Print Innovation Asia Issue 6 2022
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By James McKew, Regional President APAC, Universal Robots
Are Robotic Technologies Ushering in a Job-pocalypse? In the past years, businesses were battered by the COVID-19 pandemic while the economy was significantly hit. Countries around the world have witnessed huge implications caused by the pandemic, including sudden labour shortages, supply chain challenges and default work from home arrangements resulting in absenteeism of human resources. While the modern workflows were designed with productivity in mind, the lack of preparedness for an unforeseen pandemic and economic crisis has caught multiple sectors off guard. Fast forward to today, despite signs of economic recovery, challenges involving labour shortages remain. Employees have begun to re-evaluate their working lives, resulting in many turning away from roles that are dull and dangerous. According to the 2021 APAC Workforce Insights Report, the top challenges reshaping the workforce include the lack of local talents, high attrition rate and retention of talents. Businesses look for alternative solutions to solve manpower shortages. Many fast-tracked initiatives and fuelled the incorporation of automation to maintain business continuity. According to the PwC's Global Crisis Survey
2021, 95 per cent of businesses globally have prioritised transformation in the top three areas; mainly operation, IT infrastructure and technology. This creates another concern, employees are threatened by the rapid adoption of emerging technologies, fearing that they will be out of step with progress without the latest skills.
Cobots are friends not foes With employees' fear of being replaced by technologies, and the constant labour shortage, manufacturers are caught between a rock and a hard place. They are navigating between the space of either investing in automation or hiring talents to increase production output. However, unlike the prejudices from
