7% of all European companies with 10 employees or more use an industrial robot or a service robot. Among large companies with 250 or more employees, the percentage is as high as 25%.
This is according to figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission. Eurostat looks specifically at industrial robots and service robots. ISO uses the following definitions for these two types of robots:
- Industrial robots are 'automatically-controlled, it programmable, multiple-use manipulator that can be programmed on three or more axes, which can be either permanently installed or mobile for industrial automation solutions.
- Service robots are robotic devices that 'perform sensible tasks for people or equipment, excluding industrial automation applications'.
What is a service robot?
ISO's definition for the term service robots is broad. For example, a robot that inspects welding in an industrial environment can be placed in the service robot category according to the standards body, but so can a robot that communicates with an organisation's end customers.
Eurostat states that industrial robots are mainly used in industrial automation, where they operate in clearly structured environments with external safety measures. Service robots have sufficient autonomy to operate autonomously in complex environments and interact with people, objects or other devices here.
More industrial robots than service robots
Industrial robots are used more often than service robots; 5% of European companies report using industrial robots, while 2% deploy service robots. Not entirely surprisingly, industrial robots are used most often in the manufacturing industry, while service robots are used most often in retail and manufacturing (both 4%).
If we look at service robots, we find that this category of robots is used by far the most for warehouse management systems (44%). Service robots are also often used for transporting goods or people (22%), cleaning tasks and waste handling (21%) and assembly (21%).
Robots create more jobs
The rise of robots may raise concerns about the impact on employment worldwide. However, research by ManpowerGroup shows that these concerns are unjustified. For instance, the report 'Humans Wanted: Robots Need You' shows that 87% of employers expect their workforce to remain the same (69%) or grow (18%) in 2019 for the third year in a row. According to employers, this is mainly due to automation.
The employment agency says that companies that are digitising are currently growing and that this growth is creating more jobs and new functions. It also shows that companies that are leading the way in automating tasks and their digital transformation are most confident that their workforce will grow in 2019.
Training existing staff
Companies are also betting on training existing staff. 84% of employers expect to have taught their staff new knowledge and skills by 2020. "The focus on robots costing jobs distracts us from the real problem," argues Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup chairman and CEO. "More and more robots are being added to the workplace, but so are people. Tech is not going away anymore and it is our responsibility as leaders to become Chief Learning Officers and discover how to integrate people with machines. Learning today is different from what it used to be. This is why we at ManpowerGroup are training people from declining industries like textiles for growing industries, including cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and autonomous driving. If we focus on practical steps to teach people new knowledge and skills quickly and at scale, organisations and individuals can embrace machines."
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Eurostat
Source: ManpowerGroup
Source photo: Pixabay / antoniohez
