Industrial Robot Statistics

World Robotics 2009 Industrial Robots:

This unique publication presents comprehensive global statistics on industrial robots in uniform tables allowing consistent country comparisons. It contains detailed statistical data for some 40 countries, broken down by application areas, industrial branches, types of robots and by other technical and economic variables. Data on production, exports and imports are presented for a selection of countries. Trends in robot densities, i.e. number of robots per 10,000 persons employed in relevant sectors, are also featured.

2008 World Robot Market - Already affected by the economical downturn

In 2008, the worldwide sales of industrial robots stagnated at about 113,300 units. Following a strong record in the first half of 2008, sales of robot installations were affected by the worldwide economic crisis. In many countries orders and sales were reduced dramatically in the last quarter of 2008.

It should be noted that during 2007 and 2008 demand was stagnating at a rather high level, only about 6% less than the peak level of 2005. This high level of annual sales of industrial robots since 2005 has two reasons:

• The automotive industry strengthened its investments in automation in order to increase production in emerging markets as well as to gain market shares in traditional markets.
• Many non-automotive sectors like the rubber and plastics industry, the metal and machinery industry, the food and beverage industry and the electronics industry made large investments to optimize their production processes.

The financial crisis of 2008, which was the leading cause of the global economic crisis, put a halt to this worldwide trend toward automation.

In recent years, various regions have concluded different outcomes: increase in Asia, decline in the Americas, stagnation in Europe:

In 2008, about 60,300 robots were supplied to Asian countries (including Australia and New Zealand), almost 4% more than in 2007. The main market, Japan, saw a continuing decline in robot investments. But, the Republic of Korea and most of the emerging markets, such as China, the Southeast Asian countries and India, all achieved significant increases in supply. The electrical/electronics industry, which invested very heavily in robot installations in 2005, cut robot purchases substantially in 2006, and continued to cut back in 2007 throughout Asia and Australia. But in 2008, a slight increase of robot sales had been registered. After two years of decreasing supplies, sales to the automotive industry were up. Supplies to all other industries decreased.

About 17,200 industrial robots were supplied to the Americas in 2008, 12% less than in 2007. The automotive industry in the United States - by far the largest robot market in the Americas - and in Canada was strongly affected by the cyclical recession which began at the end of 2007 and the collapse of the financial markets which followed in the autumn of 2008. Almost all industries were affected by the economic crisis, but the automotive industry was hit the hardest. In the recent years only the domestic car suppliers were faced with decreasing car sales in North America. But, in 2008, the foreign producers had to register a strong decrease as well. Overcapacities, shrinking demand, the wrong model policy of the domestic suppliers and the financial crisis affected the automotive industry substantially in North America. Production capacities have been cut or relocated. Investments from foreign companies have been stopped or restrained.

Sales of industrial robots in Europe stagnated at about 35,100 units, the second highest number of robots ever recorded in one year. This was due to a large increase of robot sales to: the metal and machinery industry, the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industry, the food and beverage industry and the electronics industry as well as a stagnating demand from the automotive industry and decreasing sales to the rubber and plastics industry.

Value of the market increased to $6.2 billion

The total value of the world industrial robot sales was about $6.2 billion in 2008.

It should be noted that the figures cited above generally do not include the cost of software, peripherals and systems engineering. This may result in the actual robotic systems market value to be about two or three times as large. The world market for robot systems in 2008 is therefore  estimated to be $19 billion.

High potential for robot installations in the "general industry"

When comparing the distribution of multipurpose industrial robots in various countries, the robot stock, expressed in the total number of units, can sometimes be a misleading measure. In order to take into account the differences in the size of the manufacturing industry in various countries, it is preferable to use a measure of robot density. One such measure of robot density is the number of multipurpose industrial robots per 10,000 persons employed in manufacturing industry or in the automotive industry or in the "general industry" (which is all industries excluding the automotive industry).

Following the IFR calculations only Japan has a relatively high degree of robot density in the general industry. But it must be pointed out, that this high degree is mainly influenced by the robot units installed in the electronics industry. So there is still a potential for robot installations in other sectors. In Germany, Korea, Sweden and Finland the robot density in the general industry is already at a considerable level but can still increase. Taking into account the size of a country and the size of their manufacturing industry the potential is very high in USA, Canada, Korea, Brazil, most of the Western European countries and predominantly in China. The trend toward automation is especially growing in the electronics industry and in the food and beverage industry. On a more long term prospect, Russia and India will provide a tremendous potential for robot installations. The demand for quality and productivity is also rising in the so called low-wage countries, such as the Eastern European or the South East Asian countries. Furthermore, the wages in these countries are expected to rise.

Just a calculation: The estimated average robot density in the total manufacturing industry in the world is between 50 and 100. In order to increase this density to about 200, between 1.2 million and 1.5 million new robots will have to be installed.

Slump of robot sales in 2009 - Recovery between 2010 - 2012

The consequences of the worldwide economic and financial crisis affected the robotics industry heavily. In 2009, the sales will slump by about 40% provided the economic recovery starts that same year. If the investments of the robotics customers stay restrained until 2010, the situation will become even grimmer. The recovery of the worldwide economy is forecasted to be slow and long-term. Therefore it will take years until the robotics industry can attain the high production levels of its most successful years 2005, 2007 and 2008. The trends in the manufacturing industries can be summarized in one term: "Green Automation". Energy-efficiency, reduction of CO² output and quality management are the main factors of future production processes in all industries. The successful robot suppliers will be the ones that can provide the right solutions for the industry in order to face the challenges ahead. After the substantial fall of robot sales in 2009, an increase will resume in the period between 2010 and 2012 about 15% per year on average attaining a level of more than 100,000 units. In the Americas sales will slump by 47% in 2009, in Asia/Australia by 40% and in Europe by 36%. Between 2010 and 2012 robot shipments will increase by about 15% per year on average in all three regions. The decrease in Europe is not as high as in the Americas or in Asia. This is due to the fact that beside the automotive industry in Europe other existing industries also play a major role in the market. The food and beverage industry, the pharmaceuticals industry, the photovoltaics industry and to some extend also the metal products industry are not as heavily affected by the global economic crisis as the automotive industry.

In terms of units, it is estimated that the worldwide stock of operational industrial robots will increase from about 1,036,000 units at the end of 2008 to 1,057,000 at the end of 2011, representing an average annual growth rate of less than 1%. The strong decrease in 2009 and the slow recovery will result in a more or less stagnating operational stock in the forecasted period. In most of the traditional robotic markets the stock will stagnate or even decrease, while in the emerging markets it will further increase.

More information: www.worldrobotics.org