MiR to Host Webinar Focused on Replacing Tuggers With AMRs

Mobile Industrial Robots, or MiR, will be hosting an online webinar tomorrow that will focus on mobile robots and tuggers.

During the event titled “AMRs to replace manual tuggers” MiR and its partners in the U.K., RARUK Automation, Handling Concepts, and Sorion Electronics will speak on intralogistics and how customers can optimize their material transportation tasks – with a fast return on investment.

“If you are you currently using manual tuggers in your facility, you should explore the alternatives. You could definitely benefit from our event, if you are interested in optimizing your internal logistics but not sure where to start. Businesses of nearly any size and in nearly every industry are looking at automation to help improve competitiveness and employee safety," said Adrian Howe, business development manager at MiR.

”Manufacturing processes were early targets for automation, and advances in cost-effective, safe, and easy-to-deploy collaborative robots quickly made this type of automation accessible even for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs),” Howe added. “After seeing fast and substantial return on investment from these technologies, business leaders are now looking to automate other wasteful processes within their organizations.”

U.K. behind the curve on automation

U.K. industrial workplaces have automated far fewer processes than most other countries and are significantly below the global average for robot adoption, Odense, Denmark-based MiR has argued.

Every day, U.K. workers spend a lot of time and effort on internal logistics, it said. Now, several robotics experts in the U.K. have come together to show how British manufacturing can become more competitive through the automation of manual tasks.

With more than 49,500 units sold worldwide in 2021, mobile robot solutions are becoming more established in transportation and logistics and sales of AMR and AGV increased 45% from 2020 to 2021.

However, most of the robots were mainly shipped to other countries than the U.K.

Twenty-three thousand industrial robots are operating in U.K. factories, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The U.K. robot density of 101 units per 10,000 workers is below the world average of 126 units and ranks 24th. This is much lower than most other industrialized countries in Europe and the lowest of the G7 nations.

AMRs gain ground

When it comes to automation of logistics, autonomous mobile robots are now the largest part of the global market, while autonomous guided vehicles are losing ground according to the recent Mobile Robot Report from Interact Analysis.

However, in the British manufacturing industry, many manufacturers in the automotive industry still rely on manual tuggers to tow small loads from warehouse to manufacturing, even though these are not very cost-efficient and involve a lot of manual material handling.

“The United Kingdom has a strong manufacturing industry that has low annual robot installation counts,” according to Milton Guerry, president of the International Federation of Robotics. “The automotive and also general industry markets need to invest in automation technology to keep up with international competitors.”

About the author

Malene Grouleff is CEO of Workspace and a robotics journalist, blogger, and consultant. This article is reposted with permission.