Capitalizing on automatization

Wim van Acker talks about automatization at the AUTOMAN Global Conference in October 2005.

The market for industrial robots is volatile and has recovered strongly from the 2002 downturn. While industrial robot sales correlates strongly to the manufacturing industry, it is more cyclical and grows faster. Europe is expected to catch up with Japan in 2007; the USA is also growing strongly.

Labor costs are increasing while the price of automation is decreasing. Thus the use of robotics technology is in high labor cost countries significantly more developed than in low-cost countries. And the use of robotics and automated assembly is shifting from the automotive OEMs towards suppliers and non-automotive industries.

The use of robotics can be a good alternative to stay competitive in high labor cost countries with a well defined product scope. But maximizing productivity and eliminating inefficiency through theintegration of systems is a future key success factor.