forecast2020-1000

Return to the Good Old Days of 2017

Forecast 2020: Automation Goes into High Gear!

Industrial robots, cobots, grippers & EOATs, logistics robots, mobile robots: AGVs, ASRS & AMRs

It had all started so suddenly in 2017
1H2017 was the countdown we had all been waiting to hear. Give Japan and China all the credit for getting things off the ground in a very big way.

From January to June of 2017 a countdown was underway that went generally unnoticed, except on the balance sheets of nearly every major robot manufacturer and robot parts manufacturer worldwide.

Overshadowed by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Kim Jong-un both going haywire on us, the first half year (1H2017) witnessed buckets of joyous black ink beginning to cascade over corporate balance sheets. Board rooms that were formerly places for long faces and hand-wringing uncertainty, suddenly changed to broad grins and fist bumps.

Hallelujah! The long-awaited liftoff of industrial robotics was happening.

Long faces and hand-wringing returned in 2019
The high of 2017 had been so high that it was agonizing for robot manufacturers to tumble backwards in 2019 from the mega-revenue days of two years previous. Revenue in 2019 was still eye-popping, yet board rooms once again were filled with long faces and hand-wringing uncertainty. Change is in the air again for 2020

The semi-long-awaited liftoff of industrial robotics is happening again in 2020.

Global Industrial Robot & Cobot Market 2020-2025 
Revenue is slated to double! The global industrial robotics market was valued at $20.24 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $42.34 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 12.15 percent over the forecast period (2020-2025).

If prices of peripherals, software, and system engineering are added to the $20.24 billion, the total market value for industrial robots was $48 billion in 2019. Better than 50 percent of 2019’s industrial robot industry was peripherals, software, and system engineering.

Research Shows Need for Smart Grippers to Skyrocket: $2.9B by 2023
Need for smart grippers is announcing itself as end users employ cobots in an ever-expanding diversity of jobs.

Adoption of End-of-arm Tooling (EOAT) surges as robots become an industrial staple for multi-tasking & quick changeovers.

Use of robots in the industrial space has taken off significantly, as end-user demand for multi-tasking and instant changeovers has intensified over the years.

Robots are penetrating into multiple industrial ecosystems, often operating alongside humans, in the form of collaborative robots (otherwise known as cobots). With the increasing deployment of robots, industrial ecosystems are also seeking effective robotic end- of-arm tooling (EOATs) to equip the robots with desired functionalities.

Update: Warehouse Automation:The Market, Its Tech & Its $27B Future
From $13 billion in 2018 to $27 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 11.7% with 50-plus vendors vying for the prize.

Order Fulfilment in E-commerce sector is the biggest factor driving the adoption of warehouse automation technologies.

High warehouse rents, shortage of skilled warehouse staffs and increasing staff costs are driving even higher adoption.