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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
