Guest

Did you know that the average commercial jet airliner is made up of over 350,000 individual parts? To make these parts, whether metal or plastic, one process is essential: machine tending.   As anyone in the know can tell you, machine tending is incredibly important to the manufacturing process. A well-functioning manufacturing workflow relies on machinery consistently being loaded and unloaded with parts or materials. When done well, machine tending, increases productivity and yields – driving down the cost of production over time. 

The robotics industry in the Netherlands has expanded fast and must become more commercially focused to bridge funding gap and realize growth prospects, says industry association.

In recent years, the working world has undergone significant transformation due to digitalization, skills shortages, and sustainability, presenting companies with an increasing number of challenges. The work attitude of the upcoming generation of employees is also changing and influencing the labor market: young talents have a new understanding of work and associated demands for their workplace. To remain attractive to well-educated applicants in the long term, companies must continuously realign themselves.

Digitalisierung, Fachkräftemangel, Nachhaltigkeit: Die Arbeitswelt hat sich in den letzten Jahren stark transformiert und stellt Unternehmen vor eine wachsende Anzahl an Herausforderungen. Auch die Arbeitseinstellung der kommenden Generation von Mitarbeitenden verändert sich und nimmt Einfluss auf den Arbeitsmarkt: Junge Talente haben ein neues Verständnis von Arbeit und damit einhergehende Ansprüche an ihren Arbeitsplatz. Um langfristig für gut ausgebildete Bewerberinnen attraktiv zu bleiben, müssen Unternehmen sich kontinuierlich neu ausrichten.

A YouGov poll found that consumers are embracing the use of AI and favour its use in entertainment (54%), shopping (51%), healthcare (48%), and advertising (44%). According to ‘AI-led’ marketing agency Neural Edge, 2023 is set to be the year AI comes to the mainstream as more businesses invest in AI tech.

What if the U.S. placed a tax on robots? The concept has been publicly discussed by policy analysts, scholars, and Bill Gates (who favors the notion). Because robots can replace jobs, the idea goes, a stiff tax on them would give firms incentive to help retain workers, while also compensating for a dropoff in payroll taxes when robots are used. Thus far, South Korea has reduced incentives for firms to deploy robots; European Union policymakers, on the other hand, considered a robot tax but did not enact it.

Mobile robots are everywhere, from warehouses to hospitals and even on the street. Their popularity is easy to understand; they’re cheaper, safer, easier to find, and more productive than actual workers. They’re easy to scale or combine with other machines. As mobile robots collect a lot of real-time data, companies can use mobile robots to start their IIoT journey.

The new global economic reality, combined with an unprecedented labour shortage, is encouraging companies to reconsider sustainability strategies. Until recently, sustainability has been synonymous with environmental goals for many businesses and, as a result, treated as an add on to corporate strategy. Sustainability can no longer be considered in isolation. 

I have always loved technology. When I was young, growing up only a few kilometers from where the Universal Robots headquarters is today, I remember finding a bug in a soccer video game I played, and I tried for months and months to make a better game. Even though it turned out to be much harder than I thought, and I ended up with nothing, it got me into coding, which was a learned skill that followed me for many years ahead. 

“Automation is important for three very good reasons”, says Chris Argent, founder and MD of GENCFO.  After the deep insights on automation from the GENCFO live virtual summit, Chris has consolidated the importance of automation into three main reasons.