Wprost Innovators: Opportunities of robotics and automation for the development of Polish industry

Participants in the debate “Opportunities for robotics and automation for the development of Polish industry” pointed out that the pace of implementation in Poland is limited by, among others, incomplete data on investment effectiveness, entrepreneurs’ caution and lack of a coherent approach to combining technology with financial analysis.

The debate “Chances of robotics and automation for the development of Polish industry” showed what robotization and automation of industry in Poland looks like today and in what direction it can develop. The interlocutors devoted most of their attention to considerations on where there are the most implementations, what in practice slows them down and why companies are increasingly looking not at the technologies themselves, but at the entire production process and its efficiency. An important topic was data, investment profitability and how to combine technical knowledge with a business approach to projects.

As he emphasized Stefan Czykowski, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Polish Automation and Robotics Forum (FAiRP)the automotive industry is still the dominant area.

– Most robots go to the automotive industry, i.e. car production – this part of the market largely contributes to the overall statistics – he pointed out.

Czyczkowski drew attention to the problem of the quality of investment decisions and the approach to costs.

– The cheapest offer is never the best. If it is known from the beginning that the budget does not allow for sensible implementation, the project simply cannot work, he emphasized.

The panelists agreed that the importance of supplier experience and cooperation with the client from the beginning of the project is the key to success.

The thread of moving from individual machines to managing entire processes has developed Sławomir Wachowski, director of automation and digital solutions at SECO/WARWICK. As he pointed out, robotization less and less means purchasing a device, and more and more often means designing the entire chain of operations.

– The robot itself is not a goal. Value is created only in the process – from material input, through logistics, to data and their analysis – he said.

Wachowski emphasized the growing role of simulation tools and digital twins, which allow for earlier assessment of the sense of investment.

– Today we can virtually check whether a production line will work at all before it is built. This is a huge change in the approach to design – he added.

He spoke from the perspective of implementations in specific industries, especially those requiring logistics Paweł Zieliński, expert in business development and new technologies at Fehr Polska. It concerned, among others, to the window joinery sector, where production is highly individual in nature.

– Windows are not produced for stock, but for a specific project, with a very large number of variants, and this is a huge challenge for logistics and automation – he explained.

Zieliński also emphasized that the key implementation problem remains the lack of reliable data on pre-investment processes.

– It is difficult to assess the profitability of automation if we do not know what the process looked like before and where we actually waste time or resources – he pointed out.

In the expert’s opinion, measurement and analysis should precede investment decisions.

Debate participants pointed out that one of the main obstacles to the development of robotization is the investment caution of entrepreneurs and the lack of competences combining engineering with finance. It was pointed out that without such a connection, it is difficult to reliably assess the return on investment and avoid projects that do not meet the real needs of production plants.