That’s really incredible! This platform blew our colleagues away when they first saw it.” We don’t want to draw comparisons, but it sounds like something Miles Dyson would say. Oh, and this “AI boogeyman” even has a name – “Xiaomi Pengpai Intelligent Manufacturing Platform.”

Jokes aside, using its self-perception, self-decision-making, and self-execution capabilities, the Xiaomi Smart Factory can significantly reduce manufacturing costs. Because almost no humans will be around, the facility is also super-clean, with GizmoChina reporting micron-level dust removal. Let’s also not forget that AI and robots need no rest or sleep, meaning the factory will run 24 hours a day, every day of the week. 

The Xiaomi Smart Factory will produce a smartphone every 1-3 seconds. That is impressive, considering the MIX Fold 4 and MIX Flip are foldable smartphones, with fragile flexible displays. Most impressively, the factory can “realize full-scenario digital management from raw material procurement to delivery.”

Ashton Henning