Home appliance manufacturing ripe for robotization

Next-generation robots will help reduce labor costs while boosting productivity.

Home appliance manufacturing is a prime candidate for assembly line robotization as new-generation robots emerge and global demand rebounds. The last, in particular, is spurring investment in robotic technology to raise productivity and flexibility, and cut costs.

The Boston Consulting Group has forecast that robots will be performing nearly 25 percent of tasks for all manufacturing industries worldwide by 2025. BCG also identified the electrical equipment and appliance sector as likely to lead the global adoption of robotics, according to AssemblyMag.

This is because in a heavily labor-dependent industry such as appliances, significant investment in automation will result in a big payoffs in the long term. AssemblyMag estimates that robots will raise productivity by as much as 30 percent and reduce labor costs by 18 percent in the next 15 years.

Robots are not exactly new in appliances, although adoption has been geared toward adding value to a mature product line, as it is in the case of robotic vacuum cleaners. Manufacturing processes, however, are still primarily manual or semiautomated.

See a comparison table of home refrigerators suppliers on GlobalSources.com