Manufacturing Robotization: Drivers and Barriers

By 2035, in the leading industrial robotics countries, factory productivity will grow by 40% and gross value added will double. And today, during a period of pandemic and crisis, robotic industries incur minimal losses - robots do not get sick, robotic factories can be controlled remotely. Robots don’t want to have a break, or smoke some cigarette, right, Utsav ;) Quickly, COVID has become a driver for the development of robotics. I was curious to read how some European countries use automation and find a cool report featuring 90 companies in Slovakia. Most of them are integrators and distributors. The main brands are ABB, FANUC, KUKA(I’m not surprised at all ;)) And the leading industry is Automotive(Hello Elon, you can take a look at Slovakian engineers). Electronics production is the next one - you can’t do good devices with fat fingers and weak eyes anymore. Check some videos that I was able to find for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8SOIEL79Qg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8bSob3pF8 Companies with great robotization of their production lines will get less damage because of the pandemic. Other companies were able to experience a lot of forced downtime and have an opportunity to once again weigh the benefits and risks of introducing robots into their factories. For this assessment to be as accurate as possible, it is worth considering the drivers and barriers to industrial robotics on a global scale. Production robotization drivers The robotization of production can reduce the conversion costs of a plant by 15%, as well as save up to 40%. Robots increase the productivity and competitiveness of industrial enterprises, and soon, the automation of production will lead to the personalization of consumer goods and an increase in the quality of life of people. Today, industrial robots are available not only for large enterprises, but also for small businesses. This has become possible thanks to the development of technology and the efforts of governments. Some financial and social factors are also driving the process of industrial automation. Technology Drivers increased the variety of robots. Today there are seven types of industrial robots, so almost every production task has a robotic solution. Expansion of technical capabilities Modern robots can withstand heavy loads, the speed and accuracy of their work have increased. Thanks to this, robots are successfully used not only in mechanical engineering, but in the electrical industry and pharmaceuticals. Robots have become safer - cobots can effectively cooperate with humans in production. Computer vision and artificial intelligence technologies allow robots to perform more complex tasks, independently improve the quality of work, and quickly readjust to new operations. Machine vision as a systems engineering discipline can be considered distinct from computer vision, a form of basic computer science; machine vision attempts to integrate existing technologies in new ways and apply them to solve real world problems in a way that meets the requirements of industrial automation and similar application areas. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_vision Computer Vision Use Cases in the Manufacturing Industry Product Assembly Detection of Defects Safety and Security Standards Packaging Standards Prediction of Maintenance Needs Management of Inventory Inspection Scrap Management Vision Guided Labeling and Tracking Robots Thanks to this, robots can become an effective solution not only in mass and large-scale production, but even in enterprises producing small batches of goods. Easy to integrate Advances in networking technology and software development techniques have made the installation and maintenance of robots faster and cheaper than ever before. Developers create robots with an intuitive interface that learn using demo or voice commands - all of which make them easy to implement and use in the enterprise. Production upgrade In countries with a high level of robotization, old robots (which have worked for 12-15 years) are replaced with new, more modern ones. In some countries, with the low level of robotization, industrialists are striving to replace production lines with the most modern equipment. Financial and business drivers The cost of developing and manufacturing robots has dropped by more than 50% since 1990, making them more affordable for businesses. And if you are buying solutions from your local companies it is relatively low cost for robotization to be honest. Usually, an updated production like can pay off in a few years. Almost anyone can allocate some money or get a loan for the implementation of a robot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUniOfOcXEs Increased employee costs and high human factor costs The cost of human labor is growing not only in developed countries (for example, in the United States since 1990, it has grown by 24%), but also in developing regions such as India and China. There is a shortage of cheap labor, and there is also a shortage of qualified workers - the mobility of employees has increased - people do not work for 20 years at the same enterprise, as it was before, and new employees have to be trained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQdF08Q1qNY In addition, the human factor is not easy to calculate - injuries, illnesses, human errors in their work entail unnecessary costs for enterprises. Robots don't make mistakes, don't get sick, don't skip shifts, they can work in unheated workshops, their productivity is higher, so replacing people with robots is becoming an increasingly attractive opportunity for industrialists. Below you can see more videos. I really love how precise these babies are. Top-quality is already a necessity, not a privilege of big companies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8bSob3pF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTCpNaJUqEY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rW7dswTL7k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU3Q3SFj3q8 For more details, you can check this infographic below. It’s the first article of my series, related to robotization. Follow me and you’ll get a notification about the next part.