Technology is constantly changing our lives every day and has had a particular impact on the working world across almost all sectors. Automation has become a popular conversation within multiple industries in Great Britain, one industry that’s implementing it is manufacturing with robotics emerging as the solution for most everyday problems for the sector.

Over the past few years, a need to move towards more automation in the manufacturing industry has been seen. In fact, a survey, that was done by ABB Robotics had found that out of 250 Small medium enterprises (SME) and manufacturing companies across the nation, 81.2 per cent were considering incorporating robotics into their processes to combat issues, which has been essential for workforce shortages and supply chain disruptions.

In this article, FPE Seals will look at how, in order to keep up with the demand British manufacturing faces, more businesses are adopting robotics as a solution for tackling their challenges. We will also dive into what they can do for your business.

What can robots do for your business?

A big question from businesses that is still on the fence about bringing in robots is what exactly they can do to improve their processes? By automating sections of your manufacturing processes with robots, you are given an opportunity to stay competitive within a constantly evolving industry around you.

If you substitute traditional labour with robots within your processes, this can help to provide added efficiency to your business. Robots don’t require breaks, and they are programmed to carry out specific practices over longer periods of time and with much smaller margins for error, which is something that’s always a risk with humans. As a result, this brings a more cost-effective output to your business, which could result in greater revenue being made for less paid labour.

Companies can also benefit from robotics as they can prove to be useful when it comes to tasks that require a steadiness over a certain period that can’t always be achieved by human labourers. Whether it is handling or removing materials that can be harmful or dangerous, welding, or separating materials from one each other, using robotics can make those tasks much easier and safer to carry out.

They are already work among us in manufacturing

The UK’s manufacturing industry has worked with a ‘quality over quantity’ mentality, focusing on top value from each product made, and robotics are now being incorporated into processes.

Between 2020 and 2021, the UK became one of the top 15 countries for sales of industrial robots that were made across the globe. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) found that 2,205 industrial robots were installed throughout the year 2020, which brought the total in the country to around 23,000.

These robots are primarily found in the automotive manufacturing industry in the UK with around 875 that are making up 16 per cent of those that were installed in 2020. Several sectors are reaping in the benefits with robot application due to a lack of workers, sectors such as the food and beverage sector, which are already using industrial machinery and hydraulic cylinders, have seen an increase of 304 robots being installed in 2020. This is a 96 per cent increase in volume since the previous year.

What does the future look like?

Though these numbers continue to rise, the IFR have still ranked the UK outside of the top 20 countries with robot density within manufacturing. We can take from this that there is still room for robotics presence in manufacturing to grow on our shores.

The government itself have outlined how much growth is possible in a Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), estimating that there was a potential 40 per cent annual growth for robotics and autonomous systems in the UK between the year 2020 and 2030. This could in turn mean an extra £6.4 billion in value for the UK economy by 2035. And if our creation and sale of autonomous robots is set to increase, our use of them across a number of industries may be set to increase alongside it.

Automating your business process with robotics is not something to be intimidated by. There is a myth that robotics will steals jobs, which has long since been debunked, as there is plenty of room for improvements within the manufacturing industry that they can help solve. Implementing robotics can help keep your business stay competitive in the global market, as well as provide an efficiency that is impossible to achieve with manual labour. There are currently a record number of robots being installed; however, there is still room for growth, and the amount of revenue that could stimulate the UK economy if more is installed is staggering.