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AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS
MANUFACTURERS LOOK TO ROBOTIC AUTOMATION TO BRIDGE THE SKILLS GAP
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anufacturing companies are facing more challenges than ever before. Factors including rising energy prices, the impact of global supply chain issues, and an increasing
labour shortage, are combining to produce some real headaches for manufacturers. The labour shortage is particularly worrisome,
as more people leave the workforce than can be replaced. For UK businesses especially, it has been tough over the last few years to retain and attract new employees, especially with the impact of Brexit and other factors which have seen reductions in the pool of available workers. The situation is not made any easier by an ageing demographic, which has resulted in workers leaving faster than they can be replaced. Statistics from the 2021 census by the Office for National Statistics highlight that almost 40 per cent of the UK’s manufacturing workforce is aged 50 or above. As these highly experienced engineers and technicians with years of accumulated knowledge leave the industry, manufacturers are increasingly facing problems with closing the resulting skills gap. Part of the problem is also that the next
generation of technically minded people are not coming forward to replace them. Many applicants lack the technical skills required by engineering and manufacturing industries, or else perceive engineering and manufacturing as offering limited opportunities in environments that are dirty, uncomfortable, and potentially hazardous. The impact of fewer young people interested in STEM subjects as the basis for a career, has resulted in an annual shortfall of 20,000 engineering graduates.
ROBOTIC AUTOMATION IS THE WAY FORWARD Capable of performing a steadily growing range of tasks, robots are being recognised as a solution to the labour crisis by a growing number of manufacturers, especially when it comes to finding ways to utilise their existing workforces more effectively. With robots taking over arduous tasks that require
repetitive movements, the lifting of heavy loads or exposure to dust or hazardous chemicals, employees are free to take on more rewarding tasks. By releasing them from low value tasks,
workers can be upskilled, enabling them to either take up other roles, including robot supervision and programming. The use of robots also presents more exciting opportunities that could encourage more people into the manufacturing industry, with new roles being created such as machine learning engineer, algorithm engineer and data scientist. The productivity improvements that can be
achieved by using robots to fill labour gaps and augment the capabilities of existing workforces can have a beneficial impact on the bottom line. A good example is a leading UK agricultural machinery manufacturer, where using a robotic welding system to perform complex welds freed up its team of expert manual welders to work on other products, enabling the company to expand its portfolio. By improving productivity and flexibility, robots
can help companies open new growth possibilities that can lead to generating new jobs in many areas of the organisation, from administration and sales through to production and logistics. One trend gaining ground is the reshoring of production from overseas to shorten and de-risk
supply chains. In these situations, packaged robotic automation solutions are providing an attractive solution. As a way of bringing together all equipment needed for an application into a single, fully integrated system, they can help to get production up and running quickly, which in turn can lead to the creation of new roles needed to support areas such as production and distribution.
WORKING TOGETHER A major development in combining the benefits of robotic and human capabilities has been the advent of collaborative robots, or ‘cobots’, that can be safely deployed alongside workers in production environments. A growing number of examples across
multiple industries are demonstrating how using cobots to handle routine, tedious or difficult tasks is enabling manufacturers to make better use of the decision-making and problem-solving skills of their human workers. One company taking advantage of the versatility of
cobots to help its human workforce is Swiss based Bischofszell Nahrungsmittel AG (BINA). Providing packed salads for supermarkets, the company decided to install an ABB’s YuMi dual-arm robot to apply labels to its containers. Introduced as part of a drive to improve efficiency and create a better
10 FEBRUARY 2024 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
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