One day in the summer of 2017, I toured the GF Central Plastics plant in Shawnee on an assignment with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).
The visit was an eye-opener for me.
Central Plastics makes plastic and metal fittings, as well as specialty parts primarily for the natural gas industry. At that time it operated out of a 500,000 square foot facility and employed roughly 500 people.
What caught my attention was the incredible use of robotics in the company’s manufacturing process. There were about 30 of these large yellow robotic arms that picked up a piece of metal or plastic and placed it exactly where it needed to go in the machine that would mold it into whatever it was intended to be.
Here’s what I wrote at the time:
“The robotic arms employed in the process never stop, repeating their assignment 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their human co-workers are busy ensuring the machines have needed parts to work with, as well as inspecting and packaging finished pieces.
‘The primary goal of the robotics and automation is not to eliminate people, but allow us to continue to grow and continue to improve the quality of our products,’ Bryan Lucas, GF Central Plastics vice president for Operations, told me.
You can read the story here on the OCAST website.
Mark Smith, GF Central Plastics Managing Director and President, put it another way:
“One of the abilities the robot has, is I’ve got 24/7 operation from them.” he told me. “They don’t take vacations, and they don’t need to sleep like I do.”
While I’m not certain that Lucas or Smith are still in their positions with the company, I’m pretty sure that at this very moment there are scores of robotic arms picking up parts and slamming them into the production machine exactly where they need to be placed. And then removing them when they are finished and stacking them in the right bin.
So, what does that have to do with anything today, eight years later?
I’ve been thinking about how robotics and artificial intelligence might be used in the production of ubiquitous smartphones — iPhones and Android phones. Phones are full of tiny parts that have to be fit into a small space in exactly the same way millions of times over and over.
Are robotics used to produce the phones? According to what I was told by my know-it-all friend, ChatGPT, much of phone assembly in 2025 is done by robotics.
Here’s what my AI pal told me:
“Yes — robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.”
Unless Chatbot was hallucinating, there’s a ton of robotics that go into each phone. It cited Foxconn, maker of the iPhone, as a major user of robotics in the manufacturing process.
“In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated,” it said.
So, that makes me wonder if the thousands and thousands of low-paid workers are still needed to produce smart phones. Are those folks still needed to assemble the cases with tiny screws, perhaps? Can’t that process be automated?
This is all leading me to the purpose of this blog post. If there is almost 100 percent automation in the assembly of iPhones, why can’t Apple Inc. at least build a pilot project in the U.S. to see how production would go here.
I understand there is required testing of each unit and then the packaging and shipping, so there are humans involved in the process.
If the robotic arms were assembling millions of phones in the U.S., would the scale of that production keep the costs somewhere close to what it is in China or India? And they would save on shipping costs, too, so price of phones might stay close to what they are today.
We all know that Trump is pressuring Apple and other high-tech manufacturers to bring their manufacturing into the U.S. If nothing else, a pilot plant located in the states would appease the President, who could slap (more) tariffs on China- or India-made phones at any moment.
I just read an awesome book, “Apple in China,” about how the company is trapped by the large scale of manufacturing investment it has made in China. It has recently moved some of that production to India and elsewhere.
I’m not a visionary, but I’m thinking that we could someday soon unbox our new iPhone and see the words “Designed in California, Assembled in the USA.”
Are you listening, Tim Cook?
I’m great at spending someone else’s money. But it could happen.
BONUS CONTENT: Watch some robotic arms in action in the video below.
DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT: Here is some info that ChatGPT provided me about robotic arms in smartphone manufacturing.
Robotics manufacturing is already widely applied to devices as small and precise as smartphones. In fact, smartphone production is one of the most advanced examples of robotics and automation in action.
Here’s how robotics is applied in smartphone manufacturing:
Microscale Precision Assembly: Specialized robotic arms with extremely fine motion control place tiny components such as microchips, sensors, and capacitors onto circuit boards. These parts are far too small for human hands to place consistently.
Surface-Mount Technology (SMT): Automated machines solder thousands of micro-components onto printed circuit boards at high speed and with extreme precision.
Optics & Camera Module Assembly: Robotic systems align and insert delicate camera lenses and sensors with tolerances measured in microns.
Battery & Screen Placement: Large but fragile components like batteries and OLED screens are installed by robotic arms that apply uniform pressure without damaging them.
Quality Control & Testing: Robotics and machine vision systems test buttons, touchscreens, speakers, and other parts to ensure durability and functionality.
– Micro-assembly with Collaborative Robots (Cobots): Some processes still require human oversight (like cable placement or adhesive application), but cobots assist workers by handling the repetitive and delicate positioning work.
So while people often imagine robots assembling cars or appliances, the highest level of robotic precision is actually in electronics manufacturing — smartphones, tablets, and semiconductors.
Companies Using Robotics in Smartphone Assembly
Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry)
- World’s largest electronics manufacturer (makes iPhones for Apple).
- Uses thousands of robots, called Foxbots, for tasks like soldering, polishing, dispensing adhesives, and precision assembly.
- In some facilities, entire production lines are almost fully automated.
Pegatron
- Another major iPhone assembler.
- Uses robotic arms for component placement and automated optical inspection (AOI) to check for microscopic defects.
Samsung Electronics
- Runs highly automated factories in South Korea and Vietnam.
- Uses robotics for screen production (OLED and AMOLED panels) because they require sub-millimeter precision.
Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei suppliers
- Many Chinese factories use robotic arms for final assembly and packaging.
- Robotic vision systems test touchscreens and fingerprint sensors before shipping.
🤖
Types of Robotics Technology Used
- SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Pick-and-Place Robots
- Place up to 100,000 components per hour on a circuit board.
- Robotic Dispensing Systems — Apply adhesives in perfect micro-lines to secure parts like glass panels.
- Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) — Uses robotic vision and AI to detect microscopic defects.
- Laser Robots — Used for cutting phone frames, engraving, and even removing defective solder joints.
- 📱 Why Robotics Is Essential for Smartphones
Smartphones have billions of transistors and hundreds of components packed into a device only millimeters thick. - Human assembly alone can’t achieve the precision or consistency needed.
- Robotics improves yield, speed, and quality control while reducing labor costs.
👉 So yes, robotics not only can be applied to smartphones — it’s already at the core of how every major smartphone is made today.
Jim Stafford's BlogOKC 