Are robots ready for dumpling challenge?

Workers wrap rice dumplings at Wufangzhai, making an average of 1.3 million dumplings daily. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

Made from sticky rice and a special bamboo leaf that is native to East Asia and has a unique fragrance, rice dumplings vary greatly in taste and sizes from region to region.

Founded in 1921 as an unassuming neighborhood shop, Wufangzhai is now China's largest producer of rice dumplings, accounting for half of the dumplings sold across the country. The company believes that it can sell as many dumplings as it can make.

"There are 1.3 billion people in the country. We haven't been able to feed every Chinese because of our limited capacity," says He Jianfei, director of Wufangzhai Research Center.

With three manufacturing bases in the country, Wufangzhai employs around 1,000 workers to wrap dumplings. During the peak season every year, which runs from March to June, each worker makes an average of 2,000 to 3,000 dumplings every day.

"The peak in demand lasts only a few months. It is therefore inefficient to employ so many workers all year round only to have them work for just a quarter of the time," says Hu, who is now the chief technology officer of Wufangzhai.

Over the past decade, Wufangzhai has worked with a Japanese company to develop a system to wash, filter and steam the glutinous rice used in the dumplings. The company also uses a specially created device to count the number of dumplings made per day. Wufangzhai makes an average of 1.3 million dumplings daily.

Many have argued that machines should not be used to replace human beings in the workforce.

But the company says that it does not plan on letting go of its workers, saying that the machines are merely a means to boost production volume instead of reducing labor cost. Wufangzhai also says it is looking to introduce niche dumpling types that can only be made by human hands.

"It is irrational to just stick to the old ways simply for the sake of preserving them. We wouldn't have enough food or clothes, or even an automobile to travel around, if we were to rely on just our hands," says Hu.