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Promising Future for Industrial Robotics: 2013 and Beyond

Catherine Bernier
by Catherine Bernier. Last updated on Jan 29, 2015 11:04 AM
Posted on Nov 05, 2013 2:19 PM. 3 min read time

The IFR Statistical Department (International Federation of Robotics) still believes that the year 2013 is about to be a great year for robot sales. According to their study, the worldwide robot demand will continue to increase from 2013 to 2016 for multiple reasons.

First of all, the very good year of 2012 and the first quarter of this year were already discussed in their last newsletter and explained in this blog post: Robot Sales: First Quarter in North America

The study on the year 2013 is still very promising for the industrial robot market. The global robot sales is most likely to increase by about 2% to reach 162,000 robots by the end of the year. This increasing demand will however vary according to country and industry.

About the countries

Robotiq-2-Finger-Gripper-200-Earth-Sales-RobotsThe countries that are predicted to have an increase in robot sales are:

  • North America
  • Brazil
  • the Republic of Korea
  • China
  • In most of all other South East Asian markets
  • In most of the Central and Eastern European markets
  • Turkey

However, some countries will experience a decrease in their robot sales.

Japan will be one of them, since a weak economic situation is forecasted for their electrical and electronics industries.

After significant investment in robotics for their automotive industry over the past 3 years, Germany and the United Kingdom are also predicted to have fewer robot installations in 2013.

The tight economic situation in Italy, France and Spain is slated to produce a decrease or a stagnation in their robot installations.

About the Industries

The automotive industry automation is expected to experience a slowdown due to the last three years of continued increasing robot installation.

Retooling for new production processes and production automation is likely to cause an increase of robot installations in the electrical/electronics industry.

Increased robot orders are also predicted to occur in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage, metal and machinery industries.

What about the future?

Further forecasts even state that 2014 to 2016 will still be great years for robot installations. The growth is scheduled to continue at about 6% on average per year. This growth is based on many factors like the penetration of other industrial markets, such as electronics and food. New technologies and systems will also open robotics to new applications such as; human-robot collaborations and applications were no robots are currently used.

The main factors for this increase in robot installations are:

  • Growing markets will need an expansion of production capacities
  • Increasing variety of products need flexible automation
  • Robotic improvements will allow robots to be used in new applications, even for small and medium sized companies
  • Improved quality of the robot safety systems
  • The robots are now able to handle a large variety of dangerous and difficult tasks for humans.

In conclusion, this study announces great news for the robot industry. A lot of factors are responsible for this growth such as: the economic situation of countries, the evolution of the technology and the adaptation to production changes. Robotiq is interested in two of these: the need for flexible automation and collaborative robotics. Our products are becoming the reference for flexible robotic gripping solutions and the ideal partner for collaborative robots. In order to demonstrate this to you, don’t hesitate to take a look at our ebook on robotic end effectors.

how-to-choose-the-right-end-effector-for-robotic-application

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Catherine Bernier
Written by Catherine Bernier
Catherine is an Application Engineer here at Robotiq. Drawing from her expertise with manufacturing processes, production management and business management in general, her main focus is helping her clients find the solutions that will best serve their needs. If you have any questions about Robotiq's products and how they can serve your application, get in touch with her at c.bernier@robotiq.com.
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