British industry still spurns robots

Citation

(1998), "British industry still spurns robots", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925cab.001

British industry still spurns robots

British industry still spurns robots

A depressing story is told by the latest figures of robot installations in the UK industry, presented in March by the British Robot Association. "When we first looked at the figures", said Mike Wilson, president of the Association, "we thought they looked good, with a record 1,792 installed in 1997 as against 1,116 in 1996, itself a record year. But when we started to look closer at the figures we discovered that almost half the robots (832) went into the automotive industry, with automotive components (442) a very significant user as well. That left only 518 robots going to the rest of the UK industry, which showed no growth at all because 1996 deliveries were 520." An analysis by application is given in Figure 1.

But most disturbing of all were the facts that emerged when BRA compared the number of robots in use in the UK with those installed abroad. BRA has been collecting data on all the robots delivered since 1978, so a very good picture is being built up of what is happening. The figures are also submitted to the International Federation of Robotics and are incorporated in their statistics so that international comparisons can be made. These statistics give a measure of the level of investment in automation. Automation as such cannot be measured, but numbers of robots are a very good indication of the level of automation. This is done using the concept of robot density, which is measured as the number of installed robots per 10,000 people employed in the manufacturing industry of a country. To come within the definition of a robot a machine must have three axes or more.

Figure 1 Analysis by application

A long way in advance of any other country, inevitably, is Japan with over 264 per 10,000, though others have viewed the Japanese figures with some caution. Of more immediate relevance are Germany, Italy and France, with 79.3, 56.0 and 36.4 respectively. The UK comes near the bottom of the list of industrial countries, with only 18.9 robots per 10,000 employees. Even this figure has been adjusted upwards to take account of the 1997 statistics. Using the same 1996 figures as other countries, the UK showing would be still worse, ranking sixteenth behind Spain, Norway and Australia (see Table I).

Comparing robot densities within UK industries, if manufacturing in general could achieve only half the density of the automotive industry, the numbers of robots would double. Equally, though, if the UK automotive industry could achieve the same density as the German industry it would have 30 per cent more robots.

In one area, though, the UK can tell a success story. There are many systems integration companies, handling a sizable amount of business ­ about £200 million a year, largely abroad. There are also opportunities for automation in new sectors such as food, medical, pharmaceutical and so on.

Unless the UK manufacturing industry comes to terms with the need for greater automation, and unless there is a high-level recognition of the problem both in industry and in government, Wilson believes, there will be a serious decline in relation to international competition. What persuasive steps can be taken? One idea being promoted by the BRA is the establishment of centres of excellence to focus the limited resources we have on specific centres for education of engineers and for demonstration, to show the benefits of automation to potentially interested parties. With so little money around it needs to be spent very effectively. Wilson named Salford University as a possible such centre.

There is a need to improve the education system. Most robots involve systems integration, bringing together electronics, electrics, software and mechanical engineering. The difficulty is that most of our education system is geared to training a person to be a software engineer or an electronics engineer. There are very few people trained to be multi-disciplined, or systems integrators. There is also a need to improve industrial awareness programmes: to make people aware that they need to invest in equipment, and they need to automate. The DTI is working on programmes specifically for this area. As a small incentive, the International Federation of Robotics has forecast that there will be one million robots operating worldwide in the year 2000.

Two events this April should also help to make manufacturing companies more aware of the scope for robotics. One is the inaugural Robotics and Automation Exhibition being held at the NEC alongside MACH98. The other is the International Symposium on Robotics which is being held at the same time and place, for the first time in the UK. The BRA is hosting it on behalf of the International Federation of Robotics, and it will focus specifically on some of the newer sectors such as food, hazardous environments, nuclear, space, defence, medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical.