President’s Report by Milton Guerry

Pandemic has accelerated Automation Adoption

Dear Reader,

It has now been a full year of facing the coronavirus pandemic and although we see some faint light at the end of the tunnel, we are still far from the “old” normal.

By now, we can clearly state that the pandemic has accelerated automation adoption. We especially see a push towards robotization in sectors beyond automotive, sectors that have so far been more ambivalent to the opportunities offered by automation technologies. Technological advances, e.g. in sensing and AI, spiced up with further progress in usability and ecosystems, are lowering the hurdles and will drive further deployment of robotics solutions, making robotics a mainstream technology.

Mobile robots are conquering warehouses and e-commerce, and are also poised to revolutionize smart factory solutions. - Early examples are deployed in the automotive industry; other sectors are likely to follow.

The automotive industry will presumably be the driver for another critical trend: reducing energy consumption and optimizing resource efficiencies in manufacturing processes. Combined with efforts to shorten the supply chains and produce closer to consumption (driven by insights gained in the past 12 months), this has the potential to massively reduce the carbon footprint of the goods produced.

Soon you will have the opportunity to find out more about these and other trends, which the robotics community will showcase during the fully virtual trade show and conference Automate Forward (March 22-26, 2021). We are looking forward to an exciting exhibition highlighting the latest innovations, lively panels and enlightening keynotes.

IFR is co-sponsoring an Executive Roundtable on “How Collaborative Automation is Driving Productivity” on March 25, 2021. Please join us for the conference and check the IFR booth in the exhibition area.

Stay safe, and all the best

Milton Guerry
IFR President