North American robot sales high for the third consecutive quarter, says A3

The latest stats from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) show that robot sales remain high for the third consecutive quarter. A resurgence in robot demand from automotive companies, as well as increasing demand for logistics automation in e-commerce, has contributed to the high numbers.

A3 shares that of the 12,305 robots sold in Q2 2022, 59 percent of the orders came from the automotive industry. The remaining orders from non-automotive companies were largely in the food and consumer goods industry, which saw a 13 percent increase in unit orders over the same period, April through June, in 2021.

“While automotive entities have long been the frontrunner in deploying robotics and automation, the last few years have seen food and consumer goods, life sciences and other industries grow at even higher rates,” said A3 president Jeff Burnstein. “While this quarter shows a marked shift back to historic norms with more robots going to automotive than to any other industry, the continued growth of robotics in food and consumer goods companies especially demonstrates the ongoing need to automate warehouse logistics for handling the exploding growth of e-commerce.”

The 12,305 units sold in Q2 2022 is 25 percent more than sold in the same period in 2021. It is also six percent more than sold in the first quarter of 2022, which was at 11,595 units. The Q2 2022 value of $585 million is the second-best quarter ever for revenue, down nine percent from the previous record quarter. Q1 2022 saw $646 million in revenue. When combined with 2022’s first quarter results, the previous record, the North American robotics market is off to its best start ever. There were 23,903 robots ordered at a value of $1.249 billion. The market grew 26 percent and 29 percent for units ordered and revenue, respectively, over 2021.

A record fourth quarter in 2021 resulted in the strongest year ever for North American robot sales, with 39,708 units sold at a value of $2 billion. A3 says that 2022 is on pace for another record year.

“The larger trend towards robots being used to benefit more companies in North America continues,” Burnstein added. “This makes it critical to educate system integrators and users now about how to deploy robots while keeping workers safe.”