As more companies engage in digital transformation, expect to see robotics play a larger role.
That’s the assessment by global market analyst International Data Corp., (IDC) which just published a Worldwide Commercial Robotics Spending Guide that measures regional purchases of robotic systems, system hardware, software, robotics-related services, and after-market robotics hardware across 13 industries.
The guide quantifies the robotics opportunity from regional, industry, use-case, and technology perspectives, and states that global spending on robotics and related services will grow to $135 billion annually in 2019 from $71 billion today.
Jing Bing Zhang, a reseach director at IDC, says this growth is coming from increasing adoption of cost-cutting measures outside of traditional manufacturing in sectors such as agriculture, education, electronics, and healthcare.
“Such broad-based growth in robotic adoption is being driven by increasing labor costs, shortage of skilled labor, and an increasing emphasis on repeatable quality in conjunction with a reduction in prices of robotic systems and strategic national initiatives,” Zhang said in an IDC news release.
Discrete and process manufacturing industries accounted for more than half of total robotics spending in 2015, IDC says. But the energy, healthcare, and transportation industries are the next three largest in overall robotics spending, and that spending is expected to double for all three by 2019.
“Robotic capabilities continue to expand while increasing investment in robot development is driving competition and helping to bring down the costs associated with robots,” said IDC research manager John Santagate, in the news release.
IDC considers robotics as one of six innovation accelerators driving digital transformation by opening new revenue streams and changing work performance.
Digital transformation to spur spending in robotics, IDC says
by David Sheets on February 24th, 2016 | ~ minute read
