International Federation of Robotics: World Robotics Report 2020

The new World Robotics 2020 Industrial Robots report shows a record 2.7 million industrial robots in operation in factories around the world, up 12%. Sales of new robots remain high, with 373,000 units shipped worldwide in 2019. This is a 12% decrease compared to 2018, but still the third highest sales year on record.

“Today, driven by the success story of smart production and automation, the stock of industrial robots operating in factories around the world is at an all-time high,” said Milton Gourry, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Globally, sales have increased by around 85% in five years (2014-2019). The recent sales decline of 12% reflects the difficult times experienced by two major customer industries, automotive and electrical/electronics.”

“Beyond this, the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic for the global economy cannot yet be fully assessed,” says Milton Guerry. “The remaining months of 2020 will depend on adaptation to the ‘new normal’. Robot suppliers adapt to the demand for new applications and develop solutions. A major boost from large-scale orders is unlikely this year. China may be an exception, as the coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 and the country started recovering in the second quarter. Other economies report that they are currently at a turning point. However, it will take several months for this to be translated into automation projects and robot demand. Recovery will occur in 2021, but it may take until 2022 or 2023 before the pre-crisis levels are reached.”

Asia, Europe and America - Overview

Asia remains the strongest market for industrial robots - China, the region's largest operating stock, grew by 21% to about 783,000 units in 2019. Japan is second with about 355,000 units, up 12%. Third is India, with a new record of about 26,300 units, up 15%. In five years, India has doubled the number of industrial robots operating in the country's factories.

The share of newly installed robots in Asia was about two thirds of the global supply. In China, sales of nearly 140,500 new robots were below the record levels of 2018 and 2017, but still double the sales five years ago (2014: 57,000 units). Installations slowed down in the top Asian markets – in China (minus 9%) and Japan (minus 10%).

“China is currently the world’s largest and fastest-growing robot market,” said Milton Guerry, president of the International Federation of Robotics. “It has the largest number of robots installed each year and the largest number of operational robots. This rapid development is unique in the history of robotics.”

There are currently 783,000 industrial robots in operation in Chinese factories, an increase of 21%. In 2019, sales of new robots remained high, with shipments of approximately 140,500 units. Although this is a 9% decrease compared to 2018, it is still the third highest sales volume ever.

In China, the vast majority of new robots, 71%, were shipped from foreign suppliers. Chinese manufacturers are still mainly facing the domestic market, where they are gaining more and more market share. Foreign suppliers delivered about 29% of the units to the automotive industry, while Chinese suppliers only about 12%. Therefore, foreign suppliers are more affected by the decline in business in the Chinese automotive industry than Chinese suppliers.

Australia remains the strongest market for industrial robots, with the region’s operating stock growing by 14%.

In 2019, it reached about 168,800 units.

Europe

Europe had an operating stock of 580,000 vehicles in 2019, up 7%. Germany remains the main user, with an operating stock of around 221,500 vehicles, which is about three times that of Italy (74,400), five times that of France (42,000) and ten times that of the UK (21,700).

Robot sales show a different picture in the largest markets within the EU: Germany installed around 20,500 robots. This is lower than the record year of 2018 (minus 23%), but in line with 2014-2016. Sales rose in France (+15%), Italy (+13%) and the Netherlands (+8%). The level of robotics in the UK remains low – the rate of new installations fell by 16%. The 2,000 newly installed units in the UK are ten times less than in Germany (20,500), five times less than in Italy (11,100) and three times less than in France (6,700).

America

The United States, the largest user of industrial robots in the Americas, set a new operating record of approximately 293,200 units, an increase of 7%. Mexico ranked second with 40,300 units, an increase of 11%, followed by Canada with approximately 28,600 units, an increase of 2%.

New installations in the United States fell by 17% in 2019 compared to the record year of 2018. With 33,300 units sold, sales are still at a very high level and are the second highest result ever. Most robots in the United States are imported from Japan and Europe. Although there are not many North American robot manufacturers, there are many important robot system integrators. Mexico ranks second in North America with nearly 4,600 units sold - a decrease of 20%. Sales in Canada increased by 1% to a new record of about 3,600 shipped units.

The number one operating stock in South America is in Brazil with nearly 15,300 units, an increase of 8%. Sales fell by 17% with around 1,800 units installed, which is still one of the best results ever, only behind the record shipments in 2018.

Global Trends in Human-Robot Collaboration

The adoption of human-robot collaboration is on the rise. We saw an 11% increase in the installation of collaborative robots. This dynamic sales performance is in stark contrast to the overall trend of traditional industrial robots in 2019. As more suppliers offer collaborative robots and the range of applications becomes larger, the market share of 373,000 industrial robots installed in 2019 reached 4.8%. Although this market is developing rapidly, it is still in its infancy.

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Globally, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on 2020 - but also provides an opportunity to modernize and digitalize production to resume production. In the long term, the benefits of increasing the number of robot installations remain: fast production and delivery of customized products at competitive prices are the main incentives. Automation allows manufacturers to keep production in developed economies or move it to other countries without sacrificing cost efficiency. The range of industrial robots is constantly expanding - from traditional cage robots that can handle all payloads quickly and precisely, material handling robots to new collaborative robots that can work safely with humans and are fully integrated into the workbench.

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