An increasing number of industrial robots will find their way into factoring which themselves will be more well-connected, according to a new report.
The industrial internet of things will “catalyze new business models, adoption of industrial robotics, and return on investment”, says Frost & Sullivan’s industrial automation and process control team.
Driven by the IIoT, the global market for robotics in manufacturing is steadily gathering pace, according to the study.
Since the industrial cloud is in a nascent stage, manufacturing companies are unclear about its benefits.
Nevertheless, digitization and human-robot collaboration are set to transform manufacturing business models.
In pursuit of this vision, major contenders of the industry are investing in intuitive large robots for factory operations.
As a result, adoption of industrial robots in factories will witness a compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent during 2016-2023, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Sharmila Annaswamy, industrial automation and process control research analyst at Forrester, says: “Cloud, a major enabler of IoT and data analytics, will disrupt industrial manufacturing as manufacturers turn to software/data-driven services apart from Legacy automation systems.
“The convergence of information technology and operations technology will drive collaborations between robot manufacturers and communication and software providers. By 2023, the global industrial robotics market is expected to reach $70.26 billion.”
“Industrial robotics – decoding the robotics impact on manufacturing” is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Industrial Automation & Process Control growth Partnership Service programme that includes insights on Big Data for manufacturing, digital factories, supply chain evolution, Services 2.0, safety-security for connected enterprises, Industry 4.0, contract manufacturing, and emerging economies of scale.
The company is providing complimentary access to more information on this analysis and to register for a growth strategy dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan’s thought leaders.
Benefits such as better utilization of factory floor space and 25 percent reduction in installation cost will draw customers to collaborative robots over their traditional counterparts.
However, market participants must strictly consider existing risk assessment methodologies and implement improvised safety regulations to ensure customers the best value.
This will encourage deployment of collaborative robots for niche applications such as assembling electrical or automotive parts.
Key challenges that leading industrial robotics companies will face include industrial cloud security concerns, low awareness, making cloud implementation seamless and cost effective, and boosting the skillset of resources to keep pace with the evolving manufacturing technologies.
Annaswamy adds: “Emphasis is also required on making industrial robots futuristic and economical through new business models, such as collaboration-as-a-service, plug-and-play, and robotics-as-a-service, which focus on quick returns on investment and lasting customer satisfaction.
“Companies such as GE, Siemens and Bosch are now catering to the specific needs of the industrial cloud market, leveraging their traditional industrial expertise to foray into the data-driven services on their own or through partnerships with IT cloud vendors.”
