Non-Automotive Industries Drive Record Robot Sales
The robotics industry closed 2020 with record fourth-quarter sales in North America, and this trend will continue in 2021. To date, robotics sales have already reached $1.48 billion, including nearly 29,000 units ordered in North America. This is a record for the first nine months of the market, surpassing the previous record set in 2017.
The rush to add robots is part of a major growth in investment, as companies seek to meet huge demand that in some cases has caused shortages of key goods. At the same time, many firms struggled to lure back workers laid off during the coronavirus pandemic and considered robots as an alternative to adding human workers to their assembly lines.
“Companies simply can't find the right people, which is why they are looking to automate”
Industry statistics published by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) show that robotics sales in 2021 rose 37% compared with the same period of 2020. In the third quarter, North American companies ordered 9,928 robots worth $513 million, up 32% and 35% respectively from the third quarter of 2020. Nearly two-thirds of orders (6,302) in the third quarter came from non-automotive industries.
It is worth noting that A3 collects sales data only for traditional industrial robots. It does not collect data on autonomous mobile robots or collaborative robotic arms. If A3 also recorded sales of these types of robots, the figures would be even higher.
“The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the benefits of automated processes, from the ability to quickly and efficiently scale up production to helping improve the lives of our employees, our customers and their families”
Historically, the automotive industry was the backbone of robotics sales. But the greatest growth in the industry still comes from non-automotive sectors. So far in 2021, automotive sales have risen 20% year over year to 12,544 units, while non-automotive sales have risen 53% to 16,355 units.
"It's not that the auto industry is slowing down, it's growing," Bernstein said. However, other industries, from metallurgy to food producers, are growing even faster. An example is John Newman's company.
Athena Manufacturing, which produces metal for other manufacturers in Austin, Texas, now has seven robots, including four installed in 2021. The company bought its first robot in 2016. Newman said robots helped Athena respond to a surge in demand, including a 50% jump in orders for parts used by semiconductor equipment manufacturers.
He said robots also allowed Athena to switch to round-the-clock operations for the first time in 2020. The company employs 250 people, but Newman would have difficulty finding people to work the unpopular night shifts.
A3 reported that this is only the second time non-automotive orders have exceeded automotive orders in the first nine months of the year. The same situation occurred in 2020. Annual orders for robots from non-automotive sectors in 2020 exceeded orders for robots for the automotive sector in North America for the first time.
“Due to labor shortages in manufacturing, logistics and nearly all industries, companies of all sizes are increasingly turning to robotics and automation to remain productive and competitive. As our latest statistics show, 2021 will be the largest year for robotics orders in North America. We see many current users expanding their robotics and automation applications at their facilities, while first-time robotics users are emerging across a wide range of industries, such as automotive, agriculture, construction, electronics, food, life sciences, metalworking, warehousing and more”
Sales in non-automotive industries in the third quarter grew compared with the same quarter of 2020 as follows:
- metals — 183%
- food and consumer goods — 40%
- electronics/photonics — 26%
- plastics and rubber — 10%
- other industries — 97%
“This trend among companies in all industries — agriculture, construction, retail — all these industries that have long not been automated are now becoming so. They are exploring robotics, so in the long term their outlook looks very bright”
According to him, this trend is observed worldwide. In September 2021, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank invested $200 million in service robotics company Keenon Robotics.
