Factories and different industrial customers ordered 29,000 robots, 37% greater than throughout the identical interval final yr, valued at $1.48 billion, in accordance with knowledge compiled by the business group the Affiliation for Advancing Automation. That surpassed the earlier peak set in the identical time interval in 2017, earlier than the worldwide pandemic upended economies.
“Companies simply cannot discover the folks they want – that is why they’re racing to automate,” stated Jeff Burnstein, president of the Affiliation for Advancing Automation, generally known as A3.
Robots additionally proceed to push into extra corners of the financial system. Auto firms have lengthy purchased most industrial robots. However in 2020, mixed gross sales to different kinds of companies surpassed the auto sector for the primary time – and that development continued this yr. Within the first 9 months of the yr, auto-related orders for robots grew 20% to 12,544 items, in accordance with A3, whereas orders by non-automotive firms expanded 53% to 16,355.
“It isn’t that automotive is slowing down – auto is up,” stated Burnstein. However different sectors – from metals to meals producers – are rising even sooner.
John Newman’s firm is one in every of them. Athena Manufacturing, which does metallic fabrication for different producers in Austin, Texas, now has seven robots, together with 4 put in this yr. It purchased its first machine in 2016. Newman stated robots have helped Athena reply to a surge in demand, together with a 50% leap in orders for components utilized by semiconductor gear producers.
The machines additionally allowed Athena to maneuver to an around-the-clock operation for the primary time final yr, he stated. The corporate employs 250 however would have struggled, he stated, to search out employees to fill unpopular in a single day shifts.
