China's Gree Factory Runs on Robots, Replacing Thousands of Workers

Zhuhai, southern China — President Trump plans to seek investment from Chinese companies, including for modern American factories, when he meets Xi Jinping this week.

A CBS News visit to a massive factory on the outskirts of Zhuhai shows automation may have already overtaken that goal. Hundreds of yellow robotic arms work in sync along a 1,500-foot assembly line inside a cavernous building. They assemble 4,000 components every 10 seconds for air conditioning units.

Gree, China's largest air conditioning maker, owns the facility. Known as a 'dark factory,' it runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, under artificial intelligence control.

Gree general manager Chen Huadong called it the future of manufacturing. "This is how future intelligent factories will look like, with AI-supported robots everywhere," he told CBS News, "working in real time."

Giant screens in the nerve center display real-time data on production, global sales and delivery. About 60% of Gree's production goes overseas, including significant sales in North America. The company has advertised in Times Square.

China produces roughly 30% of global manufacturing output, a share expected to reach almost 50% over the next four years.

Chen said Chinese manufacturing offers more than products to Western markets. "Gree is not only capable of manufacturing high-quality air conditioners, but also high-quality factories," he told CBS News.

A factory the size of Gree's would normally employ around 10,000 workers. This one needs only 1,000, a third of whom are engineers. It demonstrates how machines are replacing humans at a rapid rate.

"I think in the future, physical work will get less and less," Chen told CBS News. "But the skills and workers to maintain AI equipment will grow. … artificial intelligence has transformed the way businesses operate."

Factories worldwide will move toward high levels of automation, he said, with robots handling more work. Future production lines will require large numbers of engineers to design, plan, install, inspect and maintain them, creating significant job opportunities.

"Our workers are transitioning and upgrading in this direction," he added.

The question is, will America's?