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Lower than a decade in the past, the thought of totally autonomous cellular robots (AMRs) interacting seamlessly with human workers in warehouses and manufacturing services appeared like a futuristic imaginative and prescient. Immediately, 1000’s of AMRs from Cell Industrial Robots (MiR) ship elements, transport completed merchandise, and deal with a number of different logistics duties with out the necessity for human operators, separate work areas, or exterior steering.
That is solely the start of what’s projected to be multi-decade progress, with analysts anticipating the AMR market to have double-digit progress yearly by way of a minimum of 2027.
“MiR was one of many early movers within the AMR trade and was visionary in creating a scalable platform of robots that might be simply deployed and built-in into factories and warehouses,” stated Ash Sharma, managing director at Work together Evaluation. “It continues to innovate and has helped the trade develop from a fledgling trade to what’s now, a multi-billion-dollar sector with AMRs deployed in 1000’s of buildings around the globe.”
MiR president Jean-Pierre Hathout sees prospects now transitioning from utilizing AMRs in pilots to utilizing AMRs 24×7 in manufacturing functions and MiR is main that transition.
“Within the first 10 years of MiR’s historical past, we led the trade with progressive AMRs as we scaled globally with our prospects,” Hathout stated. “I couldn’t be extra excited in regards to the subsequent 10 years as we construct on that innovation to offer a full vary of AMR options on frequent software program for our world prospects. MiR has the confirmed merchandise, expertise and help construction to assist our prospects scale; and as part of Teradyne, we’re a trusted long-term provider for mission-critical manufacturing functions.”
Based with world ambitions
In Could 2013, MiR founder Niels Jul Jacobsen got down to revolutionize the best way corporations deal with their inner logistics. Thomas Visti joined him in late 2014. Each had in depth expertise from one other profitable robotics firm, Common Robots, offering them with beneficial market insights and a transparent technique for taking the corporate from scratch to a world-leading success in just a few brief years.
Within the early years, Visti was on the street with a MiR100 robotic behind his automotive, giving demos to distribution companions and potential prospects. From the very starting, nonetheless, MiR centered on a worldwide market method based mostly on gross sales and repair by way of distributors and a centered product vary. Immediately, MiR robots are bought by greater than 220 distributors and licensed system integrators in 60 international locations. Along with its headquarters in Odense, Denmark, MiR has regional workplaces in Boston; Holbrook, New York; San Diego; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; Georgetown, Kentucky; Singapore; Frankfurt; Barcelona; Yokohama; Seoul, and Shanghai.
An unbroken progress trajectory
In April 2018, U.S.-based Teradyne acquired MiR for $272 million, additional accelerating the corporate’s place as a worldwide market chief and offering monetary power and stability for sustained progress. From simply three workers at the beginning of 2015, MiR at the moment employs greater than 420 individuals globally, with an annual turnover of $77 million (USD) in 2022.
Giant multinational corporations, together with Toyota, Ikea, Novo Nordisk, Denso, DHL and Schneider Electrical, account for a majority of MiR’s gross sales. A merger with AutoGuide Cell Robots in 2022 added high-payload AMRs, furthering MiR’s technique of being a trusted provider of a full vary of AMRs to our world prospects.
A strategic deal with software program growth
Along with constantly creating new AMR fashions, MiR not too long ago launched a brand new cloud-based software program instrument that permits fleet homeowners to handle and optimize the operations of its robots by gaining actionable insights to enhance the robots’ deployment.
“As robotic fleets develop, so does the demand for software program instruments to optimize efficiency and handle full fleets,” Hathout added. “If we would like AMRs to be as frequent as forklifts and pallet lifters, it’s important that we decrease the boundaries for implementation, reprogramming and upkeep. We’ve already made substantial progress on this path, and I firmly consider we’ve got solely glimpsed the true potential of automated logistic options.”