Years ago, in the 80s to be precise, it was observed that even though companies were increasingly embracing computers, production was not going up. It was expected that with improved technology production would improve as well. It looks like with robots, the question the mystery is back.
There have been concerns that robots are taking jobs away from humans. The feeling has been that repetitive jobs have been on a decline and robots are to be blamed. While at first it seemed as if robots have not had much of an impact on production, additional reports counter this claim.
Industrial robots have actually pushed production levels to new heights consequently impacting economic growth. In the 1990s and 2000s, industrial robots such as those produced by Universal Robots have had a lasting effect on multiple industries.
Positive Impact on Production
The impact of IT has so far been proven to be positive and it is expected that the impact of robots could be phenomenal. The one reason that demand for them is going up exponentially is because they drive up production in industries. This in turn drives up profits and business is mostly about profits. Moreover, robots have aided in the production of better quality products.
Is the Impact of Robots Causing a Decline in Jobs?
While the influx of robots can be said to have caused a large number of jobs in the manufacturing industry to be slashed, it may be a bit of an exaggeration to conclude that robots are solely to blame. One may be forgiven for making that assumption.
However, consider this: in countries that have heavily invested in robotics, the unemployment rates would be phenomenal. That is hardly the case. In fact, people from countries that have hardly any automation to speak of are constantly migrating to find work in the former.
Evidently, despite the heavy investment in automation, there are still millions of jobs available for humans. In any case, automation cannot take over every aspect of labor. Humans are needed to make final decisions, operate the robots and even build them.
Some of the countries that have heavily invested in robotics include Germany and Sweden. The unemployment rate in those countries is hardly worth mentioning. In fact, some of these countries have to import labor.
Robotics Influence on the Labour Force
It is said that numbers never lie. Countries that introduced a large number of robots in their manufacturing industries lost less manufacturing jobs than those that introduced more robots. Reports indicate that nations such as France and the United Kindom in robots but the impact on manufacturing jobs was heavier than Korea or Italy which introduced less.
Other reports show that with the advent of robots in the workplace, employment actually went up as it was based on skills. Skilled workers’ wages went up as low-skilled ones were either compelled to retrain in order to learn new skills or were pushed out of employment. This is because robots took over the low-skill tasks.
What seems to have happened is that robots have caused people to up their skills in order to get jobs with better pay. This would be an advantage because it compels workers to improve their situation.
It is a win-win for the industry and for the workers as well. Ultimately, these reports have done well in dispelling the myth that robots are driving human workers out of work.
Conclusion
Both industrial and collaborative robots have impacted the industry in a positive way. The quality of products improves as robots are precise and do not err. In addition, production also goes up since robots do not tire out.
In the end, better and more products turn in a tidy profit which is good for any industry. The rollover is that the worker gets paid better as well. Robots will also help in the development of new and innovative business ideas and products.
