Range of roles: Uses include welding, assembly and packing
Aquarter of a century ago, Britain was at the forefront of robotic development, but fading momentum in the manufacturing industry, coupled with a recognition by emerging nations of the benefits that robotics have to offer, has driven the UK further down the league table.
Away from the aerospace and automotive industries, the rest of British industry has been paying no more than lip service to the need for change. Firms have failed to grasp the enormous potential offered by robotic systems in terms of improved product quality, reliability, return on capital and their innate ability to free people from the kind of jobs they shouldn’t be doing.
One only has to look at the latest figures from the International Federation of Robotics, based in Germany, to see the damage that has been done to the UK’s standing in the world by the lack of enthusiasm and drive by industrialists to improve their businesses.
According to Christopher Simpson, managing director of Simpson Associates – an international engineering consultancy on project management, strategy and performance improvement and business development – the lack of investment in equipment such as robotics is one of the major factors behind the UK’s low productivity.
“The UK is the world’s eighth leading manufacturer, and yet its position in the investment tables is 16th. How long can the country maintain its present position as a manufacturing nation when, in absolute terms, it’s investing in productive and flexible modern machinery at a lower level than Mexico and Turkey?”
Simpson, who is also chairman of the IMechE’s Manufacturing Excellence Awards Scheme, says that investment in equipment and plants ensures competitiveness.
“It leads to greater productivity and helps reduce costs. It also leads to less maintenance and down time. Robotics and automation can lead to more flexible production capacity and improved quality, while enabling companies to respond more quickly to changes in market demand. And it brings an ability to introduce new products and processes in a more effective manner.”
According to chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, robotics remains one of the “eight of the great” technologies. But the robotics technology to which Osborne refers isn’t the kind that will help to get manufacturing industry moving more productively, but advanced autonomous robotics systems – unmanned aerial vehicles and the like – which appeal more to undergraduates and are the kind of robots that help to recruit engineers to the aircraft industry.
It’s not all bad news. There is government interest in manufacturing, but it’s limited. In addition to the Technology Strategy Board, there’s the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), but this is tailored more to the needs of the large manufacturing players such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce.
The MTC claims to represent one of the largest recent public sector investments in manufacturing. Founded in 2011 by the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and research and technology company TWI, its industrial partners include some of the UK’s major global manufacturers.
But the MTC isn’t having the effect on British manufacturing industry that it should – the pace of what is happening is too slow. However, robot suppliers such as ABB are playing their part. The Swedish company probably has more robots installed in Britain than any other supplier.
ABB is trying to encourage the government to commit to putting 200 robots into colleges, in the hope that this would make the prospect of working with this technology and programming more appealing.
Meanwhile, a report looking at manufacturing culture was produced last November by the House of Commons all-party parliamentary manufacturing group (APMG). “The government should implement a strategy, following publication of the APMG inquiry, to dispel the myths of using automation in industry,” says Mike Wilson, general industry sales manager for robotics at ABB in the UK.
While a lack of investment in improved manufacturing techniques continues, much remains be done to dispel the myths he refers to. The figures speak for themselves. With its huge industrial heritage, Britain has a wealth of experience on which to build. But in 2013, in the non-automotive sector, there were only 27 robots in the UK per 100,000 employees. In Germany, the figure is more than five times higher; 147 per 100,000 head of employees. Sweden has 129, Italy has 115, Spain has 67 and France has just 60.
Last year, China installed 37,000 robots – six times the total it had in 2009. Japan doubled its level of robot installations from 13,000 in 2009 to 26,000 last year. Germany, too, doubled its robot intake from 9,000 to 18,000. In North America,
the new robot shipment level almost trebled – from 7,500 to more than 22,591 units, beating the previous 2012 record of 20,328 robots. The 2013 shipments were worth $1.3 billion. In Korea, the robot tally in 2009 was around 8,000, going up to 21,000 in 2013.
Driving force: Automotive is the main sector that uses robots
Meanwhile, in the UK, the automotive industry has been driving – and distorting – the figures. In 2013, there were 1,461 robots in the industry while in the non-automotive sector the figures totalled 554.
In the first half of this year, it’s easy to see where the robots are going – spot welding (443), materials handling (306), machine loading (93), arc welding and assembly (79) – leaving 239 for other uses. The automotive industry took 862 machines, whereas the non-automotive sector took 321 of them.
Compare these figures with the statistics in 2008 – a lean year. The automotive industry took only 210 machines that year, while the non-automotive sector took 374. The former sector is the main driver.
It’s the ‘also-rans’ that need to change their mindset. Nobody seems prepared to challenge current manufacturing processes and ask: “How can we improve the systems and processes that we have to raise performance?”
Too often, short-termism creeps in and dooms any potential worthwhile project. Company financial bigwigs remain focused on the need for a one-year payback, instead of looking to the long-term benefits of using robotics in their businesses.
Some companies lack the engineers with the vision to see the bigger picture, or to advance technologies beyond the basics. “Aerospace and automotive companies are doing well in their use of robots, but they suck in the best performers from universities, making it more difficult for the rest of industry,” says ABB’s Wilson. This tendency leaves the rest of manufacturing industry on a downward spiral. “If we don’t do something, then productivity will continue to fall,” he adds.
A top-down approach might bring results. The culture of striving for better could infiltrate down the supply chain – from the likes of BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar Land Rover, through Tier 1 suppliers, onto Tier 2 suppliers
and beyond. But this process doesn’t seem to be happening. There’s a complete lack of infrastructure of large companies that design and build manufacturing equipment. Companies that once existed have slowly been stifled or eliminated.
In Germany, there’s strong engineering activity that stretches from technical high schools, through companies that design and build manufacturing systems, to those that produce finished components of all shapes and sizes. Local banks support manufacturing companies because of their impact on the wider community. German engineers take their place on the organisational tree, helping to make their companies stronger and more adaptable to change. Directors and banks adopt a strategy of long-term thinking, together.
What’s been happening in Germany has been staring Britain in the face. But nobody has reacted. Nobody has said: “If they can do it, why can’t we?” There’s no fundamental reason why Britain shouldn’t be the powerhouse of Europe again.
Meanwhile, successive governments have been happy to accelerate the demise of manufacturing in this country, turning it into a dirty word, as they focus on the service industry. ‘Making do’ has so easily become a habit. It’s not surprisingly there’s a lack of resources for long-term planning.
Another factor in this changing attitude is that the perception of robotics has changed. During the 1970s and 1980s, Britain was the forefront of the field, as a groundswell of enthusiasm for robotics stretched from the universities into industry. Then, the UK formed an integral part of the international robotics scene, taking its place alongside Germany, Japan and the US in the prestigious International Symposium of Industrial Robots (ISIR) and the awards named after Joseph Engelberger – widely recognised as the ‘father of robotics’. The first ISIR was held in Chicago in 1972; in 1998 it was held in Birmingham, but it hasn’t been back.
Britain’s last recipient of a Joseph Engelberger Award was in 1985. The UK has had just two winners. Meanwhile, the US has had 65, Germany eight and Japan a dozen. Even Sweden, with its smaller population, has won three times.
In the 1980s, exhibitions such as Automan attracted world-wide interest in UK automation technology. The British Robot Association (BRA), launched in the mid-1980s, later became the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA). This organisation subsequently merged with the Processing & Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA).
The PPMA has just staged its latest exhibition, which was held from
30 September to 2 October at the NEC in Birmingham. But no large, purely robotics events have been hosted by the UK in the past few years. Subsequently, the robotics momentum has been lost to apathy and inertia.
However, robotics is still a ‘sexy’ word; it can bring exciting change in industry for the better. More recently, banks appear to have woken up to the idea that manufacturing has been allowed to slide too near to the brink of collapse, and are talking to industry to stimulate investment.
Automotive companies such as JLR have recognised that, even with the right product, if the company doesn’t automate then the jobs and the work will go elsewhere. But the message quickly fizzles out as it’s diluted through the rest of industry.
To remedy this situation, engineers and operatives should be asking: ”How can we improve? How can we make a step change? How can we use automation to improve our product and processes? How can we become a leaner and meaner machine?” It’s time to rekindle enthusiasm before it’s too late.
Guidance on bringing robotics to the factory
ABB Robotics is to present a seminar and workshop for small engineering firms next month, providing a step-by-step guide to introducing robot automation to the
factory floor.
The seminar will outline questions that need to be asked to identify whether installing a robot could be beneficial. These include assessing current performance in terms of productivity, health and safety, quality, and use of resources.
It will then explain how the information gathered can be used to formulate an automation strategy. This part of the seminar will be accompanied by a look at the potential return on investment that can be achieved in different types of application, where the cost of purchasing, installing and commissioning a robot can be quickly recouped by improvements in productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.
An afternoon workshop in ABB’s training centre will the demonstrate the latest robot technology. The session will include a chance to see ABB’s RobotStudio programming software, which reduces the time and cost of setting up a robot system by enabling robot cells to be modelled and tested offline.
“Misconceptions about the cost, flexibility and complexity of robots are stopping many small manufacturing companies from realising their true potential,” says Mike Wilson, general industry sales manager for ABB in the UK.
“The seminar and workshop have been designed to help businesses determine if a robot could be beneficial – showing the steps to take in specifying and installing the best solution for their requirements,” he says.
If you’re interested in attending, it’s advisable to book in advance for the event, which will be held at ABB’s Milton Keynes offices on 5 November.