Ethics in the digital workplace
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
ABB is a Swiss multinational manufacturing company specializing in automation and power-related technologies. The company has 135,000 employees worldwide. In 2013 ABB bought Power-One Inc. in a $1 billion deal that included the Phoenix plant near Sky Harbor. Power-One had 450 employees in Arizona in 2013. ABB plans to close down its production plant in Phoenix in the US state of Arizona and to transfer production to Italy and Estonia.ABB claims the move will optimise the group's costs and supply chain. The relocation will leave 89 out of job at the ABB plant that manufactured solar inverters in Phoenix. The decision reflects conditions in the wider macroeconomic scenario. The consolidations will enable factory and supply chain optimization while improving cost, delivery and quality to customers.
Eurofound (2016), ABB, Reshoring in Estonia, factsheet number 158, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/158.