Growth in Malaysia’s automotive industry drives deployment of collaborative robots in 2021
KUCHING: Universal Robots( UR ), Denmark-based collaborative robots( co bots) technology market leader, urged local manufacturers in the automotive industry to explore new opportunities for the use of robotic solutions in the automotive manufacturing facilities.
Under the National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2020, Malaysia’s automotive manufacturing industry is expected to contribute RM104.2 billion to gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
NAP 2020’s blueprint also outlined initiatives and strategies on robotics, targeting 730 new system integrators comprising 350 in robotics and 380 in IoT to be established by 2030.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Automotive, Robotics, and IoT Institute (MARii) expects the automotive industry, including Mobility as a Service (MaaS), to contribute up to 10 per cent of GDP.
The industry is forecasted to produce 1.47 million vehicles annually, offering 323,000 employment opportunities.
The automotive industry was one of the earliest adopters of traditional industrial robots and one of the earliest widespread adopters of cobots.
In Malaysia, there are 129 robots per 10,000 workers at automobile plants compared to 19 robots per 10,000 workers across all other industries.
“Today, automation penetrates almost every aspect of auto production, from parts and subassembly production at Tier 1 and 2 suppliers to the final product rolling off the line at production facilities,” UR’s AsiaPacific regional director James McKew said.
“UR’ cobots are finding increasing traction in automotive production due to their flexibility, small footprint, rapid return on investment, and consistent performance.”
According to the International Federation of Robotics, cobots experienced more growth than traditional industrial robots whereby installations grew by 11 per cent, reaching a 4.8 per cent market share of the total of 373,000 industrial robots installed in 2019.
“Although several parts of automotive manufacturing have been highly automated for decades, there are tasks, especially on the assembly side, that remain “highly dependent on manual labour.”
He pointed out that tasks such as screw driving where the flexibility and small footprint of UR’s cobots could significantly benefit local automakers.
In highly regulated sectors such as automotive manufacturing, traceability is key. Cobots help manufacturers control and track key production processes such as ensuring precise torque is applied to screws when mounted to a car key.