SURVEYING THE SECTOR
The difficulty in hiring new talent , cited as one of the biggest challenges among 42 % of organisations , is creating the need for higher salaries to be offered to the most skilled and experienced in the sector .
Under this dark economic cloud , almost a third of businesses ( 32 %) are lacking confidence that their organisation will play a key role in helping the global drive for net zero carbon emissions , according to new research by Visual Components of US organisations . But it ’ s a responsibility that requires a collective effort . To keep global temperature increases limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels , we ’ re only a little over six years away from needing a drastic 45 % reduction in emissions .
Manufacturers must get their sustainability strategies back on track . With budgets squeezed , they need to invest in solutions that provide a quick ROI and support green practices .
The budgetary pinch
It ’ s perhaps unsurprising that green strategies among manufacturers have been placed on the back burner in the last few years , and it ’ s not just economic circumstances that have
negatively impacted budgets and drawn the focus away from environmental concerns . The difficulty in hiring new talent , cited as one of the biggest challenges among 42 % of organisations , is creating the need for higher salaries to be offered to the most skilled and experienced in the sector . According to further figures from the survey , all US companies have had to do this to ensure that key individuals don ’ t walk away and join a competitor .
Over a third of respondents ( 38 %) also report that the typical cost of downtime due to unreliable legacy equipment is between $ 12,701 –$ 31,750 . Ineffective utilisation of robots has also led to 17 % stating that between $ 31,751 –$ 63,500 has been wasted due to a mistake when deploying them . With these kinds of figures finding their way onto the balance sheet , how can manufacturers even begin to allocate financial resources to sustainable practices ?
Unsustainable strategies
Some manufacturers are implementing green initiatives to play their part in the collective effort . Results show that 36 % are taking steps to reduce their power usage , which has the combined benefit of reducing costs and making a positive impact on the planet . But legacy ways of working are counteracting these efforts in many cases , including the way in which robots complete tasks on the factory floor .
Take for example the tendency to manually program robots to complete tasks such as welding , cutting , spraying or processing . With human error always a possibility , these processes could be completed incorrectly due to
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