It’s time for UK business to embrace robotics
29 May 2024
Robot installations hit a record 553,052 units globally in 2022, according to the latest available figures from the International Federation of Robotics. That’s up an extra five percent on the previous record-breaking year.
Installations were on the rise across the board in traditional customer industries such as automotive and electronics, metals and machinery, plastics and chemicals and food and beverage.
However, there were many installations (17 percent) where no industry details were given, so it seems likely that the expansion of robotics into new sectors is continuing.
China, the USA, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Germany together accounted for 79 percent of new installations in 2022, while the UK languished down in 20th place, installing just over 2,500 units. So, while some progress has been made, the UK risks falling further behind its leading international competitors.
This matters because robotic automation can provide an answer to some of the British economy’s most intractable challenges.
Promote productivity
Take productivity, for example. In a recent briefing, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) noted that UK productivity growth has been, at best, ‘sluggish’ for over a decade.
Worse still, it found that productivity has declined more recently, with productivity 0.3 percent lower in Q4 2023 than it was over the same period in 2022.
The recent decline will be due in part to the fact that UK wages have been rising to mitigate the impact of inflation, which is clearly welcome news for hard-pressed workers but creates significant challenges for UK businesses. That is especially true when those businesses are competing with overseas companies that operate in markets with considerably lower labour costs.
Automation could be the UK’s great leveller, boosting speed, capacity and quality without driving up wage bills, thereby plugging the productivity gap.
Labour and skills
Tight labour markets and skills shortages are another area of concern for British businesses. In August 2022 the Federation of Small Businesses found that 80 percent of small firms in the UK faced difficulties recruiting applicants with suitable skills in the previous 12 months.
Robots could help to ease the immediate pressure and support companies to manage longer-term demographic shifts that will see more and more of the population ‘ageing out’ of the workforce.
Flexible and adaptable
If the uncertainty and disruptions of the past few years have taught us anything, it is that companies should be looking to maximise the flexibility of their operations and build resilience.
The threat of supply chain disruptions is greater than ever – whether they are related to extreme weather, conflict or other external events.
Meanwhile, evolving customer tastes and behaviours generate corresponding uncertainty on the demand side.
Today’s robots are very flexible. Unlike conventional production machinery that requires hardware changes in order to take on a new task, robots can be adapted quickly and easily to take on different tasks by updating their software. That makes them extremely flexible and helps to future-proof investments.
Identifying barriers
With so many potential benefits on offer, what are the key factors preventing a faster roll-out of robotic automation in the UK?
In a recent survey of British businesses carried out on behalf of ABB, respondents identified many different potential barriers, most of which can be grouped under one of three key themes.
The first group is cultural, with 34 percent of respondents suggesting that their employees and/or customers would prefer to work with people, rather than robots and 18 percent saying they distrust the technology.
The second group could be termed business-related, with 18 percent believing that robots are too expensive, while 22 percent say they are uncertain about how robots or other automation could help their business.
The third group highlights the respondents’ own lack of in-house expertise, with 18 percent saying they do not have the staff to program, operate and maintain robots and 10 percent believing that they are too difficult to use.
Similarly, 22 percent say they are unsure of where to start and 21 percent lack the experience to devise an automation strategy. While the biggest organisations are likely to have the in-house resources to overcome such concerns, these are likely to be bigger worries for SMEs.
The survey also asked respondents what could change their minds about using robots. The top game-changers were training (32 percent), solutions that are easy to install and use (27 percent), proof that other users have succeeded (22 percent) and robots that can collaborate and work alongside humans (21 percent).
Industry responds
Happily, the industry is acutely aware of these barriers and has been working to develop the solutions needed to overcome them, making today’s generation of robots easier to deploy and use than ever before.
Programming tools make it relatively straightforward for operators with little or no previous experience to set up the robots or train them to carry out new tasks.
The ultimate goal is for operators to be able to tell robots what they need them to do in plain language. That facility may not be quite there yet, but other innovations are already making the technology much more user-friendly. For instance, ABB's Wizard Easy Programming software tool uses simple, block-based programming so operators do not need any prior experience with programming languages or coding.
Collaborative robots (cobots) in particular, are designed to be easy to use, providing a good way for many companies to take their first steps with robotic automation.
Cobots incorporate safety features and software that enable them to be deployed to work alongside humans without the need for traditional barriers. This saves space and increases flexibility.
Even larger industrial robots can be equipped with software such as ABBSafeMove, which enables larger and/or faster robots to react instantly to the presence of operators and maintain a safe working environment.
AI and vision
Broader advances in technology are also proving transformational in the world of robotics. The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced machine vision has sparked a step change in the ability of robots to act autonomously, for instance, opening up an enormous range of new applications.
For example, the 3DQI robot from ABB is transforming quality inspection. It combines the accuracy and repeatability of structured-light technology with the speed and flexibility of a robot to inspect 100 percent of manufactured parts, rather than only examining a sample of the products coming off the production line.
Meanwhile, ABB’s robotic item picker can accurately detect and pick items including cuboids, cylinders, pouches, boxes, poly-bags, and blister packs. Identifying and handling such a diverse range of items would previously have required the dexterity and flexibility of humans.
The pre-configured picking solution is boosting productivity in warehouses and fulfilment operations across multiple sectors, from e-commerce to healthcare.
Other innovations that are making a splash in logistics include robotic depalletisers and autonomous mobile vehicles (AMRs). The latest generation of AMRs can now make their way around complex, changing environments completely independently, without the need to install external infrastructure to guide them.
Education
As the evidence base continues to build across the UK and elsewhere, businesses will increasingly be able to see their competitors demonstrate how robotic automation can help. Educating people in robotics at an earlier stage could speed up this process of recognition and acceptance tremendously.
With that in mind, the ABB Robotics Education Package is a ready-to-use training kit that equips students with key skills and knowledge in robotics and automation, preparing them for a future of work where robots are as common as laptops today.
Time for change
Perhaps the biggest disincentive for companies in the UK to invest in robotic automation right now is the current high level of uncertainty, with no clear industrial strategy coming from the government and a General Election looming sometime in the next few months.
Even the Government’s offer of capital allowances to encourage investment does not appear to be doing much to shake companies out of their current ‘wait and see’ mindset. Hopefully, that is something that can be resolved in the coming months.
Productivity: Key Economic Indicators - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)
Skills and labour shortages - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)
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