Can play a crucial role in the competitiveness of EU manufacturing by serving the improvement of quality control, predictive maintenance, and energy management, but also reducing the need for physical interventions, thus optimizing the overall plant availability.
The human workforce remains the cornerstone of modern factories, possessing invaluable qualities such as decision-making abilities in unpredictable situations, adaptability to process new variants, dexterity, and continuous learning capabilities. Furthermore, the industry-specific knowledge and skills developed by experienced production workers are essential assets for sustaining excellence within the EU. Recognizing the upcoming challenges posed by an aging workforce, and the results already achieved so far with advanced robotic solutions, bringing the augmentation technologies to the final stage for seamless human-robot collaboration can play a vital role in preserving and enhancing human capabilities while also addressing potential labor shortages.
This priority is a strategic imperative for achieving long-term competitiveness and resilience in the face of global challenges and disruptions.