Age of factory machines dawns
As the country embraces digitalization, industries are now preparing to take a greater leap into a more sophisticated automation, which is robotic workers.
Many have said that the “silver lining” this pandemic has brought is the advent of digitalization.
Rapid adoption of digital technologies can help the Philippines overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, recover from the crisis, and achieve its vision of becoming a middle-class society free of poverty at the soonest, based on a study of World Bank and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
As the country embraces digitalization, industries are now preparing to take a greater leap into a more sophisticated automation, which is robotic workers.
Denmark-based collaborative robots (cobots) technology market leader, Universal
Robots (UR), sees the Philippines as the next target for their technology to help the country’s manufacturing industry in leveraging automation to reduce workplace injuries and improve productivity.
Universal Robots regional director of Asia-Pacific James McKew said UR cobots ensure to help workplaces in the Philippines generate a healthy and safe environment as these have the potential to decrease work challenges given its advanced technologies that deliver productivity and process innovation for companies.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Office on Safety and Health in the Workplace Cases of Occupational Injuries, McKew said the manufacturing industry has the biggest share in safety-related accidents since 2015, and yet, along the years, the numbers are still increasing across different industries in recorded workplace accidents which only adds to businesses’ operational costs and employee suffering.
Injury-free work
McKew was firm in saying that cobots can perform tasks that may be dangerous to humans.
“With built-in safety features that slows the robot arm when a human enters its workspace, cobots can keep human colleagues safe from occupational injuries as it addresses repetitive and dangerous tasks in the manufacturing sector,” McKew emphasized.
Recently, the IHS Markit Philippines Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey reported a promising outlook for the manufacturing industry in the Philippines, implying that there is indeed a need to leverage technologies that can further help the industry improve by boosting employee’s morale, productivity, and lessen workplace injuries.
Another survey from the TPRC Consulting, among the countries in the ASEAN Region, the Philippines placed third behind Singapore and Malaysia in terms of the government’s readiness for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
UR cobots ensure to help workplaces in the Philippines generate a healthy and safe environment.
A 2018 McKinsey report said AI and solutions have the potential to create around $3.5 trillion to $5.8 trillion in value across 19 industries. Moreover, these new technologies are estimated to create around 20 million to 50 million new jobs globally by 2030.
With this, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the newly-launched AI Coalition have tied up to promote AI, making the Philippines one of the AI Centers for Excellence in the world.
Reducing risk of injuries
Universal Robots’ adjustable safety system allows companies to adjust to a range of parameters to reduce the risks involved with implementing an industrial robot application.
These include limiting the force, speed, power or momentum of the robot, or restricting its workspace using safety boundaries.
Productivity gains, along with the inherently safe design of cobots means the technology could reduce up to 72 percent of the common causes of injury in manufacturing environments.
“As we move closer to the vision of Industry-5, where man and machine work together on the smart factory floor, the need to consider the safety and compliance requirements of this new kind of workplace has become paramount. Undoubtedly, a collaborative workforce featuring human and robots complements each other in their roles and offers significant opportunities to enhance manufacturing productivity, innovation, safety and overall job satisfaction in the workplace,” McKew explained.