INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY Will Robots Replace People in Manufacturing? For the past four decades, robots have been incor consumer-electronics items. The robots were porated into manufacturing assembly lines in designed to work close to people and handle small Europe, Japan, and the United States. These indus parts. JCB Laboratories is using robots at its Wichita, trial robots-with mechanical arms that can be Kansas, plant to plck up syringes, fill them with programmed to weld, paint, and pick up and place medications, and snap on caps. The robots work five objects with predictable regularity-have not taken to six times faster than people. over many tasks performed by humans. The biggest This new generation of robots promises to bring users of robotic technology have been automobile major changes to the factory floor and perhaps the manufacturing plants, where robots do heavy lift global competitive landscape. The Boston Consult- ing, welding, applying glue, and painting. People ing Group predicts that by 2025 the share of tasks still do most of the final assembly of cars, especially performed by robots will rise from a global aver- when installing small parts or wiring that needs to be age of about 10 percent across all manufacturing guided into place industries to about 25 percent. In some industries, For most manufacturing work, it has been less more than 40 percent of manufacturing tasks will expensive to use manual labor than it is to own, be performed by robots. There will be dramatic pro- operate, and maintain a robotics system, given the ductivity gains in many industries around the world tasks that robots can perform. But this is changing. (potentially boosting output per worker by 30 per- Robots have become smaller, more mobile, more cent) and shifts in competitiveness among manufac- collaborative and more adaptable, and their uses are turing countries. widening. New robot models can work alongside Does this mean that robots will take over the humans without endangering them and help assem production line? Unlikely. They still lack the flex- ble all types of objects, as large as aircraft engines ibility, delicacy, and insight provided by humans. and as small and delicate as smartphones, They For example, today's collaborative robots often have can also sense whether parts are being assembled to slow down or stop whenever people veer into Correctly their paths, disrupting production Sales have been Robots are becoming easier to operate. Companies disappointing for Baxter, a two-armed collaborative no longer need a software engineer to write program robot from Rethink, which is used primarily for sim- code to get a robot to perform a task. With some of ple tasks such as moving materials, picking up parts, today's robots, you can simply push a button, turn and packing or unpacking boxes. The robot's speed the robot's arm, and move it through the operation is restricted by safety considerations. For all their you want it to perform. The robot learns by doing. recent advances, robots still can't duplicate a human A Renault SA plant in Cleon, France, now uses being's fine motor skills in manipulating materials robots made by Universal Robots AS of Denmark to and small parts. Robots still have trouble dealing drive screws into engines, especially those that go with soft or floppy material, such as cloth or bundles into places people find hard to access. The robots of electrical wire. have reach of more than 50 inches and six rotating Although robots are good at reliably and repeat joints to do the work. They also verify that parts are ediy performing defined tasks, they're not good at properly fastened and check to make sure the correct adapting, Mercedes-Benz had to cut back on its use part is being used. The Renault robots weigh only of robots on the production line because the level of about 64 pounds each so they can easily be moved customization demanded by its customers requires around to different locations as needed. They are a level of flexibility and dexterity that only humans also collaborative, designed to work in proximity to can provide. Today's Mercedes customer wants to people. Using sonar, cameras, or other technologies, configure his or her own car, choosing among cus- these robots can sense where people are and slow tomization options such as carbon-fiber trim, four down or stop to avoid hurting them. types of tire valve caps, and heated and cooled These new-style robots are moving into other cup holders for 30 different models. Robots can't industries as well. ABB Ltd of Switzerland and oth deal with the amount of variation in options that ers have recently introduced robots to help assemble Mercedes cars have today. Mercedes has found that if manufacturing focuses around a skilled crew of workers, it can shift a pro- duction line in a weekend. It would take weeks to reprogram robots and shift assembly patterns, and during that downtime, production would be at a standstill. Going forward, robots won't completely disappear from the Mercedes factory floor, but they'll be smaller and more flexible, operating alongside human workers. BMW AG and Volkswagen AG's Audi are also testing lightweight, sensor-equipped robots safe enough to work alongside people. Auto manu- facturers are under continuing pressure to upgrade their models more frequently than the traditional seven-year cycle. As robots become more widespread, manufactur- ing tasks performed by humans will become higher- level and more complex. Workers will be expected to supervise and perhaps even program robots, and there will be fewer low-level manufacturing jobs. Workers will need more sophisticated skills to suc- ceed in tomorrow's manufacturing plants. Sources: Bloomberg, "Why Mercedes Is Halting Robots Reign on the Production Line," Industry Week, February 25, 2016; Harold L. Sirkin, Michael Zinser, and Justin Rose, The Robotics Revolution: The Next Great Leap in Manufacturing," BCG Perspectives, September 23, 2015; "Industries and Economies Leading the Robotics Revolution." BCG Perspectives, September 23, 2015; and James R. Hagerty, "Meet the New Generation of Robots for Manufacturing." Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2015 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. Why have robots caught on in manufacturing? What knowledge to they require? 2. Can robots replace human workers in manufactur- ing? Explain your answer. 3. If you were considering introducing robots in your manufacturing plant, what management, organiza- tion, and technology issues would you need to address