Not Running Out Anytime Soon
In light of the recent concerns regarding Sony’s ability to manufacture the PS5, it’s worth a look at just how their factories work. Or at least, that’s the implied premise behind the most recent tour of their factory. It turns out Sony robots can make a PS4 in just 30 seconds.
In other words, if they do run low on PS5s, at least the ones they actually make will be finished really fast. There are only four human employees on the entire assembly line. Two people feed in motherboards, while two people do the packaging. All of the other tasks are handled by a series of sophisticated machines.
All told, there are 26 robots dedicated to the PS4 manufacturing process. This includes complicated tasks like attaching the flat flexible cable, which they only recently figured out how to get robots to do. Turns out things like appropriate pressure application are pretty tough tasks for a high-powered machine to perform. Sony hasn’t officially confirmed that this same efficient factory will be handling the PS5, but one assumes as much. Mostly-automated factories are probably rather expensive, after all. The PS5 is still set for a Holiday 2020 release window, though we’ve yet to get an exact date – or a price for the system.