The Strategist

Worldwide sales of industrial robots keep growing



10/06/2017 - 12:46



According to forecasts of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), in 2017 the world market of industrial robots will grow by at least 18% and amount to 346.8 thousand sold units. The Asian region will retain its positions as largest market – Chinese buyers alone may buy to 115 thousand such units.



Mirko Tobias Schäfer
Mirko Tobias Schäfer
The new report of the International Federation of Robotics on the prospects of the industry predicts the continued trend towards an increase in the number of purchases of automated devices. In comparison to the previous year, their growth will amount to 18% and reach 346.8 thousand robots. The leader by the growth in number of sold devices compared to last year is Canada, where sales of robotic equipment will increase by 50%, to 3.5 thousand units. Next comes China (32%, to 115 thousand units) and Brazil (24%, to 1.5 thousand).

IFR was established in 1987 with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. There are more than 50 representatives of the industry from more than 20 countries of the world listed as members of the organization.

According to the authors of the study, annually robotics sales will grow by an average of 15% and in 2020 will reach 520.9 thousand new devices. 1.7 million new automated machines are expected to be sold in 2017-2020 in total, of which the most will fall on China (635 thousand units), South Korea (179.5 thousand), Japan (179 thousand), the United States (174 thousand) and Germany (91 thousand). At the same time, the world market of already installed at robotics enterprises will number about 3.1 million devices by the end of 2020.

According to data for 2016, the leaders in sales of robotics were China (87 thousand new cars), South Korea (41.4 thousand) and Japan (38.6 thousand). The most demanded systems are used for "smart" factories, robots (for working with people) and robots running cloud services, as well as IoT-systems (Internet of things).

source: ifr.org