North American robotics market reaches all-time high in 2016

Orders and shipments of robots in North America reached an all-time high in 2016, as 34,606 robots valued at approximately $1.9 billion were ordered, representing a 10% growth over 2015, according to a new report from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA).

In terms of the markets that helped lead to overall growth, orders in the automotive industry grew 17%, while there was a 24% growth in orders for spot welding robots. Next up, at a 32% increase was orders for food and consumer goods robots, which can be used for such functions as improving food safety, performing repetitive primary packaging tasks such as bin picking, tray loading and bottle handling, and assisting with secondary packaging tasks such as case packing, bundling, bagging and palletizing. The largest increase, however, was in assembly applications, where orders grew 61%.

In addition to increases in these individual markets, overall growth was also aided by a particularly strong fourth quarter. In Q4 of 2016, 10,621 robots valued at $561 million were ordered, representing a growth rate of 18% in unites ordered and 21% in revenue over the fourth quarter of 2015. Q4 shipments grew 33% on a unit basis, with shipments of 8,825 robots valued at $494 million.

"Automation played a vital role in spurring economic growth in North American manufacturing and services industries in 2016," said Jeff Burnstein, President of A3. "We anticipate accelerated growth based on smarter, more connected and more collaborative robots in the coming years."

Following its most successful year to date, the robotics industry, along with the vision and motion control industries, will gather at Automate 2017, which will be held April 3-6 in Chicago. Learn more about Automate here.

Pictured:Robots and vision team up to speed automation tasks

View more information on the RIA.

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