DMC-FX7
ƒ/2.8
5.8 mm
1/15
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Thousands of workers in this factory assembling and testing fiber optic systems. In many places of the Chinese economy, human labor replaces automation (in contrast to Japan, for example).
35 responses to “rows and rows”
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Asterope, if you knew how much these people make, I’m not so sure you’d like what you see.
I’m no Marxist, but Ol’ Karl’s critique of industrialization suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense to me after I visited a few consumer electronics factories in Shenzhen and Malaysia. It’s jaw-dropping to see a looooooong line of several dozen women tediously assembling circuit boards by hand, one diode at a time — and then, in the next room, there’s a big machine that looks like a cross between a Tommy gun and a sewing machine, doing much the same thing, much faster, and with much greater precision. So then why even bother with the long line of women doing that repetitive, mind-numbing work? It’s simple: They’re significantly cheaper. Holy Das Kapital, Batman!
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Asterope, no dis was intended, of course. Just sayin’, that’s all. That said, I don’t mean to suggest that companies are greedy and selfish, really. That’s not how I look at it, at least.
If presented with a choice between paying more and paying less, it’s only natural (for companies, for you and me) to try and pay less. Or, at least, as little as possible. There is harmony in efficiency, after all, even if it has its own ruthless logic.
Really, though, my comments about these factories were meant more along the lines of what they say about politics and the making of sausage — it’s easier to swallow if you don’t know what goes inside.
But hey, that’s just me. And for the record, I still love eating sausage.
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@Drew: I think Intel did an ad many years ago with people dancing around in those cleansuits. IIRC the suits were neon colors, tho.
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I can’t say I would like their job! Interesting capture though.
Thanks for sharing in our "In a Row" theme at
The World Through My Eyes -
😀 very interesting, and real rows…
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Seen in a discussion of The World Through My Eyes – Post 2 / Comment Any 1. (?) -
Well, consider that fiber optic system might be part of why the internet is working right now so that I can kill time on Flcikr ….. salute! to these workers. XD They should give them better chairs though; those don’t look very comfortable for long shifts.
"In a Row" theme at The World Through My Eyes -
1ST PLACE
Congratulations on winning 1st Place in the Contest: Jobs, in the Themed Contests Group!
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Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Employment – People at Work, and we’d love to have your photo added to the group.
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I have a picture like this of the inside of the Jilong fiber optic plant in China. Looks similar.
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Congratulations! This image won SECOND place in the contest "WORK"
Winner’s Circle – 5 Contests At All Times! -
Hi, I’ve used this photo in this blog post on TreeHugger. Thanks for making it available under Creative Commons.
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Just noticed that this photo is used on p.229 of the NeoPhotonics S-1 filing with the SEC for their IPO
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Thanks for the use of your image.
I posted it on my blog in a story about American workers.
I provided attribution and linked back to your photostream.
Regards,
Bret
HopeToProsper.com
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