DANISH company Universal Robots (UR) has advised leaders from the Philippine manufacturing industry to implement collaborative robots (cobots) as an effective tool to address the limited use of skills and labor while helping improve productivity amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the continuous implementation of strict health protocols like physical distancing, cobots are widely used as solutions to help perform tasks that people in groups could not safely perform. Also, they are immensely capable of handling increased workload arising from backlogs.
In fact, they are increasingly being adopted by various industries because of their advantages such as increased productivity and effective employee utilization, based on the “Collaborative Robot Market by Payload, Component, Application, Industry, and Geography – Global Forecast to 2026” report by Markets and Markets.
The study shows that the market is expected to reach $7,972 million by 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of 41.8 percent.
Cobots’ reach in Asia Pacific is also projected to surpass that in Europe by 2021 due to wider use in large-scale manufacturing industries, especially automotive, electronics, and metals sectors.
This is a welcome development for the Philippines considering the bullish outlook on the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)—that it will continue to grow this year.
Local manufacturers are among the hardest hit by the ensuing health crisis. Per the Philippine Statistics Authority, manufacturing production here posted an annual rate of -46.5 percent in February 2021, which is lower than its previous months’ annual rate of -16.7 percent.
The downtrend has continued since February of last year when the pandemic started to disrupt the economy.
For technology giant UR, the local manufacturing industry may leverage on the use of robotics in processes that involve repetitive work in confined, structured spaces, and environments.
It added that they can work around the clock and can produce consistent output under any given condition.
Cobots available in the market today, like what the company offers, enable employees to move from repetitive, low-value tasks to higher-value activities that increase work productivity and quality.
“Ever since the term ‘Collaborative Robotics’ was coined, we have been the frontrunners in the robotics industry. We have also marked an entire decade since the very first cobot from Universal Robots was deployed in South Asia. Safety is imperative and has become the cost of entry into the cobot market now.
UR believes in developing affordable, lightweight, and flexible cobots that could deliver a rapid ROI [return of investment] for the manufacturing industry,” said James McKew, regional director of Asia-Pacific at UR.
With an average payback period as short as 12 months due to increased productivity, quality, and consistency, manufacturers may foresee a ROI before year-end or early 2022.
“By lowering automation barrier within the reach of manufacturers who never thought that they could deploy robots due to cost and complexity, we hope to help the Philippine industries realize higher productivity and maintain effective utilization of their plants,” he stressed.