By the year 2025, robots are expected to replace human employees in the manufacturing trade at a faster rate than ever before, resulting in lower labor costs for companies. Find out how companies use robots to gain a competitive advantage and which organizations are following the trend.
Benefits of Using Robots
By employing robots to do the work of human employees, organizations can reduce labor costs and avoid the expenses associated with recruiting, hiring and employee turnover. As the popularity of using robots in manufacturing increases, the prices of these machines decreases, allowing companies to stretch their technology budgets. Further, these robots work faster and perform with more accuracy than human workers, increasing productivity levels and, in turn, helping companies increase their bottom lines.
Top Industries Using Robots
According to Jim Lawton, chief product and marketing officer at Rethink Robotics, the automotive industry makes the greatest use of robots, as 65 percent of the machines are sold to automotive companies. Manufacturing corporations are another top user of robotics, and investment in manufacturing robots is expected increase 10 percent per year over the next 10 years. Retailers and technology giants, including Lowe's and Google, are also finding ways to use robots to gain a competitive advantage.
Lowe's
Near the end of 2014, Lowe's introduced robot shopping assistants to one of the corporation's San Jose, California, stores in an attempt to test the innovation's success. Designed to greet shoppers and assist them with finding items in the store, the 5-foot-tall robots feature scanners to identify objects and contain rear screens that show advertisements as the robots lead consumers through the aisles.
Lowe's saw such success with its customer service robots, which have the capability to speak English and Spanish, that the company announced plans in August 2016 to add the LoweBot to 11 additional stores throughout the San Francisco Bay neighborhood. These versatile machines serve another useful task for the giant retailer: inventory tracking. As it serves its customer service duties throughout the aisles, the LoweBot scans shelves and sends real-time updates to store associates.
It should come as no surprise that technology powerhouse Google is taking advantage of modern technology. Google intends to use robots for automated package delivery, similar to Amazon's hope of using drones to get small packages to consumers. Boston Dynamics, a Google-owned company, debuted its Atlas Robot in early 2016, a machine that can delivery packages, trek through the snow and recover gracefully from a fall. Some predict that robots such as these might eventually put an end to manual labor.
As technology advances, smart organizations take advantage of new offerings that can reduce costs and increase productivity. Using robots is one such advancement that many companies in a variety of industries — from automotive and manufacturing to retail and technology — are using to further their success.
Photo courtesy of Robbie Sproule at Flickr.com
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