The development of robotics in The Netherlands
Source：metaal nieuws
From：Taiwan Trade Center Rotterdam
Update Time：2021/03/22
INTRODUCTION MARKET ROBOTS
With the use of 194 robots in the manufacturing industry per 10.000 employees, The Netherlands is ranked 12th in the world and 6th in Europe, according to figures of the International Federation of Robotics. The average worldwide use is 113, with a total global number of installed industrial robots of 381000, three times more than 10 years ago.
In the Netherlands, robots are applied in several industries such as medical, agriculture, logistics & transport, inspection & maintenance.
ROBOTS LOGISTICS SECTOR
In the field of logistics, demand for robots is quite high. According to ABI Research, the number of logistic companies that are using a robot will increase from 4000 (in 2018) to 50.000 logistic companies worldwide by the year 2025, with a total of 4 million installed robots.
Already for many years, logistic companies are making use of robots, especially for palletizing, buffering, sequencing, order picking, etc. It concerns for example cobots, which are robots that can work in current working environment together with people; arm – robots or linear robots, as well as autonomous mobile robots (AMR), a new type of AGV, which can find its way independently and can avoid obstacles and find alternative routes, if necessary.
PROSPECTS
In logistics these robots can be interesting to make working process easier, as well as necessary to remain competitive. Especially since demands on productivity are increasing, companies have to produce more quickly and smarter and be more flexible. Robots can be used for increasing the efficiency and quality of the production process. They can also help in carrying out monotone, tedious or heavy work which is otherwise more difficult to handle by regular personnel. Besides, it was more difficult during past few years to find suitable employees for this branch. Netherlands’ population is aging, so fewer people are available on the labor market. With this increasing demand for personnel, and decreasing purchasing costs of robots, it is becoming more interesting for companies to automize their company and warehouse by using robots.
It is still expected, however, that due to the Covid-19 situation a lot of projects will be postponed in 2021 and not too many companies will be investing in robots. But after that, according to Marketing survey bureau Interact Analysis, demand for robots will be increasing further. Also in view to what happened during the corona virus outbreak. If a comparable disruption of economy and daily life would occur, investment in robots can help warehouses to become more effective and efficient.
FIELD LABS
For medium and small sized companies, using or buying a robot might still be a huge step to take. To help these companies to getting to know more about using robots and possible applications of these in their companies, several field labs have been established. One of these is Field Lab Robotics, https://www.fieldlabrobotics.com/ the knowledge center for industrial automation for companies, educational and government organizations. With their own, still to be opened, Experience Center in Roermond. This field lab is part of the national network of about 50 Smart Industry Field Labs.
Source : https://www.metaalnieuws.nl/