If they weren’t before, human factory employees may soon be considered an endangered species, as manufacturing companies adopt advanced robots that will power the next productivity surge in the industry.
According to new research by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), by 2025, these new robots will boost productivity by up to 30 percent in many industries and lower the total cost of labor by 18 percent or more in countries like the US, South Korea, China, Japan and Germany. Estimates by BCG project the investments in industrial robots to accelerate, bringing an annual growth rate for robot investments that currently hovers around 2 to 3 percent up to 10 percent.