Drishti
Assembly Line
Apple plans to automate 50% of iPhone assembly using AI and robotics
According to a new report, Apple is working on automating its iPhone assembly lines, aiming to reduce the human workforce by up to 50% in the coming years. This decision, driven by both operational challenges and the pursuit of greater efficiency, has far-reaching implications for the tech giantās supply chain and the global labor market.
Appleās automation strategy involves reviving and investing heavily in previously shelved projects due to high upfront costs. These efforts have already started to bear fruit, particularly in the production of the iPhone 15, where a significant amount of the assembly process has been automated. Peter Thompson, Appleās vice president of operations, has been pivotal in these efforts, working closely with manufacturing partners like Foxconn, Luxshare Precision, and Pegatron.
Appleās automation efforts have been bolstered by strategic acquisitions, such as DarwinAI and Drishti. DarwinAI specializes in inspecting components like printed circuit boards for defects, while Drishti provides technology to identify production bottlenecks in real-time. These acquisitions have enhanced Appleās capability to implement and manage automated processes more effectively.
How Drishti empowers deep learning in manufacturing
During his talk at the MLDS Conference, āNew developments in Deep Learning for unlikely industriesā, Shankar outlined Drishtiās industrial applications of AI in manufacturing. The company leverages deep learning and computer vision to automate the analysis of factory floor videos. Essentially, the company has installed cameras on assembly lines that capture videos on which the company runs object detection, anomaly detection and action recognition. Then, the data is sent to industrial engineers to improve the line.