Automotive producers and key provide chain firms are accelerating funding in robotics and automation as they search to stay aggressive, management prices and handle ongoing workforce and vitality pressures, in keeping with ABB Robotics’ newest Automotive Manufacturing Outlook Survey.
“The clever manufacturing facility is now not a future ambition – it has turn into important for producers trying to keep aggressive in a difficult and fast-moving surroundings,” stated Joerg Reger, managing director of ABB Robotics automotive enterprise line.
“This yr’s survey reveals that automation, significantly extra autonomous and versatile robotics (AVRTM), are more and more seen as a sensible, near-term answer to price pressures, labor availability and vitality effectivity challenges.”
The worldwide survey, carried out in partnership with Automotive Manufacturing Options, highlights how aggressive pressures proceed to form manufacturing technique throughout the automotive sector.
Bettering price management and tighter price range administration emerged as the only most necessary strategic precedence, cited by 33 p.c of respondents, reflecting the necessity to ship productiveness good points whereas managing rising enter prices.
Workforce pressures stay a significant factor. Three in 10 respondents (30 p.c) ranked labor shortages and rising wage prices amongst their most important challenges, whereas abilities availability continues to constrain manufacturing planning and operational flexibility in lots of areas.
On the identical time, vitality and materials prices stay a vital concern, cited by 34 p.c of producers, reinforcing the necessity for extra environment friendly manufacturing processes and smarter use of assets on the manufacturing facility flooring.
In response, producers are more and more turning to robotics, automation and autonomous material-handling options as a way of enhancing productiveness, effectivity and resilience.
Practically one-third of respondents (31 p.c) recognized elevated funding in automation and robotics as a key technique for the yr forward, underlining the position of clever automation in addressing a number of pressures concurrently.
The survey additionally highlights rising curiosity in a wider vary of automation applied sciences. Collaborative robots (cobots) are seen as nicely suited to repetitive and time-consuming meeting duties, working safely alongside human operators to enhance consistency and throughput.
In the meantime, autonomous cell robots (AMRs) and automatic guided automobiles (AGVs) are more and more valued for his or her capability to maneuver components and supplies extra safely and effectively, serving to cut back guide dealing with and streamline intralogistics.
These developments mirror a broader shift towards clever factories constructed round extra autonomous and versatile robotics (AVRTM), enabling producers to reply quicker to price, labor and vitality pressures whereas sustaining productiveness and resilience.
“Producers are investing extra selectively and extra intelligently in automation,” added Reger. “Vitality-efficient robots, versatile automation cells, cobots and autonomous cell robots all play a job in serving to factories do extra with much less – rising productiveness whereas preserving prices and vitality consumption beneath management.”
As aggressive pressures proceed to accentuate, the survey findings counsel that clever, automation-led manufacturing is shifting firmly into the quick lane, changing into a central pillar of automotive manufacturing methods worldwide.
This yr’s survey gathered insights from 473 automotive trade decision-makers representing car producers and suppliers throughout the worth chain worldwide.
