2001: EU robot sales reach record levels

Citation

(2003), "2001: EU robot sales reach record levels", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930dab.009

2001: EU robot sales reach record levels

2001: EU robot sales reach record levels

Keywords: IFR, Robotics, EU

European Union (EU) sales returns for industrial robots reached a record level of 30,500 units in the year 2001, a rise of 2.5 per cent over the previous year, according to figures produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in co-operation with the International Federation Robotics (IFR).

In the United Kingdom and Spain, investments in robotics increased by 26 and 22 per cent, respectively. The market in the United States was depressed with sales falling by 17 per cent. Taking the world as a whole, excluding Japan and Korea the sales fell by 3 per cent.

However, looking at the orders for robots in North America, confidence appears to be on the mend with orders increasing by 2 per cent when compared to the year 2000. In Asia, the market has expanded by 8 per cent, but in Europe the picture is gloomy with orders falling by 15 per cent.

For the first time, the IFR statistics for Japan include only multi-axis industrial robots of previous years, figures from Japan include all types of robot device, most notably insertion machines. This makes it more difficult to compare the year 2001 figures for Japan with those of the previous years. Sales of robots in Japan in the year 2001 included 28,400 machines.

The world market for robots is projected to increase from 78,000 units in 2001 to just over 104,000 units in 2005, including all types of robot in Japan and Korea. This is an average rise of 7.5 per cent.

Growth in robot investment in Japan will be spurred by an increasing demand for the replacement equipment, according to the UNECE/IFR report. Between 2001 and 2005, sales are forecast to increase from 28,000 units to about 36,000 units.

The EU market is expected to grow from 30,500 units in 2001 to 42,000 units in 2005. In North America, the market is expected to grow by an average annual rate of 7 per cent. This implies that the market will rise to just over 14,000 units in 2005.

Currently, the installed base of the industrial robots is estimated to be at least 760,000 worldwide – the real stock could be well over one million units. Of these, some 360,000 are in Japan, 220,000 in the EU and just under 100,000 units in the USA.

In Europe, Germany has the most number of robots with a tally of just fewer than 100,000 units, followed by Italy with 44,000 and France with 23,000 robots. Spanish industry has some 16,000 robots, while the UK has only 13,000 machines. These figures to reflect the size of the respective automotive industry in these countries.

Conservative forecast for robot population points to some 965,000 machines worldwide by 2005, comprising 352,000 machines in Japan, 321,000 in Europe and 131,000 in the USA.

These figures are based on the assumption that the average service life of a robot is 12 years. But a UNECE/IFR pilot study has shown that the service life might be as long as 15 years. This would result in a worldwide stock of 1,020,000 units.

The total accumulated sales figure, measured since the industrial robots started to be introduced in industries by the end of the 1960s was 1,250,000 – but this does include the number of dedicated industrial robots installed in Japan.

Between 1995 and 2000, the robot market in the USA was booming every second year and, in the in-between years it was either flat or falling.

In 1995, 1997 and 1999, the market increased by 32, 28 and 37 per cent, respectively. In contrast, the market in 1996 and 1998 fell down by 5 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.

The peak year was 2000 when the highest figure recorded was 13,000 units. In 2001, the market fell by 17 per cent to 10,800 units.

In the EU, sales of robots rose by 19 per cent in 2000 to 29,800 units. In 2001, sales continued to grow by a modest 2.5 per cent to reach 30,500. This reflects the patchy nature of the EU market.

Looking at the future, orders returned for the first half of 2002 from major robot suppliers, and compiled by the UNECE/IFR, indicate a 7 per cent fall in intake when compared to 2001.

These figures, however, hide major differences between regions. For example, while orders in the US are up by 2 per cent, those in Europe are down by 15 per cent, yet Asia is up by 8 per cent. Total net order intake on a world basis is 7 per cent.

Performance

In the 1990s, prices of industrial robots plummeted while their performance, measured in terms of both mechanical and electronic characteristics, continuously improved.

A UNECE/IFR survey covering the period 19902000 showed the following changes:

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  List price of one robot, 43 per cent.

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  Number of units delivered, +782 per cent.

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  Number of product variants, +400 per cent.

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  Total handling capacity (including grippers) +26 per cent.

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  Repetition accuracy, +61 per cent.

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  Speed of six axes, +39 per cent.

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  Maximum reach, +36 per cent.

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  Mean time between failure, +137 per cent.

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  RAM in Mbytes, over 400 times.

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  Bit-size at the processor, +117 per cent.

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  Maximum number of axes that can be controlled, + 45 per cent.

Robot density

Five groups of countries, can be distinguished by robot density, expressed as the number of robots per 10,000 people employed in a manufacturing industry (ISIC rev.3:D) (see Figure 1).

The first group includes Japan and the Republic of Korea, which collect data on all types of industrial robot and are therefore not comparable with those of other countries. In 2001, these two countries achieved robot densities of about 270 and 125, respectively. While the density in Korea is increasing rapidly, it has fallen in Japan since the peak in 1998.

Figure 1

The second group is topped by Germany which in 2001 had a density of 127, followed by Italy with 102 and Sweden with 89 robots per 10,000 employees. The third group of countries include, Finland with 67, France with 63 and Spain with 62. In the fourth group, the densities ranged from 52 and 34 in the US, Benelux, Denmark, Austria and the UK. In Norway and Australia the density amounted to 31 and 21, respectively. At the bottom was Portugal with only eight per 10,000 employed.

Countries in Central and Eastern Europe, with the exception of the Czech Republic, have even lower densities.

Despite this large range in the robot densities, the robot density of the EU is 55 per cent higher than that of the US.

The motor vehicle industry is a "special case" when it comes to the employment of multi-purpose robots. Japan is in the lead with 1,600 robots per 10,000 employees. But again figures for Japan do include all types of robot in its statistics.

Figures for other countries are as follows: Italy, 980; Germany, 890; US, 700; Spain, 670; Sweden, 550; France, 540 and the UK, 520.

Turning to the service robot sector the UNECE/IFR report found that machines installed for professional use could be broken down as follows: underwater robots, 3,300, accounting for 27 per cent; demolition robots accounted for a further 20 per cent and medical robots for another 15 per cent. Laboratory robots enjoyed a 9 per cent share while agricultural robots, mainly milking machines, made up 6 per cent. Finally, cleaning robots accounted for a 2 per cent share.

As the unit values of these professional service robots differ very significantly, depending on application areas, (from hundreds of thousands of dollars for under- water robots to a few thousand dollars for laboratory machines) market data expressed in terms of value in US dollars might differ substantially from market data expressed in units sold.