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Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing

Elevate your operations through the transformative power of autonomous technologies.

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CIOs are under increasing pressure to:

  • Contribute to top-line initiatives while keeping operational costs in check.
  • Promote business agility by using composable technologies.
  • Ensure interoperability of emerging technologies with existing, often legacy, technologies.
  • Effectively collect and analyze large quantities of data toward insights and decision support.
  • Provide a secure environment while working with OT that is continuously increasing in complexity.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Autonomous technologies are transforming manufacturing – industrial robots will improve your shop floor productivity, enhance your efficiency, and reduce wastage while doing it in a safe, sustainable, and scalable manner.

Impact and Result

The deployment of industrial robots in manufacturing can yield a wide range of impactful results, transforming various aspects of operations, productivity, and overall business success. Some potential results and impacts include:

  • Enhanced Productivity: Industrial robots can perform tasks with high precision and consistency, leading to increased production speed and reduced cycle times. This heightened productivity can result in greater output and quicker order fulfillment.
  • Improved Quality: Robots execute tasks with minimal variation, resulting in consistent product quality and reduced defects. This leads to improved customer satisfaction, reduced rework, and decreased waste.
  • Optimized Resource Utilization: Robots can operate 24/7 without breaks, minimizing idle time and maximizing resource utilization. This efficiency leads to reduced energy consumption, optimized material usage, and improved overall resource management.
  • Increased Flexibility: Modern robots are designed for versatility and easy reprogramming. Manufacturers can swiftly adapt to changes in production demands, allowing for rapid product line reconfiguration.
  • Human-Robot Collaboration: Collaborative robots (cobots) can work safely alongside human operators, enhancing task efficiency and worker safety. This collaboration can lead to improved ergonomic conditions and reduced human fatigue.
  • Data-Driven Decision-Making: Robotic automation generates vast amounts of data that can be analyzed to identify patterns, optimize processes, and make informed decisions for continuous improvement.
  • Safety Improvement: Dangerous and hazardous tasks can be assigned to robots, reducing the risk of workplace accidents and injuries for human workers.
  • Cost Reduction: While the initial investment in robotics can be substantial, the long-term cost savings from increased efficiency, reduced waste, and lower error rates can be significant.
  • Competitive Advantage: Companies that embrace industrial robots can gain a competitive edge by offering higher-quality products, faster turnaround times, and improved customer responsiveness.
  • Sustainability: Efficient resource utilization and waste reduction achieved through robotic automation can contribute to improved sustainability efforts, leading to reduced environmental impact.

Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing Research & Tools

1. Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing

Research that provides a detailed overview of the applications of autonomous technologies in manufacturing, exploring their potential to revolutionize the industry by addressing critical challenges and unlocking new opportunities.

2. Sample Safety Checklist for Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing

Sample checklist for safely implementing autonomous technologies for manufacturing.

3. Sample Maintenance Checklist for Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing

Sample checklist for scheduling and executing maintenance for autonomous technologies for manufacturing.

4. Sample Training Checklist for Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing

Sample checklist for developing training programs related to using, handling, and operating autonomous technologies for manufacturing.

5. Autonomous Technologies Readiness Assessment Tool

A tool that will help manufacturers self-assess their approach toward choosing an autonomous solution and the maturity of their current state to judge their level of readiness for implementation of autonomous technologies.

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Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing and Logistics

Autonomous Technologies in Manufacturing and Logistics

Elevate your operations through the transformative power of autonomous technologies.

Analyst Perspective

Shreyas Shukla.

Autonomous manufacturing technologies are self-directed, automated, and require minimal human intervention. Machines, robots, and equipment forge interconnected pathways, engaging in real-time data analysis and decision making. This convergence of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced sensors, all instructed by specific, fit-for-purpose software, underpins a new era of possibilities for manufacturers. Solutions such as autonomous mobile robots, guided vehicles, and picking and packing machines are reshaping material flow and the handling of finished goods in production lines, resulting in a highly adaptive supply chain. AI plays a crucial role in orchestrating the monitoring and control of autonomous technologies by ensuring safety, security, and compliance within these systems. Availability of real-time data analysis empowers swift adaptation to customer demands and production shifts, enabling manufacturers to operate with cost effectiveness, efficiency, and razor-sharp precision.

In the modern industrial landscape, autonomous technologies have been largely misunderstood or dismissed outright as the playground of large, global organizations with capital to spare for such endeavors. In this research, we aim to explore aspects of this technology in detail and highlight the transformative potential that is now within reach of every manufacturer through innovative as-a-service models. This ecosystem of autonomous hardware, software, and robots promises to reshape your operations through realization of benefits along several dimensions such as efficiency, capability, customization, flexibility, sustainability, and innovative improvements spanning product research, demand forecasting, fulfillment, and dynamic routing.

Shreyas Shukla
Principal Research Director, Manufacturing Industry
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

Common Obstacles

Info-Tech’s Approach

You are under increasing pressure to:

Contribute to top-line initiatives while keeping operational costs in check.

Promote business agility by utilizing composable technologies.

Ensure interoperability of emerging technologies with existing, often legacy technologies.

Effectively collect and analyze large quantities of data toward insights and decision support.

Provide a secure environment while working with OT that is continuously increasing in complexity.

Integration complexity and absence of seamless communication and data exchange between systems.

High capital exposure for implementing autonomous technologies, integrating them with existing systems, and training employees to maintain and use them.

Rigid processes and business’ resistance to change limiting autonomous technologies’ suitability for use.

Ethical concerns about using robots and other technologies that could displace human jobs.

Lack of sufficient internal capabilities to maintain, operate, and manage autonomous technologies.

Info-Tech Research Group recognizes the significant benefits of implementing and using autonomous solutions.

To that end, Info-Tech will provide:

A comprehensive overview of the transformative potential of autonomous technologies.

A tool to help you evaluate your organizational readiness levels for deployment of autonomous technologies.

A guide aimed at helping you prepare to begin your journey toward implementing autonomous technology solutions.

Autonomous technologies are transforming manufacturing. Industrial robots will improve your shop floor productivity, enhance your efficiency, and reduce wastage, while doing it in a safe, sustainable, and scalable manner.

The market for autonomous technologies shows tremendous promise

Demand for autonomous industrial robots is expected to continuously grow. The massive shortage of labor globally is driving investments in installations of industrial robots across the globe. The electronics industry, particularly in China, continues to drive a lot of demand for industrial robots.

The image contains a screenshot of a bar graph that demonstrates the annual installation of industrial robots.

Source: International Federation of Robotics, 2022.

Key facts & figures

China has the largest share of installed industrial robots.
52% of all installed industrial robots are in China.

Consumer electronics uses the largest number of industrial robots.
27% of installed robot use is for the consumer electronics industry.

Handling is the most common application of industrial robots.
45% of all robots are used for handling purposes.

Traditional autonomous robots are far more common than collaborative ones.
93% of all industrial robots are traditional while 7% are collaborative robots (cobots).

The industrial robot market is highly oversupplied.
3.5 million robots are available for installation.

“…we found that about 50% of the respondents indicated that they're already deploying some form of Industrial Autonomy.”

- Tom Fiske, Principal Technology Strategist, Yokogawa US Technology Center via Control Global, 2022.

Autonomous technologies are within reach of manufacturers today

Most manufacturers think of industrial autonomy as futuristic, unattainable technology. However, COVID-19 has forced manufacturers to re-engineer processes and build new systems to keep workers safe and operations intact, and in the process, this has advanced large-scale industrial autonomy.

Core technologies for autonomous operations

The image contains a screenshot of the core technologies for autonomous operations. AI, Cloud computing, Data analytics, Remote monitoring and control systems, and Industrial IoT/connected sensors are the technologies that saw significant adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Orange - Technologies that saw significant adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic

Source: IndustryWeek, 2020.

“…80% of companies indicated that they expect to achieve fully autonomous operations within the next 10 years.”

- Yokogawa via IndustryWeek, 2020

Elevate your operations through the transformative power of autonomous technologies.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

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Author

Shreyas Shukla

Contributors

  • Karthik Bhat, Business Development Executive, Siemens AG
  • Pradyot KVN, Executive, Emerging Robotics Solutions Company
  • Ajai Vasudevan, Smart Factory Expert, Global Consulting Organization
  • Yogesh Prasad, Product Management Executive, Siemens AG
  • 1 anonymous contributor
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