Made in America: Robots to power next ‘great leap’ in manufacturing
by November 6, 2016 8:41 am 180 views
Editor’s note: Each Sunday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Made In America,” a round-up of state and global manufacturing news.
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ROBOTS TO POWER NEXT ‘GREAT LEAP’ IN MANUFACTURING
New comprehensive research by the Boston Consulting Group projects that growth in the global-installed base of advanced robotics will accelerate from around 2% to 3% annually today to around 10% during the next decade as companies begin to see the economic benefits of robotics. In some industries, more than 40% of manufacturing tasks will be done by robots. This development will power dramatic gains in labor productivity in many industries around the world and lead to shifts in competitiveness among manufacturing economies as fast adopters reap significant gains.
At the same time, the performance of robotics systems will improve by around 5% each year. As robots become more affordable and easier to program, a greater number of small manufacturers will be able to deploy them and integrate them more deeply into industrial supply chains. Advances in vision sensors, gripping systems, and information technology, meanwhile, are making robots smarter, more highly networked, and immensely more useful for a wider range of applications. All of these trends are occurring at a time when manufacturers in developed and developing nations alike are under mounting pressure to improve productivity in the face of rising labor costs and aging workforces.
LOWEST PAID WORKERS HAVE LESS ACCESS TO EMPLOYER-PROVIDED HEALTH CARE, RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Half of the lowest paid 25% of private industry workers did not have access to employer-provided medical care or retirement benefits in March 2016. A quarter of those workers were offered both medical and retirement benefits, according to a national compensation survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In contrast, 84% of the highest paid 25% of workers had access to medical care and retirement benefits. Six percent of those workers did not have access to either medical care or retirement benefits. Overall, 25% of private industry workers had no access to employer-provided medical care or retirement benefits. Employers offered both medical care and retirement benefits to 58% of private industry workers. Nine percent of workers had access to medical care benefits but not retirement benefits, while 8% had access to retirement benefits but not medical care benefits.
GLOBAL CONFERENCE IN SHANGHAI DEDICATED TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING
More than 800 international companies attended the “Manufacturing In the Age of Experience” global conference in Shanghai, China on Nov. 3 and 4, where industry executives and thought leaders came together to exchange ideas, applications and expertise on the digital transformation taking place in industrial manufacturing operations.
In addition to customer case stories on manufacturing transformation and success from Airbus Helicopters, Doosan Infracore and Honda Motor Co., and a roundtable on the “Made in China 2025” industrial initiative, attendees participated in breakout sessions dedicated to 3D manufacturing, industry solution experiences for manufacturing, manufacturing operational intelligence, manufacturing transformation, additive manufacturing, and manufacturing innovation.
To find articles, white papers, customer stories and video dedicated to the cutting edge of manufacturing, visit the conference portal here.