North American Automotive Industry Drives Record Robot Sales Surge

The automotive industry has always led the market in the use of robotics for car assembly, welding, etc. Now, after a bit of a plunge, the North American automotive industry is bouncing back with record new robot sales.

According to an article from autonews.com, 2012 was the strongest year for new robotic sales so far for the North American industry. The auto industry now accounts for almost two-thirds of all robotic sales in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The article stated that it is not just the top-tiered automotive companies that are deep into these new robot sales today. Any car manufacturer is likely to be automated, big and small. These companies bought almost 8500 robots last year, which is almost double the new robot sales from 2011.

Automotive companies, along with other manufacturing industries, are turning to robot automation not only for speed and precision, but also because of a lack of workers. According to the article, there is a myth that manufacturing is dead, and people do not tend to want to pursue manufacturing as a job or career, leaving a void in the job market.

However, manufacturing today is not as labor-intensive and hazardous as it has been in past decades, and because of new robotic sales, workers are able to learn new skills by learning to work with these robots in the factory environment. By integrating robot automation in with human workers, the human workers become more productive overall, increasing the factory’s productivity and decreasing company costs.