China's NIO Will Reduce Workforce By 30% And Invests On Robots, AI

According to SCMP, the Shanghai-based company, which competes with Tesla and other premium EV brands, said earlier this month that it had already cut 10% of its workforce to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

Nio's vice president of manufacturing, logistics, and operations, Ji Huaqiang, disclosed on Friday that the company intends to use more AI technologies at its plants in order to automate production and improve management.

Reducing the need for technicians and skilled laborers while lowering labor expenses is the aim. According to Huaqiang, the company could eliminate 50% of its managerial positions by 2025 if AI were to make 80% of the decisions related to manufacturing.

He went on to say that between 2025 and 2027, the company could reduce the number of workers on the production lines by 30% with the aid of industrial robots.

As per the information obtained from the Qichacha corporate registry, Nio employed roughly 7,000 people as of the close of 2022.

Ji stated that Nio's ultimate goal was to use cutting-edge robotics and AI technology to achieve complete automation, or a labor-free system, at its manufacturing sites in the future. But he acknowledged that it required effort to provide a deadline for achieving this objective.

Despite not turning a profit since its founding in 2014, Nio's sales and deliveries have been increasing steadily. It is one of the top three Chinese premium EV assemblers, along with Xpeng and Li Auto.

Nevertheless, it is also up against fresh competition from internet giant Baidu and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, who have entered the EV market with their intelligent cars and drawn in wealthy clients.

The company has two plants in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province in eastern China. The first plant can produce 150,000 vehicles per year on a single shift, while the second can produce 300,000 vehicles per year on a single shift. Normally, 1,000 people are needed for a single shift.