October 2020

29 www.drivesncontrols.com October 2020 ROBOTS n systems. The next-largest buyer was Japan which acquired 49,900 new industrial robots, followed by the US (33,300), South Korea (27,900), Germany (20,500) and Italy (11,100). Most (71%) of China’s new robots were imported from foreign suppliers. Chinese domestic manufacturers still mainly cater for their home market, where they are gaining market share. Some 29% of foreign imports were for the automotive industry, and foreign suppliers were therefore more affected by a decline in the Chinese automotive sector than domestic suppliers. The country with the highest robot density last year was Singapore with 918 robots installed per 10,000 manufacturing employees. Close behind was South Korea on 855, followed by Japan (on 364), Germany (346), Sweden (277) and Denmark (243). Interestingly, on this measure, China languishes in 15th position, with 187 industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers, behind the Netherlands (194), Spain (191) and Austria (187). By the end of 2019, Europe had a stock of 580,000 operational robots – an increase of 7% on the previous year. Germany remains the largest user in the region with an operational stock of about 221,500 robots – about three times more than Italy (74,400), five times more than France (42,000), and about ten times more than the UK (21,700). But the number of new robots bought by German manufacturers during 2019 (around 20,500) was 23% down on the figure for 2018. By contrast, sales in France rose by 15%, in Italy by 13%, and in the Netherlands by 8%. As reported in the box (below), UK sales of industrial robots fell by 16% in 2019 compared to 2018. Italy bought more than five times as many (11,000) as the UK and France more than three times as many (6,700). Many SIs in the US New robot installations in the US fell by 17% in 2019 compared to the record year of 2018, although, with 33,300 units being shipped, sales were the second-largest ever. Most of the robots sold in the US are imported from Japan and Europe. Although, there are not many robot manufacturers in North America, there are numerous system integrators. By the end of 2019, there were 293,200 industrial robots operating in the US – 7%more than in 2018. The IFR report also looks at the number of collaborative robots (cobots) sold during 2019, and finds that the numbers are still tiny compared to traditional robots. Although cobot sales grew by 11% to 18,000, this number is dwarfed by the 355,000 conventional robots sold during 2019. But the IFR points out that this market is still in its infancy and is expanding rapidly. In the long run, the IFR concludes, the benefits of using robots remain the same – the rapid production and delivery of customised products at competitive prices. Automation also enables manufacturers to keep production in developed economies, or to reshore it, without sacrificing cost efficiency. The range of industrial robots, the Federation points out, is continuing to expand, from traditional caged robots capable of handling a wide range of payloads quickly and precisely, to the collaborative robots that work safely alongside humans. n * World Robotics 2020 Industrial Robots report. Published by the International Federation of Robotics (https://ifr.org ). Singapore has the largest number of industrial robots installed per 10,000 manufacturing workers. Although China has by far the biggest base of installed robots, its robot density is relatively low. UK robot sales fell by 16% in 2019, but its base grew by 5% Sales of industrial robots in the UK fell by 16% last year compared to 2018, with around 2,000 machines being shipped. According to the IFR, the total number of robots in use in the country grew by 5% to 21,700. “The UK has a surprisingly low robot stock for a Western European country in the manufacturing industry,” says IFR president, Milton Guerry. “Though the UK’s operational stock hit a new record, other European countries such as France, Italy and Germany have two times – or even ten times – the stock in operation. The automotive and the general industry need to invest in automation technology to keep up with international competition.” The automotive sector is by far the largest user of industrial robots in the UK, with around 11,000 machines, accounting for more than half (52%) of the country’s total operational stock at the end of 2019. The second- largest user was the plastics and chemical industry with 2,710 machines, representing 13% of the total stock. Even before the arrival of the Coronavirus, investments in the UK were being dampened by the unclear Brexit situation, says the IFR. If no trade agreement is reached between the UK and the EU by the end of this year, the UK will be treated like a third-party country by the EU, it adds. This uncertainty is inhibiting the modernisation of production facilities. The IFR suggests that the uncertainty will also determine the speed of economic recovery after the pandemic. However Brexit might accelerate robot installations in the UK because of immigrants from Eastern Europe returning to their home countries and the UK government’s policy is to restrict immigration. These immigrants often worked in low- wage jobs, particularly in the food industry and other manufacturing jobs, and it might not be easy to find Britons willing to replace them at the low rates of pay usually on offer. When the UK economy recovers and labour becomes a scarce resource again, the demand for robots might start to rise, the IFR predicts.

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