North American companies ordered more than 44,000 industrial robots in 2022, up 11% from a year earlier and a record. The cost of these robots was $2.38 billion, up 18% from 2021. A significant part of the ordered cars will be used in factories for the production of electric vehicles and batteries for them. The agency reports Reuters with reference to data from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) industry group.
Companies are struggling with hiring workers, and many employers see factory automation as a solution, A3 president Jeff Bernstein told Reuters. Most of the ordered robots will be used for intra-factory logistics: unloading and loading, transportation of materials. Most of the orders came from US companies, but there are also orders from Canadian and Mexican companies.
Meanwhile, according to experts, by the end of 2022, the number of orders for the supply of robots decreased compared to other quarters of the year, so it is still difficult to predict how strong this indicator will be in 2023. So far, the automotive industry is the most actively buying robots, and against its background, some other segments are sinking. “For example, companies such as Amazon have slowed down in building new warehouses, which means that they are likely to refuse or postpone the purchase of new automation equipment,” Mr. Bernstein explains.
