The Robotic Industries Association (RIA), part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), has announced that North American robot unit orders are up 5.2% through the third quarter, compared to 2018 results. So far this year, North American companies have ordered 23,894 robotic units, valued at $1.3 billion.
Looking at third-quarter results only, North American companies ordered 7,446 robots, valued at $438 million. Both units ordered and revenue are up 1% in the quarter compared to 2018. The largest driver of the year-to-date growth in units ordered was an increase in orders from automotive OEMs at 47%, followed by plastics and rubber at 15%, and food and consumer goods at 4%.
¡°We continue to see improvement in the robotics market,¡± said Jeff Burnstein, president of A3 and RIA. ¡°At this time last year we saw a dip in orders of around 15%, so it¡¯s encouraging to see a recovery through the third quarter. We hope to end the year strong and see growth in 2020 as well.¡±
Burnstein said he sees strong interest in robotics from companies that have never invested in robots before, citing the fact that prospective users from a wide variety of industries were among the 300+ attendees at the recent Collaborative Robots, Advanced Vision and AI Conference the association sponsored in San Jose, Calif., November 12 & 13. In addition, orders from non-automotive customers remain near record numbers, a healthy sign for the long-term growth of the robotics industry.
