SME Robotization Barometer in Hungary

Nearly a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses in Hungary plan to introduce robotics in the next three years, according to a survey commissioned by Universal Robots called the 'SME Robotization Barometer'.

Only 22.5% of companies planning robotics plan to introduce cobots (collaborative robots), however, this indicator is related to the size of the company - 22.8% of representatives of small businesses would introduce the use of cobots, while in medium-sized companies this proportion is 21. 1%. The study was conducted by an independent research agency between March 9 and April 6 among 180 Hungarian SMEs but published just recently.

Reducing costs, strengthening competitiveness and increasing production are the most important factors for SMEs to introduce robotics. Increasing production and eliminating the difficulties associated with worker turnover are typical drivers for small businesses. Among other things, SMEs expect robotics to enable them to reduce production costs, thereby improving their efficiency (72%), as well as increasing their competitiveness (71.4%) and the volume of products they produce (68.7%)., which is of greater importance to small businesses. In addition, it is important for companies to eliminate human error (61.3%), retain employees (63.9%), and improve product quality (56.6%) and production flexibility (54.6%).

Respondents mainly plan to robotize the following processes: assembly (27.6%) packaging and palletizing (20.3%), machine service (14.7%), painting (13.4%), pick and place (12.7%) .