NYU Student Goes Undercover At Apple Factory In China | CNBC

MEET DEJIAN ZENG.
這位是曾德建

He is a grad student at NYU and spent his summer undercover across the globe at an Apple factory in China.

他是紐約大學畢業生。在暑假期間，臥底中國Apple工廠。

We went to NYU to get the inside scoop.
我們前去紐約大學獨家採訪。

So getting into it is very easy. 
要進去工廠非常簡單。

I just show up in front of factories.
我就只是站在工廠前面。

And when I was there, I already see people holding their luggage waiting a long line in the factories.
當我在那裡時，我已經看到有的人帶著行李箱在工廠裡排隊。

So I just step in the line and just wait.
所以我就只是進去排隊，一起等待。

And then when it was my turn they asked for my ID, and then they asked me to show my hands and recite the English alphabet because they use English letters on the other sampling line.
輪到我時，他們問我的ID，然後叫我秀出手，背誦abc。因為他們在其他採樣生產線需要用到英文字母。

But…...but that's it like I just get in after that and it takes less than 30 seconds.
然後就結束了。我前前後後不超過30秒。

You don’t need to apply or even have any skills to get in.
你不需要申請，也不需要任何技能就可以進去。

So it's super easy. You don't have apply, you don't have any skills, you just show up and then get it.
所以真的超簡單。你不用申請、你不用有技能，你只要出現然後就可以進去。

President Donald Trump is talked about and said that he wants Apple to manufacture or bring its manufacturing partners into the United States build iPhones.
美國總統川普表示，想要將蘋果生產業務轉移到美國生產iPhones.

Can Apple manufacturing move to United States?
Apple生產工廠可以轉移至美國嗎？

What do you think about that you think it's something that US workers would do? 
你對這件事看法如何？你覺得美國的工人會做嗎？

What kind of conditions would have to change? 
有什麼條件狀況要改變？

I think it's just the wages is unacceptable for American workers.
我想就只有薪資是美國工人難以接受的。

So in the factories, I am actually getting paid by 3,100 yen so it's about $450 per month.
在工廠裡，我拿到3,100人民幣，大概是一個月450美金。

I don't think American workers can accept that kind of wages based on the living like conditions or the prices here.
再加上居住環境，我想美國工人是不可能接受這樣的薪資。

I would say that even though they really relocated the factories to…...to the US, it will replace by robots.
我想就算他們真的把工廠轉移到美國，工人還是會被機器人取代。

Robots may soon take over Apple factories anyway.
總之，機器人將會接管蘋果工廠。

Because I do see a lot of stations on my assembly line actually done by robots already.
因為在我的生產線，確實看到許多工作台已經由機器人來做了。

So the station in front of me is a station that putting camera on the…...on the back case and it's done by machine.
在我前面的工作台是把鏡頭放在手機背部。是由機器人來操作的。

And also the stations that put the battery on the case, it's also done by machine and then…...
另外還有工作台是把電池放到手機裡，也是由機器人來操作。

Robots already do some of the work at Apple factories.
蘋果工廠已經在用機器人工作了。

So you see that a lot of stations can actually done by machine and it's very easy my station is just putting one screw there like it totally can be done by machine.

可想而知，有的工作台對機器人來說超級簡單。像是我的工作台就只要將螺絲釘放進去而已。

Currently, the labor in China is even cheaper than machine.
近期，中國的勞工甚至比機器人還要便宜。

So why we are still using labors in China instead of machine is that…... is like labor is even cheaper that…...that maintaining the machines I would say.
我們為什麼還要用中國勞工的原因，是因為勞工比機器維修費用來得便宜。

The assembly lines have around 2,000 people.
生產線大約有2,000人。

Producing around 3,600 Iphones per day
一天生產3,600支iphone.

On the assembling line I work on,l we have about 200 people and then we produce about 3600 phone per day.
在我工作的生產線上大約有200人，每天生產3,600支iphone.

They were very boring and tiring 12-hour days.    
每天12小時，無聊又疲憊。

The first things that you feel is very boring and tiring. Because in the end, you spend 12 hours working on the assignment line and then fastening one screw.
你第一個感覺到的就是無聊和疲憊。因為一天花了12小時重複栓一顆螺絲。

And then we were sitting on the backless chair and then for long hour.
然後坐在沒有靠背的椅子長達數小時。

The nightmare of your machine breaking down.
機器故障的惡夢。

The second feeling that is like somehow you feel anxious or nervous, typically when your machines break down.
第二個感覺就是焦慮或緊張。一般來說就是機器故障的時候。

So I have a screw feeder and it gets stuck all the time.
我有一個螺飼機，它常常卡住。

And when it got stuck, I heat it and knocked it on the table and that is still didn't work.
當它卡住時，我拍打他、放在桌子上敲，但還是沒有用。

So I need to press the bottom. And then there the red lights will be on, and then some alarm  and he was going to repair it.
所以我必須按緊急按鈕。隨之而來的是紅色警戒燈與一些警報聲，有些人就要去修復機器。

But that was like five minutes later.
一修復就是過了五分鐘。

So during that period of a time, you see that the seminar still working.
在那個期間，你會看到機器仍在運作。

And there's a lot of pieces, they have unfinished pieces, they're going away.
有很多細碎零件、沒有完成的零件，被運送下一個地方。

And then I can do nothing.
然而我卻無能為力。

You have to collect all the phones on the assembly line.
你必須收集所有零件在生產線。

And then so we get very anxious. and then…...and then what…...what I can do is that I need to pick them up and put it on a table.
所以我們會變得很焦慮，我能做的事就只有去把他們撿回來放在桌上。

When it's repaired, I have already a pile of unfinished pieces on my table.
當機器修復時，很多沒完成的零件都在我桌上。

And in the next like 30 minutes on our hour, my workload is actually double.
在接下來的30分鐘，我的工作就得加倍。

Your workload Doubles.
你的工作量加倍。

I need to finish the pieces going very fast on the assembly line, at the same time finish the pieces on the table.
我必須很快的完成生產線上的組裝零件，同時也要完成我桌子上的零件。

And if I couldn’t finished it, I need to use my time during the break to finish all those pieces.
如果我不能完成，就必須得利用休息時間組裝零件。

You have to work unpaid, obligatory overtime until you’re completely finished.
你必須義務加班而且沒有加班費，直到你完成工作。

And then worker call this obligatory overtime because you're actually unpaid during the break time but you have to finish those pieces that you have not done.
於是工人稱之為義務加班，因為你在休息時間是沒有薪水的，但還是要去做未完成的工作。

They said that “look at this pieces, it's broken again. what did you do?”, something like that.
他們會說：「你到底做了什麼？看看這東西，它又壞掉了。」 這種話之類的。

And then like “how can you didn’t the finish, are you blind?”
或是像「你是瞎了嗎？怎麼沒有完成？」

Okay, wow.
我的天啊。

Around 800 people live in the dorms.
大約800個人住在宿舍。

So in the dorm, we have about 800 people live together.
在宿舍，大該800個人住在一起。

Each floor has only one shared bathroom.
每層樓只有一個公同的寢室。

And then in the dorm room, one floor only have one restroom and bathroom and then it was shared by about 200 people.
在宿舍裡，一層樓只有一個寢室和一個廁所。200人共用。

Cost of living is rising.
生活費增加。

As you know China is developing, so all the prices for food and housing is all increasing.
中國正在發展，所以物價和房價都在上漲。

So because it's increasing that you have to increase the wages accordingly. And then also the city, the government also set minimum wages.
因為物價房價上漲，薪資也必須調漲。甚至在大城市，政府還會訂定最低薪資。

So the wages is…...is getting higher and higher, so the cost for labor is getting higher and higher.
所以薪水變得越來越高，勞工成本也逐漸變高。

While in other countries like Vietnam or Bangladesh, the…...the wages is still very low.
然而在其他國家，像是越南、孟加拉，薪水還是很低。

Because of this, some Chinese factories are shutting down and relocated to countries where labor costs are lower.
因此，很多中國工廠關閉，並且轉移到勞工成本更低的國家。

And…...and so there are a lot of factories actually are shutting down and then relocated to other countries where labor cost is lower.
所以有很多工廠關閉，轉移到勞工成本更低的國家。

This seems to be a repeating trend in history.
這就像一個時代的潮流。

So I see that's just a…...there’s just a trend of history also that factories are used to be America and then move to Asia, and then China, and then the next step would be Vietnam or Bangladesh, some countries like that.
我想這就是一種時代的潮流。像工廠原本在美國的轉移到了亞洲、中國，下一步就會是越南、孟加拉等等。

Thanks for watching.
感謝收看。

 

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