Robot Sales Rise Again – World Robotics 2021 – IFR report

Published on : 29 October 2021

China leads rebound ahead of Americas and Europe Year 2020 third most successful year ever recorded Outlook 2021 Double digit growth.

Frankfurt, October 28, 2021 – The World Robotics 2021 Industrial Robots report shows a record of 3 million industrial robots operating in factories around the world – an increase of 10%. Sales of new robots grew slightly at 0.5% despite the global pandemic, with 384,000 units shipped globally in 2020. This trend was dominated by the positive market developments in China, compensating the contractions of other markets. This is the third most successful year in history for the robotics industry, following 2018 and 2017.

 
“The economies in North America, Asia and Europe did not experience their Covid-19 low point at the same time,” says Milton Guerry, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “Order intake and production in the Chinese manufacturing industry began surging in the second quarter of 2020. The North American economy started to recover in the second half of 2020, and Europe followed suit a little later.”

 
“Global robot installations are expected to rebound strongly and grow by 13% to 435,000 units in 2021, thus exceeding the record level achieved in 2018,” reports Milton Guerry. “Installations in North America are expected to increase by 17% to almost 43,000 units. Installations in Europe are expected to grow by 8% to almost 73,000 units. Robot installations in Asia are expected to exceed the 300,000-unit mark and add 15% to the previous year’s result. Almost all Southeast Asian markets are expected to grow by double-digit rates in 2021.”

 
Asia remains the world’s largest market for industrial robots. 71% of all newly deployed robots in 2020 were installed in Asia (2019: 67%). Installations for the region's largest adopter

 
Industrial robot installations in Europe were down by 8% to 67,700 units in 2020. This was the second year of decline, following a peak of 75,560 units in 2018. Demand from the automotive industry dropped by another 20%, while demand from the general industry was up by 14%.

The USA is the largest industrial robot user in the Americas, with a share of 79% of the region´s total installations. It is followed by Mexico with 9% and Canada with 7%.

The “boom after crisis” is expected to fade slightly in 2022 on a global scale. From 2021 to 2024, average annual growth rates in the medium single-digit range are expected. Minor contractions may occur as a statistical effect, ‘catch-up’ occurs in 2022 or 2023. If this anomaly takes place, it will not break the overall growth trend. The notable mark of 500,000 units installed per year worldwide is expected to be reached in 2024.

Source - Industrial Automation Magazine