US robot orders and shipments fall in first half of 1998

Citation

(1999), "US robot orders and shipments fall in first half of 1998", Industrial Robot, Vol. 26 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1999.04926aab.002

US robot orders and shipments fall in first half of 1998

US robot orders and shipments fall in first half of 1998

Keywords Robotics, Robots, North America

North American robotics companies saw double-digit declines in orders and shipments in the first half of 1998, according to the new statistics published by Robotic Industries Association (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 North America based robotics companies

A total of 5,535 robots valued at more than US$500 million were shipped through June, a drop of nearly 12 percent in units and 8 percent in value from the record setting pace in the first half of 1997.

New orders through June totaled 5,233 robots valued at US$533.9 million, a decline of 21 percent in dollars and nearly 13 percent in value from the same period last year.

"The robotics market has grown very rapidly over the past several years, which leads us to conclude that a slowdown was inevitable", said Donald A. Vincent, Executive Vice President of RIA. "However, with manufacturing companies expected to continue investing heavily in new capital equipment to stay globally competitive, the robotics market should resume its growth soon."

Vincent said that orders for spot welding robots continue to post major declines, marking gains in other areas such as arc welding, parts transfer, machine tending and packaging and palletizing.

"Orders for spot welding robots, historically the largest application area, fell by nearly 70 percent in the second quarter alone. The fact that overall orders fell just 20 percent in the second quarter indicates how rapidly successful new applications are emerging, which bodes well for the industry", Vincent explained.

RIA estimates that some 86,000 robots are now at work in US factories, placing the USA second in robotics use to Japan.

Source: IFR