Universal Robots, the leading manufacturers of advanced, light weight collaborative robotic arms (headquartered in Odense, Denmark), will be expanding their operations in Bangladesh, after successfully having set up their operations in India and Sri Lanka.
The launch of Universal Robots in Bangladesh was held at The Westin, Dhaka Tuesday.
Bangladesh, as a labour - intensive market, employs over 3.0 million people in the manufacturing industry.
With the advent of modern technologies, the manufacturers are worried that automation will lead to increased unemployment. Bangladesh's industry, mainly garment manufacturing, employs unskilled labour; therefore, falling short in the run to competing in the global markets in terms of output, productivity and efficiency.
Introduction of collaborative robots will help boost productivity of the Bangladesh industry by ensuring minimization of downtime and upskilling of labour.
Collaborative robots or 'Cobots'are light - weight, easy to use robotic arms, that were first developed by Universal Robots in 2008. Their latest technological advancement is in sync with Industry 4.0 - automated revolution in manufacturing industry. The idea was for humans and robots to be inter-dependent and achieve what each of them does best. There are a few things that must be done manually, whereas the accuracy, precision and mass production at higher efficiency will be taken care of by the robots.
Cobots are easy to program, install and their collaborative nature allows them to work side-by- side with the workforce for high-quality output and handling them requires no special training. They work as a 'helping hand' that helps the workforce in carrying out monotonous tasks, increases productivity and efficiency. The primary goal of Universal Robots is to empower workers by enabling them with smart manufacturing solutions which involves the utilization of collaborative robots' technology and automation. Such kind of automation offers significant advantages to small and medium scale enterprises, from productivity gains to shorter payback periods which justify long term investment.
On the launch of Universal Robots in Bangladesh, Mr. Pradeep David, General Manager, South Asia- Universal Robots said, "The collaborative robot is a powerful innovation in the industrial manufacturing sector, enabling automated production with unprecedented flexibility. Our collaborative robot arms automate and streamline repetitive industrial processes. This approach will enable production departments to assign their staff members more creative jobs that provide them with new challenges that add value to the company and at the same time increases the efficiency and productivity. Our latest collaboration in India was with an SME in January 2017 which has seen a 300% boost in production, over a brief period of 8 months. After successfully venturing into the Indian and Sri Lankan markets, we are looking forward to setting up and growing in Bangladesh as the country can provide us with enormous opportunities to develop."
