February 2021

Whilst 2020 was the toughest year in decades for manufacturing and the British and Irish economies KUKA posted record robot sales last year, with demand coming fromacross manufacturing, education and training, themedical device sector in Ireland, and a substantial contract with electric vehiclemanufacturer Arrival. Looking ahead into 2021, KUKA UK & Ireland believes the robotics and automation sectors are set for significant growth in response to a range of factors, including labour shortages, safe distancing required by Covid-19, the rising e-mobility vehicle market and growth in the life sciences sector. KUKA strongly believes these and other factors will continue into 2021, as the manufacturing sector responds to Covid-19, the heavy reliance on increasingly scarce skilled labour resources, more reshoring and a greater awareness of the need to be competitive and more automated. New social distancing requirements in factories and workplaces have increased the need for automation to create safe working environments, within limited floorspace availability. This is a trend that KUKA expects to continue, even when effective vaccines are in circulation, as firms seek to instil virus- proof shop floor safety. Automation strategies have driven a 12% increase in the number of robots installed globally in full year 2019, according to The International Federation of Robotics. On the effect of Covid-19, the IFR says robots have come to the fore in the crisis, giving manufacturers increased flexibility and enabling safe working conditions in various industrial environments. But it says the economic impact of Covid-19 has impacted capital investments, too. E-mobility push While automotive production and sales globally are down in 2020, KUKA is excited by growth in the e-mobility sector; specifically, electric commercial and delivery vehicles and buses. It is now positioning itself to become the preferred robot and automation supplier for this segment and there are several reasons why it can achieve it. Electric vehicles’need for light-weighting means that more will be manufactured with composite materials, instead of aluminium and steel. Paul Williams, Sales Manager, Automotive and Tier One, says:“KUKA is very strong in composite assembly, cutting and drilling, with expertise from our aerospace background. Our complementary experience from the Systems Division in Germany, which supplies battery manufacturing assembly lines, can be transferred to the UK e-mobility sector.” In September, automotive body SMMT reported that year-to-date registrations of all categories of electric and alternatively fuelled vehicles in the UK were higher than the same period in 2019. Battery electric vehicles, and mild hybrid electric diesel and petrol vehicles were up well over 100%, demonstrating the e-mobility market is growing fast. The need for vision systems in modern vehicles is a feature of the next-generation car industry that requires robots, says Mark Elwell, Head of Robot Sales Ireland.“Robots are used to apply glue on lenses and place cameras in their housings. Cameras are widely used on most car models and will only increase with the planned autonomous self-driving vehicles. We are actively progressing this market together with our research and integration partners,”he adds. Explosion of e-commerce As the lockdowns of 2020 paralysed consumer movement, online retail and distribution centres benefited. The explosion in direct-to-consumer sales and e-commerce has driven demand for picking and packing robots and Focus on competitiveness and resilience will make 2021 a big year for robots, KUKA PREDICTS n CORPORATE PROFILE