Automation opens up job opportunities

By 2030, it is reckoned that a third of British jobs will be automated. With experts suggesting that we can expect change on a scale akin to the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the process of integrating robotics into the workplace has already begun and the next 10 to 20 years will see a major acceleration. The food sector alone has seen a 60% increase in automation adoption since 2000.

Strategic partner and system integrator for FANUC UK, Pacepacker Services designs and manufactures packing machinery for the food, aggregates and bulk industry. Together with FANUC, Pacepacker stresses that while automation is the future and robotics will play a major role in making production facilities more efficient, manufacturers need to ensure that new technology creates replacement jobs and that their workforce has the skills to take advantage of it.

Paul Wilkinson, Pacepacker’s Business Development Manager comments: “People whose positions become redundant due to automation are invariably given roles elsewhere within the business.  In our view, automation safeguards the roles of the majority, making the business more efficient and enabling it to maintain and hopefully expand its contracts by improved quality and production throughput.

“Businesses that evolve will keep ahead of the game.  In many cases, automation opens up new opportunities for the business and individuals within it.  For example, the technicians who worked on the production line can now be re-deployed to operate multiple lines of automated equipment and to other areas of the business (both up and down stream) to keep up with the automated throughput.With fast return on investment and the long-term savings that can be made through automation, other benefits include improved quality, reduced wastage, greater production levels, less sickness and potentially an increased capacity to expand into other areas.”

Chris Sumner, Managing Director FANUC UK, comments: “Industrial robots in the food industry are well known for their ability to increase yield, provide repeatable and consistent product pick and placement, and improve a manufacturer’s competitive edge. But for many food processors with arduous, labour-intensive manufacturing processes, it’s the robot’s ability to reduce injuries to their workforce which matters most, particularly within harsh environments.

“Re-training staff to operate robots, not only increases a worker’s skill set, it creates renewed vigour – it certainly provides a greater sense of job satisfaction, compared to completing the same task manually.” Although robot adoption may impact the number of workers required on a processing line, IFR’s most recent study on this topic suggests that two million jobs will be created in the next eight years because of the robotics industry. What’s more, a further 60,000-80,000 new activity jobs will be created in the food industry alone by 2016.

Over the next five years the government, and industry, have said that they will invest £1.4 billion in expanding their Catapult Programme. Through these technology and innovation centres, new technologies will be developed to assist businesses to adapt to these changes – enabling them to grow, take on more employees and keep the UK at the forefront of global innovation.

Visit Pacepacker Services’ website for more information.

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