UK manufacturing continues to play a vital role in strengthening the economy in 2023, even as businesses grapple with labour shortages and skills issues. One solution to those challenges could lie in the greater adoption of robotics and automation. Made Smarter, an industry-led review in 2017, said the application of robotics and automation could be worth £184bn to the UK economy over the next decade.
Manufacturing Technology Centre’s Mike Wilson says automation improves productivity by getting more out of what you put in, either from the product itself or from the other equipment. Operating machine tools that are being loaded and unloaded manually typically results in 60% to 70% utilisation. With a robotic system to carry out the same tasks, utilisation can exceed 90%.
It could also provide more consistent high quality, and greater flexibility, by facilitating quick changeovers, accommodating product redesign, and extending production hours.
Automation is likely to allow better utilisation of staff, ensuring the work they are doing adds value to the product, he says. It could also improve health and safety: robots and automation are increasingly undertaking what are considered the more mundane, dirty, or dangerous jobs previously done by people.
Could businesses leverage tech to help with labour shortages?
Our panellists recognised that significant labour challenges in the sector remain. According to the latest data from Make UK and BDO, 74,000 vacancies are unfilled in the UK manufacturing industry. With advances in technology and cost barriers potentially coming down, could this be an opportunity for automation and robotics?
In recent years, the global pandemic and geopolitical tensions have highlighted the fragility of many globalised supply chains. The reshoring of manufacturing could be expedited by increased use of robotics technology, says Mike. “Many businesses are looking to bring manufacturing back to the UK, but they're not going to be able to do that without the labour. We need to find ways of automating things so that we can bring manufacturing back to the UK, and make our manufacturing sector stronger, more profitable and achieve growth.”
Where is the UK in terms of robot density?
Robot density is the number of robots per 10,000 employees. It tends to be used as a barometer to track the degree of automation adoption in the global manufacturing industry. Data from the International Federation of Robotics shows robotic density in the UK was growing at 101 units per 10,000 workers, but below the average of 126. Overall, the UK ranked 24th and was the lowest of the G7 nations.
For comparison, the global leader in robot density is the Republic of Korea, which has held this position since 2010. Its robot density of 932 per 10,000 workers exceeds the global average seven-fold, and its robot density has been increasing by 10% on average every year since 2015.