Record 4 Million in Factories Worldwide
Frankfurt, September 24th, 2024 — The new World Robotics report recorded 381,964 industrial robots working in US factories – an increase of 12%. Annual installations reached 37,587 units in 2023. This was down 5% but still the third best result in US history.
“The United States accounted for 77% of total installations in North America in 2023,” says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Annual installations rank third in the world behind Japan and China. A large number of investment announcements have been made by the automotive industry, which will create a demand for robots over the next few years.”
Automotive
The US automotive industry is the largest customer market, accounting for 33% of total US installations in 2023: This segment shows a well known cyclical demand pattern: Sales fell by 15% to 12,421 units, around the average level of the last decade. Installations in the metal and machinery industry were up 8% to 4,171 units. The US electrical/electronics industry remained stable up 1% at 3,900 units.
Canada and Mexico
Nearshoring efforts have led to changes in economic relationships within North America: China used to be the main source of imports into the US. Now it is Mexico and Canada, mainly driven by car manufacturers.
In Canada, the automotive industry installations grew strongly by 95% and reached a new peak level of 2,500 units installed 2023 – representing a market share of 58%. In Mexico, demand from the automotive industry surged in 2021 and 2022 and declined by 5% to 4,087 units in 2023. This segment accounts for 70% of total installations in Mexico.
The new World Robotics report recorded 4,281,585 units operating in factories worldwide – an increase of 10%. Annual installations exceeded half a million units for the third consecutive year. By region, 70% of all newly deployed robots 2023 were installed in Asia, 17% in Europe and 10% in the Americas.
“The new World Robotics statistics show an all-time high in the number of industrial robots automating production around the world,” says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “The annual installation figure of 541,302 units in 2023 is the second highest in history. It is only 2% lower than the record of 552,946 units installed in 2022.”
Outlook
The overall economic situation in the US is good: The OECD expects the GDP to grow by 2.6% in 2024 and by 1.8% in 2025. Supported by the Chips and Science Act, the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, new production capacity is being created in the automotive industry, the electronics industry, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, and the metal industry. All these industries have a high demand for robots.
Downloads
IFR graphs, market presentation and press releases on selected markets in English, Chinese, German and Japanese language are available at: https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/record-of-4- million-robots-working-in-factories-worldwide
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Industrial robots working in US factories continue to grow © World Robotics 2024 Orders for World Robotics 2024 Industrial Robots and Service Robots reports can be placed
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About IFR
The International Federation of Robotics is the voice of the global robotics industry. IFR represents national robot associations, academia, and manufacturers of industrial and service robots from over twenty countries: www.ifr.org
The IFR Statistical Department provides data for two annual robotics studies:
World Robotics – Industrial Robots: This unique report provides global statistics on industrial robots in standardized tables and enables national comparisons to be made. It presents statistical data for around 40 countries broken down into areas of application, customer industries, types of robots and other technical and economic aspects. Production, export and import data is listed for selected countries. It also offers robot density, i.e. the number of robots per 10,000 employees, as a measure for the degree of automation.
World Robotics – Service Robots: This unique report describes marketable products, tasks, challenges and new developments by service robots application. The report includes the results of the annual IFR service robot survey* on global sales of professional and consumer service robots and an industry structure analysis including a full list of all service robot producers known to the IFR. The study is jointly prepared with the robotics experts of Fraunhofer IPA, Stuttgart.
SOURCE: IFR
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