n NEWS October 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com 6 SALES OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS in the UK hit a record high in 2023 with 3,830 new machines being installed – 51% more than the previous year. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the main driver of the boom was the automotive sector, where the number of new installations jumped by 297% to 1,924 in 2023. But in its World Robotics 2024 report, the IFR warns that the number of new robot installations in the UK is likely to fall sharply in 2024, before recovering slowly and returning to growth from 2025 onwards. “The UK manufacturing industry invested heavily in the installation of robotics in 2023,” reports IFR president, Marina Bill. “A massive tax break for investment in plant and machinery expired after the first quarter of 2023,” she explains. This “super deduction” boosted investment. The automotive sector accounts for around half of all of the robots sold in the UK, which are used mainly for assembly tasks. Since the end of the super deduction tax break, the sector has announced only a handful of investments in robots, which will be delivered in 2025 and 2026. But car-makers were not the only UK sector to have spent money on robots in 2023. The food and beverage industry raised the number of robots it installed by 59%, to 555. And demand from the metal industry was up 20%, with 324 new robots. The UK's uptake of robotics and automation is still low compared to mainland European countries. By the end of 2023, the UK had an operational stock of 28,831 robots – 9% more than in 2023. But Germany, with 269,427 robots had about nine times as many, Italy about three times as many (96,803), and France more than twice as many (58,572). https://ifr.org UK robot sales soared by 51% in 2023 – but it may not last p US-based Automated Industrial Robotics (AIR), which recently acquired Sewtec Automation in the UK, has now bought the Irish industrial automation company, Robotics & Drives (RDS), for an undisclosed sum. RDS, founded in 2005, employs around 50 people. AIR has appointed Vivian Farrrell, CEO of another Irish business, Modular Automation, which AIR acquired last year, as president of its Irish operation. AIR, formed last year by Ares Management Corporation, now has more than 500 employees in the US, UK and Ireland. p Danfoss Drives and Honeywell have agreed to explore automation systems with integrated architectures, with the aim of cutting downtime and engineering costs. They plan to address the limitations of traditional automation systems, which often force operators to choose between integrated, closed architectures that lack flexibility, or open architectures that offer flexibility but suffer from limited data integration and interoperability. The partners hope to resolve the data integration and interoperability issues by offering an open, integrated platform. p Dexory, the UK-based warehouse logistics and robotics company, has raised $80m of funding to drive its global expansion, accelerate deployment of its autonomous robots, enhance its development and production facilities, and develop new technologies and AI-powered functions. Dexory has now raised $120m over the past three years. It launched its first commercial product 18 months ago and its customers already include Maersk and DB Schenker. p The global market for industrial automation will expand with a CAGR of more than 9% in the period 2024–2028, with it value increasing by $107bn over this period, according to a new report from Technavio. More than half of this growth will come from the Asia-Pacific region. The report identifies a trend towards open platform software architectures. www.technavio.com NEWS BRIEFS THE BRAZILIAN MOTOR manufacturer WEG is buying the Turkish motor-maker Volt Electric Motors for $88m. Volt, a subsidiary of the Saya Group, has the capacity to produce 1 million motors per year. Volt was founded in 1966 as a coil winder and in 1987 expanded to produce single-phase motors. It has a strong presence in the Turkish market and also exports, mainly to Europe, the Middle East and central Asia. In 2023, Volt had a net operating revenue of $70m with an EBITDA margin of 18.5%. WEG says that the acquisition will expand its activities in the region and diversify its industrial presence to serve Turkey and Europe WEG will assume full control of Volt, which has a 27,000m2 (290,000ft2) factory dedicated to designing and manufacturing motors with outputs up to 450kW. WEG will take on Volt’s 690 employees. Rodrigo Fumo, managing director of WEG’s industrial motors business, says “Volt has a strong presence in Turkey, where we started our own operation in 2022, in addition to proximity to regions with potential demand for our products and services, such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East, central Asia and North Africa.” Volt’s location in Izmir will facilitate WEG’s access to these markets, both by land and by sea. Last year, WEG opened a plant in Turkey to assemble electric motors and provide technical support for customers in the region. The 7,000m2 facility in Dilovasi offers shorter timesto-market not only for Turkish buyers, but also for those in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, North Africa and central Asia. WEG buys the Turkish motor-maker Volt for $88m The number of industrial robots installed in the UK hit a record high in 2023
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