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IFR: All-time-high for Industrial Robots
POSTED 09/07/2011
Frankfurt – “Making a future with Robot1 is a perfect slogan for the worldwide robotics industry today”, said Dr. Shinsuke Sakakibara, IFR President, on the occasion of the publication of the study “World Robotics 2011 – Industrial Robots”, on Thursday in Frankfurt. After another substantial rise of 18% in robot sales in 2011 to about 140,000 units - a new peak level - a further increase will resume in the period between 2012 and 2014, about 6% per year on average attaining a level of about 167,000 units in 2014. The stock of robots operating in the factories world-wide will increase to about 1.3 million units at the end of 2014. “However, it is still possible that due to a shortage of components and capacity problems a part of these expected robot installations in 2011 will have to be shifted to 2012”, annotated Sakakibara and added: “Certain risks are involved with regard to this rather optimistic forecast, i.e. weakening growth of the world economy or even a new recession caused by financial problems of major markets.”
Automotive industry and electronics industry continue to be the main drivers
The high volume of orders of industrial robots will continue to come from the automotive industry. The establishment of electro mobility, new materials (e.g. carbon composites) and modernisation of production processes will be the main drivers for investment. Also, the electrical/electronics industry will continue to invest in capacity and modernization. There is an increasing tendency toward using LCD-television including LED lighting, as well as touch screens, OLED technologies and 3-D-displays e.g. for smart phones. Demand for solar cells will also continue to substantially increase. The nuclear disaster in Fukushima is intensifying the worldwide demand for alternative energy. Investments of all other industries are gaining momentum.
China on top in 2014
The growth in robot installations will continue to take place in the emerging markets and in North America. Robot supply to China will further surge. At least by 2014, China will surpass other countries to top the robot market worldwide regarding the annual supply. Robot sales to the Republic of Korea will only slightly increase after the huge investments in 2010. Investments in Japan will gain momentum as reconstruction and new projects are carried out in the coming months. As a consequence of the disaster in Japan, Japanese companies have been trying to diversify their production geographically. This will result in considerable investments in robot installations in Asian markets as well as in Europe and in North America. The necessary increase of automation of the industrial production will continue in the United States. The companies are forced to make these investments in order to stay competitive in the global market. The robot sales in Europe will increase below average because of a rather moderate increase in investment by the western European countries. The robot installations in the eastern and central European countries will surge. Rising wages and the increasing standard of living will also push automation in the still low-wage countries of Eastern and Central Europe as well as in Asia and in South America.
Use of robots is diversifying
The diversity of the use of robots is increasing. This is demonstrated in seven case studies of World Robotics (see attached abstract). Consumer products are increasingly individualized with quick time to market (meaning more versions or variants of the goods available for the consumers). This requires flexible automation. Robots, once programmed for several processes can easily switch from process to process. The efficiency of production has been increased in standard applications. Robots and workers interact without a fence. The continuing efforts of the robot suppliers are concentrated in further technological improvements.
Evaluation of robot density reveals huge potentials for robot installations
At the end of 2010, only about 50 robots are installed per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry in the world. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Germany are the most automated countries in the world with robot densities between 250 and 300. In contrast, less than 20 robots are in operation in the big emerging markets: China, India, Russia and Brazil.
Compared to all other sectors the rate of automation in the automotive industry is rather high. Japan, has by far the highest robot density in the automotive industry, more than 1,400 industrial robots are installed per 10,000 persons employed. It is followed by Italy, Germany and the United States with a robot density between 1,100 and 1,200. With a rate of about 200 robots, the Republic of Korea and Japan have the highest number of robots operating in the non-automotive sectors. This is mainly due to robot installations in the electronics industry. In Germany, the considerable high rate of 134 robots is due to a more diversified distribution of industrial robots in all industries, especially in the metal industry, the chemical industry, the food industry and the electrical/electronics industry.
In China, the huge robot investments in the recent years have resulted in a substantial increase in the robot density of the automotive industry. Between 2006 and 2010, it was up from 37 to 105 robots per 10,000 employees. Also, all other sectors have increased their robot installations considerably, but the robot density is still below 10. The potential for new installations in this market is still tremendous.
The overall conclusions indicate that in almost all the surveyed countries, not only the potential for robot installations in the non-automotive industries is still tremendous, but it is also considerably high in the automotive industry among the emerging markets and in some traditional markets as well. This is mostly due to the necessary modernization and retooling that is needed in these markets.
2010: Strong comeback of the robotics industry
In 2010, robot sales almost doubled compared to 2009 to 118,337 units. The automotive industry and the electronics industry were the main drivers of the strong recovery.
Sales recovered by 50% to US$ 5.7 billion, which is still below the value of 2008, one of the most successful years. Including the cost of software, peripherals and systems engineering might result in the actual robotic systems market value to be about $17.5 billion in 2010.
Various regions experienced different rates of recovery in robot sales in 2010. Asia (including Australia and New Zealand) was on top with an increase of 132% to about 70,000 units, the highest level ever recorded. The most dynamic markets were China, the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN countries. Sales to these markets almost tripled. In 2010, the Republic of Korea topped the list with some 23,500 robots sold just ahead of Japan. There, the strong recovery could not compensate the slump of sales in 2009.
About 17,100 units were shipped to the Americas, 90% more than in 2009, reaching almost the level of 2008. In the United States robot shipments increased by 111% to 14,380 units in 2010 compared to 2009. The main drivers of the growth were the electronics industry and the metal industry, which increased their robot investments considerably in 2010. The automotive industry still remained the main customer, but the increase of robot orders was below average.
About 30,600 units were sold in Europe, 50% more than in 2009. This is still about 13% lower than the peak levels of 2007 and 2008. Between 2005 and 2008, a strong trend towards automation boosted robot sales. But, the economic downturn in 2008/2009 put a halt to this upward trend.
In 2010, 14,000 new industrial robots were supplied to Germany, 65% more than in 2009. After the strong decrease in 2009, this was the third highest number of units ever recorded. Particularly, the motor vehicle industry was the main driver of the strong recovery with 172% more industrial robots than in 2009. Also, other big customers, i.e. the automotive parts suppliers, the metal industry and the rubber and plastics industry ordered almost 50% more than in 2009. The food and beverage industry reached a new peak level as well.
In 2010, total robot sales to Italy were up by 57%, to about 4,500 units after decreasing two years in a row. This was the result of a strong increase of robot sales to the automotive industry. Sales to all other industries only grew below average.
(1) Theme of the International Robot Exhibition (iREX 2011) from 09 to 12 November 2011 in Tokyo.
Do you have any questions? Gudrun Litzenberger, IFR Statistical Department, Telephone +49 69 66 03-1502 is ready to respond to your questions or concerns.
Dr. Shinsuke Sakakibara was elected as IFR President in March 2011 for a period of two years. He is working for FANUC since 1972. From 1985 to 1998, he was responsible for the development of intelligent robot system, especially bin-picking with vision sensor. He is serving as Honorary General Manager of Robot Laboratory at FANUC since 1999. He is serving as Member of the Management of FANUC since 2007.
Sakakibara is Member of the IFR Executive Board since 2010.
He was President of the Robotics Society of Japan from 2009 to 2010.
Sakakibara has the doctoral degree of Control Engineering, the University of Tokyo.
The International Federation of Robotics was established in 1987 in connection with the 17th International Symposium on Robotics, as a professional non-profit organisation, by robotics organisations from over 15 countries. Since 1970 an International Symposium on Robotics is organised every year on a different continent, in a different country and another city. The Symposium is systematically organised in conjunction with an International Robot Exhibition.
The purpose of the International Federation of Robotics is to promote research, development, use and international co-operation in the entire field of robotics to act as a focal point for organisations and governmental representatives in activities related to robotics. The IFR is hosted by VDMA Robotics and Automation.
The IFR Statistical Department, which is hosted by the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association, publishes two studies of World Robotics every year. In 2010:
1. World Robotics 2011 Industrial Robots:
This unique publication presents comprehensive global statistics on industrial robots in uniform tables allowing consistent country comparisons. It contains detailed statistical data for some 40 countries, broken down by application areas, industrial branches, types of robots and by other technical and economic variables. Data on production, exports and imports are presented for a selection of countries. Trends in robot densities, i.e. number of robots per 10,000 persons employed in relevant sectors, are also featured.
2. World Robotics 2011 Service Robots:
This unique publication presents comprehensive global statistics on service robots, market analysis, case studies and international research strategies of service robots. The study is evaluated in cooperation with our partner, the Fraunhofer IPA, Stuttgart, Germany.