The Danish company Universal Robots says the long-standing industrial practice of out-sourcing manufacturing operations to low-cost parts of the world to keep manufacturing costs down has recently taken a significant turn.
“With rapidly rising labour costs in countries such a China, the financial advantages of manufacturing overseas are being seriously eroded.
“When manufacturers also realise that off-shoring usually involves complex logistics, added shipping times and difficulties in reacting quickly to changes in customer requirements, there are clear reasons why many companies are looking for new ways to reduce costs and increase productivity.
“For many, automation that uses cost-effective and advanced robotic technologies is the answer.”
In a new White Paper, Universal Robots outlines some of the key ways in which collaborative robots are contributing to this trend.
It considers the key drivers in the process and outlines some of the mechanisms in which co-bots play a crucial role and can serve as a catalyst in the process of re-shoring.
A copy of the White Paper can be downloaded from the Web site (
info.universal-robots.com/cobots-as-a-catalyst-for-reshoring).