Among other elements, rising labor costs are pushing more companies in heavy industries to leverage industrial robotics. The industrial robotics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.19 percent from 2016 to 2020, RnR Market Research announced on Monday.

Robotic automation is being used more and more in smart factories, to reduce human error, and to improve efficiency within a business. Labor costs in China have been rising by almost 10 percent yearly since 2001, while the switch to robots enable a 50 percent save in production cost and reduce workers’ idle time. Likewise, cycle time and raw material wastage can be reduced in heavy industries for tasks like welding and sheet handling.

As well as reducing operational costs, the adoption of industrial robotics has also grown as companies adjust to governmental scrutiny.

In 2015, the material handling robotics segment accounted for almost 47 percent of the global industrial robotics market in heavy industries, while the metalworking machinery segment accounted for 26 percent. Material handling sometimes involves heavy payloads and harsh working conditions to which robots are well suited, while increased capability for robot-machine tool collaboration has made robots more helpful for metalworking.

Despite the increased adoption, robotics vendors still have very long lead times even for small orders, which can deter especially small companies from investing in this area.

The report on industrial robotics around the world can be found in full at MrM Market Research.