Industrial automation is no longer exclusive to few selected companies. All around the world, the rise of automation production has been accelerating throughout the years. In 2015, an average of 66 industrial robots were deployed per 10,000 employees, and this had increased to an average of 74 units in 2016. Compared by regions, the average density of industrial robots in the Americas is 84, 63 in Asia, and 99 in Europe. These figures of density display no signs of holding back according to studies made by Internal Federation of Robotics (IFR). According to their report, the top 10 countries with the most number of automated robots throughout the world are South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, USA, Italy, Belgium, and Taiwan.
In China, the growth of robot workers has been noticed as the most dynamic globally. From 2013 to 2016, the density level increased from 25 units to 68 units due to the significant development of robot automations. Currently, the robot density in China ranks as the 23th place worldwide and the government targets to move forward and be able to make it into the top 10 nations with most industrial robots by the year 2020. In order to accomplish this, the country needs to rise its production to 150 units by then. China also needs to sell 100,000 industrial robots that are produced locally by 2020.
The Republic of Korea has been the country with the highest density of industrial robots all around the world since 2010. The nation has exceeded the worldwide average by eight times, specifically 631 units.
This is the product of continuous installations of large volume of robot workers, mainly in the automotive and electronics industries. Singapore is in the second place with an average rate of 488 industrial robots per 10,000 workers in 2016. It is estimated that 90% of robots are deployed in the electronics industry in Singapore. Both South Korea and Singapore stand as frontrunner in the worldwide and Asian markets based on the number of installations.
Japan currently ranks 4th place worldwide. In the manufacturing industry, Japan installed 303 robot workers per 10,000 employees in 2016. The country is considered the largest manufacturer of industrial robots in the world. In the same year, it produced 153,000 units of robot, which is the highest number of production ever recorded. Currently, Japan’s manufacturing companies produce 52% of the worldwide supply.
Among the European countries, Germany ranks 3rd place internationally with 309 units. In 2016, the operational stock and yearly supply of robot workers had a share of 41% and 36%, respectively. Germany is Europe’s most automated nation, and it is projected that from 2018 to 2020, it will continue to increase its annual supply by at least 5% on average each year because of the growing demand for industrial robots in the automotive and general industries. Sweden and Denmark also contribute to Europe’s density of robot workers with 223 and 211, respectively. Denmark ranks 5th in the world.
In the United States, the density of robots had significantly increased to 189 units in 2016. US currently ranks 6th place worldwide. The need to modernize local production facilities have been increasing robot sales in the US since 2010. This growth was driven by the current trend in production automation in order to boost the American industries on a global scale and to maintain manufacturing business locally, and in some way, to invite back manufacturers that had been deployed overseas. Approximately, 52% of the total sales of robot workers were purchased by the automotive industry that leads as the major customer in 2016. Sales of industrial robots will continue to grow in the US starting last year until 2020 by not less than 15% on average each year.
