Orders for industrial robots from Japanese manufacturers hit a record 955.8 billion yen ($7.35 billion) in 2022, up 1.6% from the previous year, the Japan Robot Association said Thursday, citing data from association member companies.
Strong demand for production line automation due to the global labor shortage and the shift to electric vehicles underpinned the growth in orders, capping three consecutive years of increases.
Production increased by 5.6% in value terms to 879.2 billion yen, also a record. The shift toward adopting automation for packaging and transport has been spreading recently in fields such as logistics, food and pharmaceuticals. Major robot manufacturers such as Fanuc are working to increase production capacity.
The use of robots that operate alongside people on production lines is also increasing.
Despite the record figures for the year, orders for the October-December period were down 4.3% year-on-year to 221 billion yen, marking the first decrease in two quarters. Units ordered also decreased by 11.2% to 60,631 units. Customer inquiries have slowed due to concerns about a global economic slowdown and interruptions in automobile production, Nikkei Asia reports.
