Robotic Automation and the Future of Sewing, Needlework, and Piece Goods Retailers
Robotic Automation and the Future of Sewing, Needlework, and Piece Goods Retailers
Robotic automation is significantly impacting various industries worldwide, including sewing, needlework, and piece goods retailers. In this information guide, we explore the future implications of this development, substantiated by statistical trends and industry forecasts.
Adoption of Robotic Automation
Robotic automation, already embraced by 37% of organizations worldwide, is revolutionizing how sewing, piece goods, and needlework retailers operate their businesses. Companies are investing heavily in robotics, with global spending on robotic systems expected to reach $157.4 billion in 2021. Forecasts predict that robots would complete 45% of manufacturing tasks alone by 2025. These developments are helping the retail industry increase efficiency, reduce human error, save time, and improve overall productivity.
Transformative Impact and Trends
The potential for transformative impacts in the retail sector is enormous. Automation in sewing, needlework, and piece goods retailers can streamline operations and enhance productivity. For example, SEWBOTS, a custom industrial sewing robot developed by SoftWear Automation, can sew about 10,000 T-shirts in an hour, a task requiring approximately 17 humans. In the textile industry alone, automation could lead to a 5x increase in productivity, aligning with the prediction that 60% of retail tasks could be automated by 2025.
Challenges and Opportunities
While the benefits are clear, robotic automation also presents unique challenges. It requires significant investment, skilled human capital, and sophisticated systems and processes. Yet, with 95% of wasted time in material handling eliminated through automation, the long-term returns merit the investment. Moreover, companies that fully leverage automation can expect 20% higher profit margins than their less-digitized counterparts. Given these prospects, 80% of warehouses are anticipated to use robots by 2025, furthering the case for automation.
Key Takeaways
- Organizations increasingly adopt robotic automation, with projections signaling substantial investment growth in robotic systems.
- Automation can greatly boost productivity, as exemplified by SoftWear Automation's SEWBOT, which performs the work of approximately 17 humans in T-shirt production.
- Despite the initial financial and human capital requirements, automation's long-term benefits, such as increased profit margins and efficiency gain, make the investment well worthwhile.
3Laws Robotics is positioned to support and amplify these industry trends and use cases. They offer innovative solutions to enhance the safety and reliability of robotic systems. Their software, 3Laws Supervisor, is designed to simplify the challenging process of system certification, a vital concern for robotics companies.
The 3Laws Supervisor is built upon Control Barrier Functions (CBFs), a technology cultivated at Caltech, purporting mathematically provable safety. This software boasts a range of capabilities including warehouse automation - resulting in a 40% efficiency gain for an autonomous forklift customer - safe human-robot interaction, and reactive collision avoidance in dynamic environments. These functionalities enable robots to operate close to their peak capabilities while remaining safe, minimizing downtime, and enhancing overall operational efficiency.
3Laws' software is flexible and compatible with a variety of platforms - from mobile robots to cars, drones, and manipulators - and common robotics middleware like ROS and ROS2. 3Laws Robotics goes beyond traditional e-stop methods to offer a proactive, predictive safety approach that could potentially be safety certified for ISO 3691-4 and ISO 26262. It is a next-generation safety solution unlocking the full potential of robotics.