Drives & Controls March 2023

NEWS n 5 After falling for years, robot prices rose by 7% in 2022 PRICES CHARGED FOR industrial robots around the world rose for the first time in many years during 2022. According to a new report from Interact Analysis, average selling prices for robots climbed by around 7%, largely as a result of continuing imbalances between supply and demand. Many major robot manufacturers are still having delivery problems, Interact reports. Supply chain constraints are continuing into 2023, and the prices of raw materials and parts have not stabilised yet. “This has brought a lot of uncertainty to the market,”warns Maya Xiao, a senior analyst with Interact. Despite the price rises, the global industrial robot market expanded by about 8% last year, although this was slower that was being predicted at the start of the year. Interact attributes this growth to the combination of high order volumes during 2022 and rising demand from the manufacturing sector. It expects sales to grow by a further 7–9% during 2023. The Asia- Pacific market has recovered moderately, but the European market – hit heavily by the war in Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis – is finding growth more constrained. Shipments of medium-to-high payload articulated robots rose by around 15% last year, driven largely by investment in automation for electric vehicles and the parts, batteries and logistics needed to support them. But shipments of Scara robots fell slightly due to the weakness of the electronics industry. Sales of Scara robots with payloads loads above 20kg bucked the trend, however, increasing significantly because of their growing use in the battery manufacturing and materials- handling sectors. Collaborative robots (cobots) continued to be the fastest-growing technology during 2022, with shipments rising by 17% and sales by 20% – although from a relatively small base compared to more traditional industrial robots. Cobot prices were slightly higher than they had been in 2021. Interact expects global shipments of cobots to expand by a further 20% this year. However, this growth rate is slower than has been predicted previously because of caution among SMEs, who account for a high proportion of cobot sales. Survival is their main priority, says Interact. They need to secure cash flow to manage the challenging climate, making them more cautious about capital investments. Although the analyst has lowered its forecast for cobot growth in the short term, it adds that in the long run, demand for automation is still “significant and stable”. Interact predicts that the Asia-Pacific robot market will start to recover in the first half of 2023, with Europe following in the second half of the year and into 2024. It expects the industrial robot market to maintain an average annual growth rate of 5–7% over the coming five years. The analyst does not anticipate full recovery from the effects of the Covid pandemic, economic pressures and supply chain challenges until 2024, with the US taking the longest to bounce back. www.interactanalysis.com www.drivesncontrols.com March 2023 WEG, the Brazilian-headquartered motors and drives specialist, has established a new company and production facility in Algeria, North Africa, with the capacity to produce one million motors per year. WEG Algeria Motors is a 51:49 joint venture between WEG and the Cevital Group, one of Algeria’s largest private industrial conglomerates, which operates in a variety of sectors including agriculture, retail, services and industry. Located in Sétif province in north- eastern Algeria, the company will create more than 100 jobs, focussing on local production, while also creating a network of sub-contractors. The initial focus will be on the Algerian and North African markets, with an estimated 60% of sales from the new facility expected to be local. This will include the production and sale of electric motors for use in washing machines. The remaining 40% will be exported, with motors built to international standards for the electrical engineering, power and automation sectors. The creation of the Algerian business is part of WEG’s internationalisation strategy, under which it is investing in dynamic regions of the world with a high potential for industrial development. The project has been spurred on by a an Algerian presidential decree in 2020 encouraging the increased use of local content, and by a law last year encouraging industrial investment. “Algeria is a country of great opportunities,” says Daniel Marteleto Godinho, WEG’s director of institutional relations. “Through the production and sale of electric motors, WEG will help develop Algeria’s industrial production capacity with higher value-added products, while promoting competitiveness and improving the business environment.” Global shipments of industrial robots 2019-2026, showing numbers shipped (grey bars, left axis) and percentage changes (blue graph, right axis) Source: Interact Analysis WEG unveils Algerian joint venture with the capacity to produce 1m motors a year