Volvo may turn more of its assembly line in the New River Valley over to robots in the coming years. It’s a trend many manufacturing companies across the country are exploring.
Nearly 3,000 humans still do most of the complex jobs at the Volvo plant in Dublin. But as technology advances, that may change, said Magnus Koeck, vice president of strategy and marketing at Volvo trucks North America.
“Maybe in 15 years, maybe we can do everything automated. But we still have lots of manual labor for the final assembly,” Koeck said.
A few years ago, Volvo built a second plant in Dublin, where 170 robots do simpler tasks, like paint truck components, and attach doors to cabs. Volvo spent $500 million building the second plant. Inside part of the facility, engineers sit monitoring the robots’ progress.
These are the jobs of the future, said Mehdi Ahmadian, an expert in automotive engineering at Virginia Tech. “We are in some ways replacing physical labor with intellectual labor,” Ahmadian said.
Automation has long been a part of the auto manufacturing industry, but with artificial intelligence advancing, Ahmadian expects to see an acceleration in the coming decades.
He advises young people to make sure they’re getting real world experiences, and training in AI technology before they graduate college. He adds companies, like Volvo, can also help current workers learn new skills that will be needed inside a more automated workplace.
