Page 479 - Sensors and Control Systems in Manufacturing

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sales to the automotive sector. After the extraordinarily high invest-
ments seen in 2006, robotic purchases by automotive companies and
their suppliers slowed in 2008 in the highly competitive U.S. and
Canadian markets. Sales and production volumes of cars have stag-
nated or even declined over the last few years, which have also wit-
nessed changes in the respective market shares of the individual
manufacturers.
American suppliers have reduced capacity and will continue to
do so. Nevertheless, the decrease of robot supplies in 2009 is likely to
be only temporary, since their Asian and European competitors have
announced additional investments in production facilities. In 2009,
increasing demand for robots has already been registered. In the first
half of 2008, North American orders rose by 39 percent according to
the RIA (Robotics Industry Association), USA. The intense competi-
tion in the biggest and most saturated market is set to continue.
An increasing demand for industrial robots has been registered
in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. The deliveries to these countries
increased by 9.7 percent.
Sales of industrial robots in Europe were up by 11 percent, to
about 31,900 units. This was the result of substantially increasing
industrial robot investment by the metal products industry, the rub-
ber and plastics industry, and the food and beverages industry. The
motor vehicle industry and the automotive parts industry again
reduced their purchases in Europe. In Germany—the biggest market
for industrial robots in Europe—supplies increased by 12.7 percent to
about 11,900 units. This was the result of surging investments in gen-
eral industry—all industries except the automotive. Here as well,
supply to the automotive industry slightly decreased. It seems that
the peak of yearly robot investment within the automotive industry
was reached in 2004: Germany as a production site for motor vehicles
serves an almost saturated market in Western Europe.
Italy, the second largest market, recovered by 14 percent to almost
6,900 units. The rubber and plastics industry and the fabricated metal
products industry invested very heavily in industrial robots. Sales to
all other industries, including the automotive industry, decreased.
The yearly supply of industrial robots in France has been fairly
stable over the last five years, at around 3,200 units. The reason for
this similar figure has been the largely stagnant investment climate in
the automotive industry and the machinery industry, which has been
somewhat compensated by a significant increase of robot supplies to
the metal industry and a remarkable increase of robot supplies to the
chemical and food industries.
Sales to Spain, the United Kingdom, and Sweden were down. Of
the Eastern European countries, only the Czech Republic and Poland
saw a significant increase in robot supplies. Compared to the estab-
lished robot markets in Western Europe, the Turkish one is still quite