When you work with industrial automation, it’s easy to forget that “automation” can mean different things to different people. You’ve got industrial automation like the kind found in the manufacturing and packaging industries: the life-improving kind made possible by compact and efficient servo motors. Everybody loves this type of automation. Then you have automated telemarketing. This allows people to pester you as efficiently as possible without wasting their own time. Everybody hates this type of automation.
Love it or hate it, automation is now used for much more than just industrial robots and voice recordings, and it’s popping up in new and surprising places. Automation now has a hand in everything from your morning cup of coffee to your daily commute to work.
The increasing number of applications for automation technology is directly increasing the number of industrial robots that are being manufactured, sold, and used. The International Federation of Robotics recently released some information on how industrial robots are being used around the world.
The global average for industrial robot sales increased at a combined annual growth rate of 17 percent between 2010 and 2014. The exact meaning of this figure is lost upon most people, but it’s essentially saying that industrial robots are becoming more and more important on a global level.
The same report predicted that the number of industrial robots used in 2015 will turn out to have increased by 15% when all the tracking and calculation is complete, which would continue the trend of previous years. The International Federation of Robotics also anticipates the number of industrial robots used around the world to increase by 1.3 million by 2018.
Most of these robots are going to be installed in industrial settings. Manufacturers continue to put more robots to use than any other sector. A majority of the robots that have been purchased in the last 3 years are being used by automotive manufacturers.
It’s not just industry that’s driving sales of industrial robots, however. Automation can improve practically any field, and automation technology becomes more advanced and more affordable on a regular basis. The better and cheaper the technology, the more widely that technology will be used.
Automation technology is now sophisticated enough to be used in things like self-driving cars, and it’s now affordable enough for small companies to have access to industrial machinery. It’s great that the International Federation of Robotics confirmed this fact with numbers, but it’s no secret that automation is the future.
But automation has been around for a long time. If you are operating an Indramat system, you already know this. Indramat hasn’t existed as a company for years, which means that Indramat parts are legacy parts. Don’t despair, though. We have the largest supply of replacement parts in the entire country. Call us today!