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Economy

What happened to Germany? Manufacturing giant crumbles before our eyes

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Germany, often hailed as Europe’s economic powerhouse, is grappling with a significant downturn in its manufacturing sector. Once the cornerstone of its robust economy, manufacturing is now facing serious challenges that threaten the stability of the wider economy.

Germany is of particular interest to this website for obvious reasons. Apart from Japan, Germany has shown itself – or at least the manufacturing sector has shown itself – to be the most highly proficient at using robotics and automation technologies. That’s our opinion anyway.

And while China may have overloaded the world with manufactured products in every category you can imagine, German products still inspire confidence in people who appreciate precision, quality and originality. [Read more…] about What happened to Germany? Manufacturing giant crumbles before our eyes

Opinion: Exploring the correlation between robotics utilisation and economic growth

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Here at RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com, we often wonder about the relationship between a nation’s reported economic growth and its utilisation of robotics and automation systems. We have a hunch that the more automated machines a country integrates into its economy, the more growth it experiences. We can’t say we prove this hunch in this article, but we think most readers will agree that it is an important correlation that deserves some investigation.

Economic growth sounds like a concept that’s easy to understand, but we don’t think it’s as straightforward as it seems. Each nation and region has its own way of calculating what is called “economic growth”, and there are countless gears turning to drive nations’ economies forward.

Among these, automation – robotics being a sub-set of automation – has emerged as one of the most powerful engines for transforming many previously small economies into global payers. Over the past few decades, while being derided for using cheap labour to gain an advantage – which undoubtedly has happened, countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have surfed the automation wave to reach remarkable economic heights. [Read more…] about Opinion: Exploring the correlation between robotics utilisation and economic growth

How to design laser engraving work

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Laser engraving technology helps make it easier for you to turn a drawing into a physical object in a short period of time.

In order to maximize the reproduction of your design and create a better physical object, you should start by making a qualified design original.

Traditionally, design originals are rendered on drawings, and in the digital age, digital artwork design helps us do this.

[Read more…] about How to design laser engraving work

TXI lends weight to America’s ‘Titanium Economy’

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Q&A with Jason Hehman, Client Partner at TXI

Popularized by the bestselling book of the same name, written by three McKinsey analysts, “The Titanium Economy” refers to “a group of companies (that) could consistently outperform the market, create millions of high-quality American jobs and lead technological innovation while building a more sustainable future”.

Such companies already exist, say the authors. They are part of what they called “the Titanium Economy”, a cohort of industrial technology companies that are “redefining the future of US manufacturing”.

One company which could be described as being an integral part of the Titanium Economy is TXI, a digital product innovation firm composed of strategists, designers, and engineers. Below is a Q&A with one of those people. [Read more…] about TXI lends weight to America’s ‘Titanium Economy’

Swedish city Helsingborg receives $258,000 grant to test robotic garbage collection

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By 2027, the city of Helsingborg aims to become one of the world’s best cities to live and work in. Recently, the city received a grant from Sweden’s Innovation Agency, Vinnova, to test autonomous robots in garbage collection.

Traditionally, garbage collection has involved loud trucks blocking the streets and interrupting early mornings. In collaboration with Robot Minds AB and the regional waste management company Nordvästra Skånes Renhållnings AB (NSR), the City of Helsingborg aims to implement a project where service robots collect the garbage instead.

In mid-June, it was decided that the project would receive funding of SEK 2.8 million from Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, through the strategic innovation program Drive Sweden. [Read more…] about Swedish city Helsingborg receives $258,000 grant to test robotic garbage collection

2023 Predictions & Forecasts: European countries expected to be worst affected by automation

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When it comes to the workplace, developments in automation mean that the future landscape of work is changing and, in turn, the roles that we undertake. 

While many people fear that this contributes to a decrease in employment, many industries continue to grow and adapt despite automation.

In some instances this can improve work-life balance, allowing manual workers to work normal shifts and robots to work overnight or to remove the menial tasks from your role and retrain to complete tasks that cannot be automated. [Read more…] about 2023 Predictions & Forecasts: European countries expected to be worst affected by automation

A Look at 3 Strategies for Sustainable Development

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Everyone believes that sustainable development should be a global priority, yet it can be challenging to incorporate this global concern into governmental policies.

Strategies for sustainable development are defined as growth that meets current demands without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to content their own needs.

According to economists, strategies for sustainable development are an economic process that preserves and passes on to future generations the quality and quantity of our natural resource stocks and the integrity of biogeochemical cycles. [Read more…] about A Look at 3 Strategies for Sustainable Development

Adapting Robotic Production Lines for a Titanium-Focused Economy

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With the post-pandemic recovery well on its way, the new jobs market has placed a clear focus on hygiene.

According to CNBC, 66 percent of workers want cleaner, even sterile, working conditions, and that’s independent of their industry. Creating the tools and surfaces required to meet this demand will fall on factories and robotic, or automated, machining.

In turn, this will require innovation to work with materials that are conducive to that sterile environment – which poses a challenge to manufacturers and their robotic factory lines. [Read more…] about Adapting Robotic Production Lines for a Titanium-Focused Economy

How tech innovations are changing the way car dealers operate

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To meet customers’ needs and stay at the forefront of the industry, many independent car dealers are looking towards auction software as a part of their business strategy.

This digital transformation can streamline the process from start to finish and is helping to increase the customer base for dealers who are used to a more traditional, but somewhat limiting, operation.

Taking logistical limitations out of the equation means that you no longer must travel to and from auctions with only a hope and a prayer that the perfect combination of buyers and inventory will be available to you on a set day and time. [Read more…] about How tech innovations are changing the way car dealers operate

What will become of the Bitcoin post covid-19?

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Since many jobs had to be done remotely during the pandemic, we have become used to the idea and this practice will probably continue once it is over. For instance, there are robots doing remote surgery and many other things which would have seemed impossible before.  This trend will most likely continue once Covid-19 is just a bad memory. 

This will be the case, sooner rather than later. With many vaccines coming out as viable candidates and even pharmaceuticals that help people with the virus heal faster, we will be out of the woods in the not so distant future. Once it does, will life get back to normal?

We are going to see some changes that occurred during the pandemic become permanent. The next question is, how does the bitcoin fit into the future once the pandemic has gone?

In this article, we will take a look at a few factors that may give us an indication of what the future of bitcoin will look like post Covid-19.

The price will only go up

A lot of things came together during the pandemic that helped bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general out quite a bit. One was that the uncertainty of the stock market drove a lot of people to buy bitcoin to store their money while they waited to see what would happen. Many weren’t doing it as an investment, but the value rose so much that they made a tidy profit from doing so. And this made a lot of people bullish on the currency.

Another factor is that you can now buy BTC with PayPal which has made it much easier for the general population to buy bitcoin. Those that don’t have a bank account can now safely and easily buy the currency and use it to invest, trade or use to make purchases. This will surely lift cryptocurrency out of an underground currency that only the tech savvy among us use into a mainstream one used by the masses.

The real opportunities

For a long time, people saw the bitcoin as merely a vehicle for speculation. You bought the coins to trade at a profit and that’s as far as it went. Now that inflation is rearing its ugly head due to many governments pumping cash reserves into the economy, it is being used as a way to store value and to use as an actual currency. 

The biggest advantage that a cryptocurrency has is that it is never prone to inflation. There is a cap on how many bitcoin will be mined, for instance. This is not the case with fiat cash as it can be printed on demand by a reserve or government. This leads to inflation that is immune to cryptocurrency. The value may fluctuate due to many factors, but it won’t lose its value due to more bitcoins being produced.

The other real benefit is that bitcoin is portable. It can be used to pay for things in any part of the world without dealing with any currency conversions. In the post Covid-19 world, we may see the world get even smaller as people work and operate remotely. People will start moving to areas where the cost of living is lower and rely more on cryptocurrency than the devalued local currency. 

Important: Please note that RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com is not a financial advice website and, therefore, does not give any financial advice of any kind. Please take professional financial advice before making any investments with anyone or any company or organisation. And remember, all investments are a risk. We certainly do not suggest investing in anything at all, including any investments that may be offered in this contributed article. We only provide news and information, usually through contributed articles. Readers are entitled to make investments at their own risk.