As automation is becoming more prominent in manufacturing, a recent study by Frost & Sullivan shares expectations of growth for the industry, with some exciting results.
“By 2022, global automakers will save up to US$32 billion in annual automotive production through ICT-enabled smart manufacturing," said Rohit Karthikeyan, research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, speaking on digitization and adoption of IIoT technologies.
The study shows that the automotive sector accounted for 49.3 percent of global demand for robots in 2015, and the average global investment in automation and robot technology in the sector has increased by 26.3 percent per annum from 2010 to 2015.
It also outlines how rising digitization, and the increased usage of IIoT and robotics are creating more opportunities for smaller businesses to capitalize on automation’s benefits of increased production.
Asia-Pacific countries such as South Korea, China, Japan and India accounted for nearly 50 percent of the total investments in the robotics market in 2015.
Chinese automakers are currently using one robot per thirty humans. “This ratio is expected to improve as they realize the greater value of homogenous product quality over cost reduction,” Frost & Sullivan writes.
SMEs have traditionally been a slow adopter of robotics, as they do not see value in deploying robots without an increase in volume business or repeat orders. A lack of capital and labor force skilled enough to use the technology has been another negative driver.
Collaborative robots, or cobots, have introduced less costly and easy-to-use robotics to the market.
Karthikeyan noted that these changes will drive more SMEs to digitization. "Already, more than 55 percent of large and small OEMs and subcontractors at the SME level have started investing in digitizing their plants. They can be further persuaded to deploy robots through demonstrations of cost savings.”
To read the study yourself or for more information, visit Frost & Sullivan’s website.