Until a few years ago, the phrase 'Industrial Revolution' was largely associated with radical engineering changes that transformed industry in Britain, and then the rest of the world. Two centuries later, we're experiencing another shift in the manufacturing landscape, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Nigel Smith, managing director of industrial robot distributor TM Robotics, investigates who is leading the way in the race for automated production. Statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) prove that the number of industrial robots used in production is increasing rapidly. However, three-quarters of total robot sales are currently attributed to just five countries - China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States and Germany.
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