Automated Guided Vehicles Market Covid-19
Published on : Monday 23-11-2020
Being autonomous, and capable of moving heavy loads, AGVs make it possible to diminish human interactions.
The automotive industry encompasses all those companies and activities that are involved in the production of motor vehicles, including components such as engines and bodies, but excluding batteries, tires, and fuel. Light trucks, including pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles are the main products of the automotive industry. Automotive industry contributes to several important dimensions of a nation such as: generating revenue, creating economic development, and promoting R&D and innovation. The US has one of the largest automotive markets across the globe. According to Select USA, in 2018, the US sales of light vehicles reached 17.2 million units. In terms of vehicle sales and production, the US is the world’s second-largest market in the world.
Disruptive technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are expected to continue to revolutionise the automotive sector, driving transformations across autonomous driving, electric powertrains, shared mobility, and vehicle and device connectivity.
What is Covid-19?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The spread of Covid-19 began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Covid-19 is a critical respiratory ailment caused by a newly emerged zoonotic coronavirus. The virus gets transmitted from human to human through droplets coughed or exhaled by infected persons and also by touching droplet-contaminated surfaces or objects and then touching the nose, mouth, or eyes.
Although the outbreak in China is almost over, this highly communicable disease is currently spreading across the globe at an exponential rate, with a daily increase in the number of affected countries, number of confirmed cases and infection-related deaths. As of 10th November 2020, the virus has spread across 219 countries, number of confirmed cases has grown to 50,676,072, and the number of confirmed deaths has mounted to 1,261,075. It’s highly unpredictable how long the current situation will persist, and nations across the globe will resume normalcy. Meanwhile, several vaccines are in the final trial phases, and are expected to be available in coming months.
Global impact of Covid-19 on Automated Guided Vehicles Market
The world witnessed an exponential rise in the spread of coronavirus disease in the early months of 2020. To limit the expansion of the virus, nations across the world imposed partial and complete lockdowns, thus shutting factories producing all kind of products, except the essential ones. The unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19 didn’t give the industries and companies time to plan or protect themselves from any losses. Covid-19 has severely affected all the industries on a global scale, including the automotive industry that is already coping with a decline in global demand.
Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are material handling systems or load carrying machines that travel autonomously throughout a distribution centre, manufacturing facility, or warehouse, without an onboard operator or driver. The adoption of AGVs has risen significantly in the recent years, as they are a reliable solution for material handling. The advantages such as reduced labour costs, increased safety, accuracy and productivity, associated with AGVs is the reason of rising usage of AGVs in several industries such as logistics, automotive, food & beverages, manufacturing, and e-commerce among others.
The challenges of restricted workforce amid the lockdowns can be overcome by employing AGVs in factories, wherever possible. On one hand, as the chances of transmission of Covid-19 become high in labour-intensive industries, the use of AGVs can help reduce the possibilities of the spread of the virus, while increasing the operational efficiencies at a workplace.
In the current scenario, the demand for non-contact deliveries has increased sharply across the world to decrease the risk of contamination. To allow the stores to remain open and make contactless delivery possible to the customers, Starship Technologies (Robotics Company) has deployed a fleet of delivery robots. The robots equipped with sensors, a camera and high-performance motors travel the streets autonomously to make deliveries of food and other essentials possible, thus reducing the chances of contamination of the customers. The maxon EC Flat and EC Frameless DC motors, and also maxon motors with integrated IDX electronics are quite popular with this type of application. AGVs have proved quite helpful during the current health crisis. Being autonomous, and capable of moving heavy loads, these vehicles make it possible to diminish human interactions.
Rising popularity of e-commerce owing to Covid-19 and improved safety standards at workplaces is giving a push to the demand for AGVs. Companies operating in the e-commerce business are adopting automated guided vehicles to enhance productivity and reduce labour cost. For instance, Flipkart (an Indian major online retailer) is using artificial intelligence (AI) powered bots that enable bots and humans to work together efficiently. Around 350 AI-powered bots Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) assist operators to process almost 4,500 shipments per hour, at twice the speed with remarkable accuracy. The rising adoption of AGVs across several applications can help limit the spread of virus, which in turn is anticipated to propel the demand for AGVs in the forecast timeframe.
The practice of maintaining social distance to avoid contamination by the virus during the global pandemic of 2020 has paved the way for connected, autonomous and intelligent innovations such as AGVs. The benefits offered by AGVs make it possible to maintain the human link, develop business relationships and offer more connectivity and personalisation, without compromising the safety of individuals.
Increasing the level of automation in automobiles will allow us to find new opportunities in the workplace, evolving at speed, at the same time maintaining safety. The coronavirus pandemic has pressed the need of preparedness by the industries for any unfortunate events in the future.
Post Covid-19
Disruptions witnessed in various businesses caused by Covid-19 pandemic is anticipated to bring a slump in the AGV revenues in 2020, but the demand for AGVs is forecast to bounce back in 2021 and grow considerably in the long term. The decrease in sales of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) is being witnessed across the globe owing to the delays being witnessed in new project contracts.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is anticipated to eventually overturn by ongoing trends like the increased adoption of e-commerce and the desire to reduce dependency on human labour, among others.
So says a study
According to a recent report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Automated Guided Vehicles Market, gives detailed analysis of the pandemic on the market. This includes the current impact on the revenue, sales, and new measures taken by players, among others.
Kindly Access full summary at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/automated-guided-vehicle-market
