New | Japan's ageing workforce spurs investment in robotics
Japanese firms boost spending on robotics in response to Abe's call to stimulate the economy and end two decades of stagnation
Factory worker Satomi Iwata has new co-workers, a troupe of humanoid automata that are helping to address two of Japan's most pressing concerns - a shortage of labour and a need for growth.
The 19 robots, which cost her employer Glory about 7.4 million yen (HK$467,000) each, have eye-like sensors and two arms that assemble made-to-order change dispensers alongside their human colleagues in a factory employing 370.
"They aren't human, but it's as if I'm working with colleagues who do their work very well," said Iwata, who has worked at the factory for four years.
Glory is in the vanguard as Japanese firms ramp up spending on robotics and automation, responding at last to Premier Shinzo Abe's efforts to stimulate the economy and end two decades of stagnation and deflation.
Cowed by weak demand in a country of ageing consumers, risk-averse companies had largely turned their noses up at ultra-low borrowing costs delivered by years of loose money policies from the Bank of Japan, but times appear to be changing.
Capital expenditure rose 11 per cent in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter. If that pace is sustained, it would exceed Abe's target of 70 trillion yen this year for the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.