AmericaRobot orders at companies jumped 40% earlier this year, as businesses struggled to find and hire workers.
The American Association for the Promotion of Automation (AAA) said that robot orders at businesses increased by a record 40% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. Orders for this robot will also total $1.6 billion in 2021, up 22% after years of stagnation.
Demand for higher wages and shortages of human resources, along with problems related to Covid-19, are changing the attitude of manufacturers to robots.
“In the past, you could choose to maximize your workforce, instead of finding the right solution,” said Joe Montano, CEO of Delphon Industries, which makes semiconductor housings, medical devices and aerospace components. , To share. However, Delphon lost 40% of its working days in January after Covid-19 spread among its workers, forcing management to order three robots.
Robots working with humans at Athena Manufacturing LP. Image: WSJ.
The US has abundant human resources and stable wages, making many manufacturers slow to use robots compared to other industrialized countries. According to the International Federation of Robots, the number of robots deployed per 10,000 workers in the US is less than in South Korea, Japan and Germany.
Industrial robots in North America have for years been focused solely on the automotive industry, where they are used in repetitive processes such as welding on an assembly line. Manufacturers of cars and auto parts accounted for 71% of robot orders in 2016, but will decrease to 42% in 2021. This percentage is decreasing because robots have strongly penetrated into other industries such as food production, consumables and pharmaceuticals. Increasingly modern features allow robots to perform more complex tasks that require a combination of strength and agility.
At Athena Manufacturing LP, a metal equipment manufacturing and processing company, CFO John Newman said orders were growing rapidly as the business struggled to hire enough workers to work weekday afternoon shifts. and weekend. They decided to buy seven robots in the past 18 months, including one that sharpens welds on the steel frames that hold semiconductors. Newman said Athena has invested $800,000 in the robot, of which about $225,000 is dedicated to the welding robot.
The investments, he asserts, are aimed at increasing order-processing capacity rather than reducing costs, as an employee typically takes three hours to complete a weld grinding while a robot takes just 30 minutes.
“Robots work non-stop, and humans need to rest because it’s hard work,” he said.
“Robots are becoming easier to use. Companies used to think that automation was too difficult or too expensive,” said Michael Cicco, CEO of Fanuc America, which specializes in providing large industrial robots. good.
Daron Acemoglu, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, warned factories that increasingly depend on automation will lead to a surplus of workers and lower wages in the years to come, unless there is output in the coming years. other industries.
“If automation happens too quickly, a lot of jobs could be destroyed,” he said.
Delphon started renting robots four years ago to reduce initial costs. The company currently has 10 robots, including four that work in tandem with employees. Delphon is scaling the robot to assemble larger products.
Montano says the robot improves the company’s productivity, increasing shipments by about 15 percent in 2021 and 2020 without increasing its 200-person resource, respectively. “We’re not cutting any staff, we’re redeploying them to the department that needs people,” he said.
Trang Linh – Ma Dung (follow WSJ)
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