Since 2013, global sales of industrial robots have accelerated reaching an all-time high of more than 380,000 units, twice as much as in 2013. After this period of high demand, installations of industrial robots only slightly increased in the first half of 2018.
Dear Reader,
This was a normal cyclical effect after continued large investments of the automotive industry and the electronics industry. But in the past months, uncertainties loom over investment plans in North America, China, and other Asian countries mainly due to protectionists measures damaging free trade. However, incentives for robot installations remain excellent. Numerous investment plans are aimed at using robotics and automation in almost all industries. Investments in automation may be restrained due to the increasing uncertainties of the global economy, but investments will continue perhaps shifted to a later point in time.
Automation is changing the way we work and, to an increasing extent, the way we live. Automation improves productivity and enables companies, and nations, to remain or become competitive. It enables new business models focused on providing new goods and services, and helps companies improve the efficiency and flexibility of supplying those goods and services. Economists agree that increased productivity is key to improving Gross Domestic Product, the value of goods and services produced in a country, and in turn, jobs and wages.
We will meet from 8 to 11 April 2019 at the Automate in Chicago. The theme is: Win the Future! Automate 2019 will explore how automation secures a company’s success in a technologically fast-paced world where artificial intelligence (AI), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), smart manufacturing, collaborative robots (cobots), machine vision and other innovations are rapidly shifting the dynamic of today’s manufacturing.
The robotics industry is still at the beginning of a demanding and exciting future. The best is still to come!
We are looking forward to a successful year 2019!
Respectfully,
Junji Tsuda
