Industrial Robots and Manufacturing Jobs – A Catalyst for Loss or Growth?

When disruptive technologies are introduced to the marketplace, there is an initial uncertainty among the general population about these unfamiliar products, services, or new ways of conducting business.

The unknown is scary; change is often met with resistance, and people may ask themselves how such innovations will affect their livelihoods and lifestyles. By definition, disruptive technologies are innovations that create a new market and value network, ultimately displacing established market leaders, alliances, and the status quo. Historically, however, it’s been seen that as society becomes more educated, informed, and familiar with innovations such as e-mail, smartphones, and social networking, the acceptance and proven benefits begin to emerge as a result. Similar to other industry shake-ups, the increasing introduction of robotics into the workplace has led to a common perception that careers within the manufacturing sector are shrinking, or quickly becoming obsolete. At a closer glance, however, the world of industrial robotics and automation reveals more opportunities than disadvantages; more reasons to be excited about pursuing manufacturing careers, and a rallying call for the upskilling of students and employees.

"At a closer glance, however, the world of industrial robotics and automation reveals more opportunities than disadvantages."

不可否认的是，工业机器人正在全球范围内彻底改变制造业。在更智能，更安全，更快和更具成本效益的方式中完成任务的能力已成为维持竞争力的必要性，该行业需要更大的灵活性，更短的寿命，并且承受着越来越多的压力以满足客户的期望。随着机器人具有更多的人类能力，包括感应，对象识别，组装和包装等，很明显，工业劳动力的组成确实正在发生变化。尽管如此，传统的信念是，公司正在购买机器人来代替人的机器人并不像看起来那样清晰。实际上，由于机器人的整合，整个制造业社区中的工作机会正在扩大更多行业。

传统上，基于机器人的制造业在汽车和金属行业中最普遍。但是，随着高级机器人技术的成本不断下降，应用程序的范围扩大，越来越多的行业开始实施和利用自动化技术和流程。例如，在2005年，北美所有工业机器人订单中有69％是由汽车组件公司制造的，而2014年由于其他部门采用了机器人，该数字被稀释至56％。如今，其他行业，例如食品和饮料，塑料，医疗设备，甚至高科技公司都在努力实现竞争优势并符合新的制造和生产标准。由于更广泛的机器人应用程序，在这些部门中，机器人使用的不断增长可能对就业安全有害。但是，“协作机器人”的引入实际上促使经济增长和为许多人创造就业机会。

尽管历史上已经将机器人用于繁重，危险和重复性的任务，但协作机器人使人类能够通过产品测试，检查，托盘，仿真和添加任务等广泛的应用程序与制造商一起工作。为了应对自动化威胁就业水平的观念，公司现在正在使用机器人来扩展和提高产品质量，同时提高生产率，这反过来又导致了更多的工程师，培训师和销售人员。实际上，由于机器人制造业而在北美产生的职业机会的产生不会被孤立地看不见，也不是一种罕见的经济刺激案例，因为一项全球研究指出，机器人驱动的工作创造就可以到达150万。2016。

In addition to this trend of expanding employment opportunities, the collaboration between humans and robots in the workplace has also created a byproduct of high-paying and rewarding careers. Robotic automation has changed the landscape of employment opportunities across the industrialized world as they enable companies to remain cost-competitive while continuing production in high-cost countries instead of outsourcing to lower-wage nations, otherwise known as reshoring. In light of these changes to the manufacturing industry, organizational success is beginning to depend more on building a workforce that can exploit such technological advances. While the notion that robotic manufacturing as a job destroyer has been dispelled, current research has shown that there is now a new economic discrepancy between job skills and employment demand. In other words, manufacturers are facing challenges in finding workers with general manufacturing skills, as well as the talent to exploit such innovations.

"While the notion that robotic manufacturing as a job destroyer has been dispelled, current research has shown that there is now a new economic discrepancy between job skills and employment demand."

Thus, in a world where disruptive technologies and processes are constantly being introduced to the marketplace, it would seem evident that skill development is the answer to meeting and effectively working with such innovative equipment. There is no doubt that robots will continue to be a driving force within the manufacturing community, but through the implementation of collaborative robots, these changes to the employment arena are nothing to fear. Instead, proactive action can be taken now as the future of manufacturing careers will undoubtedly become more high-tech and demand an even greater understanding of automation. In effect, the introduction of robotics and automation is best combined with investments in training and development programs as this would help support the re-deployment and upskilling of students and staff members alike. This new robotic-heavy ecosystem of high-paying and rewarding jobs is untapped in many ways, making training and development programs more important than ever.

Sources:

“新员工：新一代机器人如何改变制造业。”PriceWaterHouseCoopers LLP。2014年9月。http://www.pwc.com/us/en/industrial-products/publications/next-manufacturing-robotics.html

“高技能制造业：技术如何破坏美国的工业劳动力。”PriceWaterHouseCooperSllp。2016年6月。http://www.pwc.com/us/en/industrial-products/up-skilling-manufacturing.html