JAKARTA - Companies or factories in North America continue to add record numbers of robot sales in the first nine months of 2021. Now they are rushing to speed up assembly lines and struggling to add human workers.
Manufacturers and other industrial users ordered 29,000 robots, 37 percent more than in the same period last year, worth $1.48 billion, according to data compiled by the industry group Association for Advancing Automation. That number surpassed the previous peak set in the same time period in 2017 before the global pandemic turned the economy upside down.
The rush to add robots is part of a bigger increase in investment as companies seek to meet strong demand, which in some cases has contributed to shortages of key items.
At the same time, many companies have struggled to bring back workers displaced by the pandemic and are viewing robots as an alternative to adding human labor to their assembly lines.
"Businesses can't find the people they need — that's why they're racing to automate", said Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation, known as A3.
Robots also continue to push into more corners of the economy. Automotive companies have long bought most of the industrial robots. But in 2020, combined sales for other types of businesses surpassed the auto sector for the first time - and that trend has continued this year.
In the first nine months of the year, auto-related orders for robots grew 20% to 12,544 units, according to A3, while orders by non-automotive companies increased 53% to 16,355.
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"It's not that autos are slowing down - autos are actually going up", said Burnstein. But other sectors - from metals to food manufacturers - are growing faster.
John Newman's company is one of them. Athena Manufacturing, which does metal fabrication for other manufacturers in Austin, Texas, now has seven robots, including four installed this year.
He bought his first machine in 2016. Newman says the robot has helped Athena Manufacturing respond to surges in demand, including a 50% jump in orders for parts used by semiconductor equipment manufacturers.
The machines also allow Athena Manufacturing to carry out 24-hour operations for the first time since last year, he said. The company employs 250 people but will continue to struggle to find human workers to fill the unpopular night shift.
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