21/06/2022
Ad Spijkers
Provisional 2021 sales figures from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) indicate +15% year-over-year growth in Europe.
On the eve of Automatica 2022 (this week in Munich), the IFR released preliminary figures on sales of industrial robots. Those sales have made a strong recovery. A new record 486,800 units were shipped worldwide, an increase of 27% compared to the previous year.
The Asia/Australia region saw the strongest growth in demand, with installations up 33% to 354,500 units. Americas increased 27% with 49,400 units sold. Europe saw 15% growth with 78,000 units installed.
Strong demand in all sectors
Robot installations around the world recovered strongly, making 2021 the most successful year ever for the robotics industry. Due to the continuing trend towards automation and continuous technological innovation, demand reached a high level in all sectors. In the past year, the pre-pandemic record (422,000 installations per year in 2018) was even exceeded.
In 2021, the electronics industry (132,000 installations, +21%) was the main growth engine. This branch of industry already surpassed the automotive industry (109,000 installations, +37%) in 2020 as the largest buyer of industrial robots. Metals and machinery (57,000 installations, +38%) followed, ahead of plastics and chemicals (22,500 installations, +21%) and food and beverage (15,300 installations, +24%).
Europe and America recovered
In 2021, industrial robot installations in Europe recovered after two years of decline - above the peak of 75,600 units in 2018. Demand from the main sector, the automotive industry, moved sideways at a high level (19,300 installations, +/- 0% ). Demand from the metal and machine industry rose sharply (15,500 installations, +50%), followed by plastics and chemical products (7,700 installations, +30%).
In America, the number of industrial robot installations reached the second best result ever, surpassed only by the record year 2018 (55,200 installations). The largest US market, the United States, shipped 33,800 units – representing a market share of 68%.
Asia remains the largest market
Asia remains the world's largest market for industrial robots: 73% of all newly deployed robots in 2021 were installed in Asia. In 2021, a total of 354,500 units were shipped, an increase of 33% compared to 2020. The electronics industry purchased by far the most units (123,800 installations, +22%), followed by strong demand from the automotive industry (72,600 installations, +57 %) and the metal and machine industry (36,400 installations, +29%).
Source: IFR