Susuto

I’m an ex Engineer from the Detroit area.
That’s a common misconception that the Japanese use more automation.
Read the book titled “The Toyota Way” by Jeffery Liker.

In it, he explains how human workers are more versatile than robots and can quickly adapt to different situations without expensive tooling, hardware, and/or software changes. Unfortunately, labor is so expensive in the Detroit area, that we tend to rely on more robots.

Generally speaking, Robots make the most sense (and cents) in dangerous environments (such as welding operations, or in paint booths) and where repeatable ultra precision is needed like during the installation of windshields. Generally, humans are better at doing stuff like connecting wires where it just wouldn’t be practical to spend a ton of money on fancy robot grippers and machine vision when a human could do it faster, more reliably, and cheaper in the long run.

Generally speaking, the Asian culture tends to value human labor more than we do. They’re also much better at winning the war of perception. Slap a Toyota name on a Pontiac and most people will automatically assume it is a better car. It’s not really fair, but that’s just the way it is.