Embracing The New: a decade of transformation

In many ways, the way we work has changed more in the past year than in the previous 30. 

Entire business models have been reimagined and companies have needed to reinvent themselves. Reaching consumers with speed and personalization while retail outlets closed has created complexities – and opportunities – in manufacturing, in packaging and in distribution. Flexibility, agility and adaptability have become a survival and a growth strategy.

As a result – and out of necessity – many companies have accelerated their journeys towards automation. 

At the beginning of the year, we carried out a global survey of 1,650 companies from a wide variety of industries, from automotive, to healthcare, to consumer goods. 85 percent confirmed that the pandemic had a major impact on their business and industry with nearly the same number, 84 percent, planning to increase the use of robotics and automation in their business over the next decade.

Technology is helping these businesses and organizations survive, adapt and react to the pandemic. In some cases, to protect their employees and existing operations; in others, to reinvent their operations to help fight the pandemic and in the vast majority as a means to make long-term change to respond to fundamental consumer shifts.

But it would be wrong to assume that Covid-19 is responsible for all of the changes we have seen. Underlying trends have simply accelerated.

Four key megatrends are driving change

Our business has identified four key megatrends driving change in the workplace and especially, demand for automation.

The first is personalization. There is an ever-increasing demand for individualized, tailored products and services, whether delivered business-to-business, or in consumer environments. From the individual configuration of your car, the case on your smartphone, personalized beverage cans or individual sneaker designs – consumers expect customization.

Pixel Paint allows automotive manufacturers to deliver customized vehicle paint schemes while reducing overspray and reducing masking & de-masking times.

This is leading to increasing digitalization. The desire to order direct from manufacturers, often bypassing retailers and wholesaler requires ever more flexibility and responsiveness from the producers of goods and services and from fulfilment and logistics suppliers. It is no passing phase, it is a significant, long-term shift in consumer behaviour. A McKinsey survey suggested digital adoption in Europe jumped from 81% to 95% as a result of the COVID 19 crisis, a change that would have taken 2-3 years at pre-pandemic growth rates.

At the same time, there are big changes in the workforce. Life expectancy continues to grow, our societies are growing older, on average. These changing demographics mean an aging workforce and in countries such as USA and China, the lack of new workers is limiting the capacity of manufacturers and producers to recruit and grow. The US Census Bureau projects that by 2030 1 in 5 Americans will be retirement age, and by 2060 that will become 1 in 4, 23% of the total population. In China, a quarter of the population will be 60 or over by 2030.

Industrial countries are also experiencing shifts in our willingness to do some jobs. More than two thirds of the businesses in our global survey said that it was already difficult to attract and retain staff for repetitive and physically demanding tasks.

And finally, of course, there is uncertainty in global markets, not just from pandemics, but unforeseeable and unpredictable events such as natural disasters and trade conflicts, creating uncertainty for businesses and their supply chains.

Added to all of this is the importance of sustainability. From reducing waste and energy use, to creating benefits for wider society, sustainability is driving shifts in these megatrends and that influences our support for customers. Together, these factors drive our technology direction and ambition.

This is the decade of transformation

The pandemic has turbo-charged these trends.

And any big shift in society and consumer behaviour echoes into manufacturing. 

Organizations in a wide range of sectors are finding they need to respond quickly, in adapting production, or distribution. 

This is bringing a transformation in automation. And this means we’re all going to see robots more and more, outside of traditional manufacturing.

I think we will see three big changes in automation, during this decade:

1. The Changing Investment Calculation

Why has this change not happened before?

Simply, the investment required and entry barriers to automation were high. Traditionally, the options for manufacturers were full automation, or no automation, with deep levels of expertise and knowledge required to install and operate. It meant that automation was exclusively for large organizations and required large investment and so large volumes to justify it.

But now, the reverse is true.

Smaller and more intelligent connected robots that can be networked can create the flexibility and scalability that organizations need to respond, whether that is for personalized manufacturing, or tailored fulfilment.

This is a critical success factor for robotics in the future. Not just individual robots, but how they can be scaled and connected.

This also makes it possible to put automation where it’s needed; into laboratories, logistics hubs, shops and workshops; workplaces not traditionally designed for automation, where space is at a premium.

Thus, it will significantly change the cost- benefit calculation, for businesses. 

A collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering at Thailand’s Mahidol University and the Institute of Molecular Biosciences, uses ABB’s IRB 1100 industrial robot and a dual arm YuMi® collaborative robot to assist with key tasks involved in vaccine testing and development.

2. Collaborative Robotics

Robots that work alongside humans, without fences or safety spaces, will break down another barrier to automation. 

Collaborative robots are the PC of automation and the heart of the transformation we will see.

Just as the 1980s PC revolution moved computers from isolated rooms onto our desks and transformed our office space, so cobots can make this change now for manufacturing and distribution lines.

I believe that within this decade, a cobot in your workplace will become as common as a laptop is today.

Today, you can automate parts of a process, with robots that can work side by side with human colleagues. And with robots that are easier to use, easier to programme and easier to work with, this is possible without expertise.

Individual robots no longer work in isolation. Automation is faster, easier, simpler with digital ecosystems. Modular, connected, flexible systems built from individual robots.

It’s also possible without a large financial investment because it’s possible to scale as you need.

The new generation of cobots is faster, stronger, more powerful, safer and even easier to use. For ABB’s cobots you don't need any programming knowledge. If you can operate a tablet or smartphone, you can work with our cobots.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning helps to make systems smarter and adaptable and makes change faster.

Artificial intelligence is already helping robots to learn new tasks, or to identify and select items without prior training. The next steps in this decade - for example, in natural language processing - will make robots more responsive and flexible to work with.

The past 12 months have been a year like no other. Yet while Covid-19 has compressed years of behavioural change into months, or even weeks, it has only accelerated what was already happening.

The combination of that catalyst and the technology around us means that this will be a decade of transformation for makers, creators and distributors, who embrace automation.

Covid-19 has shown us how we can adapt when we need to respond to a crisis. The decade that follows is our opportunity to finish what it has started.

In this decade, we will fully harness the power of robotics and AI to unlock sustainable growth in new sectors of the economy.