Industrial Automation in 2024
Usage of automation and robotics in factories and manufacturing plants continue to accelerate. According to the World Robotics Report 2024, there was a recorded 4,281,585 industrial robot installed in factories around the world in 2023, marking a growth of 10% from 2022. Asia benefited the most, taking up 73% of the installed base. The increase in installed base bucked the trend in global economies as 2023 was a period of economic slowdown, which highlights the stickiness of underlying trends and demands for factory and industrial automation.
Future Outlook of Industrial and Factory Automation
Going forward, the International Federation of Robotics expects growth to be steady with 7% growth in installed base per annum with Asia being the largest beneficiary as robot penetration remains low even amidst labor shortages from population aging and workers showing a preference for nonmanufacturing jobs.
Takahisa Tanaka from Mitsubishi Electric was quoted as saying “"Demand for automation is a long-term trend, not only because populations are declining in major manufacturing economies such as China, Taiwan and South Korea, but also because the market is shifting from mass consumption to consumption of many products in small amounts."
What Drives Trends In Factory Automation Adoption?
Workplace Safety - The application of industrial automation process allows robots to handle high-risk tasks while humans can perform lower-risk tasks on the assembly line. This helps to significantly reduce injuries and create a safer work environment for manufacturing jobs.
Labor Shortages - Automation fill workforce gaps and prevents labor shortages. Over half of the world's economies, accounting for two-thirds of the global population are seeing a downward trajectory in their population. On top of a population decline, there is a growing preference for non-manufacturing jobs which reduces available labor for many manufacturing companies.
Improved Efficiencies - Standardized processes ensure that quality of products remains consistent whilst also ensuring that product output in increased. With factory and industrial automation, there is a little to no downtime and manufacturing plants are able to produce continuously instead of relying on workplace shifts from a human labor force.
Data Collection - Many factory and industrial automation devices have data collection capabilities. Compared to a labor workforce assembly line, automated production lines allow accessible data collection through the equipment. This in turn allows for management to analyze live manufacturing data and make strategic moves within their industry. Data in industrial automation is critical in genrating productivity improvements.
Many more - There are countless of other factors that contribute to why adoption of factory and industrial automation will continue to grow. Companies around the world that have adopted smart manufacturing practices have seen tangible benefits such as:
- Increased product quality
- Increased product output
- Decrease in downtime
- Decrease in workplace safety incidents
- Decrease in scrap material
Smart Manufacturing In Motion
There is no clear answer to how much automation on a factory line is enough or how a company should push the boundaries of industrial automation. A live example on how factory and industrial automation can really revolutionize the manufacturing process is Xiaomi's latest electric vehicle manufacturing facility, which at full capacity produces a car in 76 seconds.
Speak With Us
Have a factory or industrial automation need? Hikari Automation Systems is a leading automation devices and components provider in Singapore that boasts a long-standing reputation in the region for over 30 years. Speak with us to find out more about our solutions and how we can help.