Industry 4.0 is the ongoing transformation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices combined with the latest smart technology, all fueled by large amounts of data. Industry 4.0 is setting the foundation for the next technology wave of Cobots, which is leading the charge into Industry 5.0.  Cobots are collaborative robots that work well with humans. It has yet to be determined if manufacturers are going to see smaller on-site work crews in their factories due to COVID-19 changing the way we do business. Don’t be surprised to see the adoption of cobots increase, both in the immediate future and long term.

Cobots are flexible and can easily fit anywhere on the shop floor, in essentially any part of the manufacturing process. Like with all technology, we have seen them transition from 10 years ago when they were first introduced to the market.  Now defined as user-friendly, cobots can be trained to learn new tasks easily and are very easy to program. Cobots have significantly come down in price, making them an attractive open to small to mid-size manufacturers who struggle to bring automation to the plant floor.

Cobots should not be viewed as a threat to take over human jobs. There are many manufacturers that struggle to fill open jobs, so cobots can be used to help fill those gaps. Cobots can take on many of the repetitive tasks, freeing up your humans to do more of the skilled labor. Cobots do have limited abilities and can not run a supply chain alone.

The market for cobots is estimated to grow at a 41.8% compounded annual growth rate to reach nearly $8 million by 2025, according to Markets and Markets.

2W Tech is a technology service provider specializing in solutions for the manufacturing industry. Give us a call today to learn more about smart manufacturing solutions you can be adopting to get ahead in Industry 4.0 and prepared for Industry 5.0.

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