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As new time beyond regulation laws for truck drivers in Japan come into impact in 2024, the nation is dealing with potential labor shortages and provide chain disruptions. Some name this the “2024 downside,” and the Worldwide Federation of Robotics, or IFR, claimed that automation is the answer to this downside.
In Japan, a heavy truck driver labored a median of two,568 hours in 2022. That is 444 hours longer than the nationwide common for all jobs, in line with Labor Ministry knowledge from 2022.
Beginning on April 1, 2024, the Japanese authorities is limiting truck drivers’ annual time beyond regulation to 960 hours. The federal government stated it hopes the laws will enhance working situations for truckers and make their jobs extra engaging, however it might lead to a serious labor scarcity. If this hole is left unaddressed, a 3rd of all cargo might go undelivered, leading to a ten million yen ($76 billion) hit to the Japanese financial system by 2030, Reuters reported.
“The federal government’s time beyond regulation cap is a vital step to enhance working situations for workers,” Takayuki Ito, vp of the IFR, stated in a launch.
“Industrial and repair robots ship nice options to automate,” he added. “Robots relieve staff of soiled, uninteresting and harmful work and assist to shut productiveness gaps.”
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How can robots clear up the ‘2024 downside’ in Japan?
Japan is the No. 1 industrial robotic producer on this planet, in line with IFR knowledge. In 2020, Japan manufactured 45% of the worldwide provide of business robots, it stated.
The nation is growing automation methods that the IFR stated couldn’t solely handle logistical wants, but additionally a variety of trade challenges the brand new laws will trigger.
Putting cargo out and in of vans and warehouses is likely one of the most time-consuming duties for truck drivers, making it an acceptable job for automation, stated the IFR. Cellular robots might save truck drivers as much as 25% of working time throughout a day’s shift, famous the Frankfurt, Germany-based group.
As well as, the IFR stated that robots can scale back errors so as success by automating repetitive duties resembling selecting and packing.
Warehousing robots might additionally assist shut the hole left by truckers working fewer hours. These can vary from compact autonomous cell robots (AMRs) to large-scale automated storage and retrieval methods (ASRS). These methods can scale back the period of time required to maneuver items. They will additionally deal with heavy masses and harmful supplies with out placing human staff in danger, stated the IFR.
“Laws of time beyond regulation work and the demographic change would require the adoption of automation expertise in lots of branches of the Japanese financial system,” Ito said. “The challenges of the trucking trade are good examples to point out how robotics and automation ship ample options for our workplaces of the longer term.”
Service robots increase worldwide
On a world scale, extra skilled service robots are being constructed for the transportation of products or cargo than every other perform, noticed the IFR. Gross sales grew by 44%, with greater than 86,000 items bought worldwide in 2022, discovered the group’s “World Robotics 2023” report.
Robotic installations hit an all-time excessive in 2021, in line with the IFR. It stated that 517,385 new industrial robots have been put in in 2021 in factories all over the world.
Robotic installations grew by 31% yr over yr in 2021. They exceeded the pre-pandemic file of robotic installations in 2018 by 22%, the IFR stated. The inventory of operational robots all over the world additionally hit a brand new file of about 3.5 million items.