Robot sales rise

The BARA (British Automation and Robot Association) has reported that UK sales of industrial robots rose in 2010 by 65%, compared with 2009.

This may not be too much of a surprise, given the recent growth in the UK manufacturing sector and the low base from which growth has started.
What is interesting, however, is that this is the first significant growth since 2006. Although there has been a marked decline in sales of robots to the automotive sector – from 48% in 2006 to 35% in 2010 – there has been a corresponding rise in sales to other markets, which have traditionally been late adopters of automation; these include customers in the food and beverage, aerospace and pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical industries.

One area of concern is that robotics and automation systems tend to be utilised by larger manufacturers, with many SMEs failing to take advantage of the cost saving and productivity offered by the latest automation technology. This situation can be exacerbated by the current difficulty in arranging finance through the high street banks, which makes investment in new equipment a challenge, to say the least.