Market Executive Summary

REPORT HIGHLIGHT

The pharmaceutical robots market is estimated to represent a global market of USD 147.3 million by 2017 with growth rate of 15.3%.

Market Dynamics

Automation has become an important part of pharmaceutical manufacturing. Automation in packaging and inspections offers benefits such as improve efficiency, reduce training overhead, eliminate human error and increase reproducibility. Pharmaceutical companies are gradually injecting more robotic systems into their operations due to its associated advantages. For instance, use of robotic systems can speed up high throughput screening (HTS) where millions of molecular compounds are tested to determine which could become new drugs. According to the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), robotic technologies are projected to handle over 35% of pharmaceutical packaging operations in the U.S. by 2018, compared to 20% in 2013.

Therefore, companies are actively investing in robotic systems to automate the operations. For example, recently, in June 2017, Merck expanded its packaging capacity at Swiss biotech manufacturing site of Aubonne. This facility is equipped with fully automated and robotized logistic to support the growth of biotech medicine portfolio. Likewise, in November 2014, Argos Therapeutics partnered with Invetech to develop automated manufacturing systems for personalized immunotherapy. This system is based on Argos? proprietary Arcelis technology platform and uses two & five-axis robotic arms in the production of the mRNA. Such facts are portraying the strong demand for these products in the medical industry. However, lack of expertise and high initial cost will hamper the industry growth to some extent.

Product Takeaway

Product wise, the market is segmented into SCARA, Articulated, Traditional, Cartesian, Dual-arm, and Collaborative Pharmaceutical Robots. Cartesian robots accounted for over 15% share of the global market and are projected to grow with 14.3% CAGR over the study period. Growing demand for Cartesian robots is majorly attributed to its low cost, although its restricted range of motions will limit product usage. On the flip side, collaborative robots will see greater adoption by pharmaceutical manufacturers as they are more capable in tough manufacturing settings.

Application Takeaway

Depending upon applications, the market is classified as Picking and Packaging, Laboratory Applications and Inspection of Pharmaceutical Drugs. The end-use industry is segmented into Research Laboratories and Pharmaceutical Companies. Research laboratories captured 32.1% share of the global market. Some of the work assisted by pharmaceutical robots in research lab includes assay analysis and automatic movement of test tubes.

Key Vendor Takeaway

Companies namely Fanuc Corporation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Kuka AG, ABB Ltd., Yaskawa Electric Corporation, Mitsubishi, Denso Wave Incorporated, and Universal Robots are operating in this industry. Strategic acquisitions have become an important business strategy for key players looking to expand their presence in this market. For instance, in January 2017, Zimmer Biomet, an orthopedic device acquired surgical robotic company named Medtech SA. This acquisition has added Medtech?s FDA approved Rosa surgical robot to the Zimmer?s product portfolio.

The market size and forecast for each segment and sub-segments has been considered as below:

Historical Year ? 2017 ? 2021
Base Year ? 2021
Estimated Year ? 2022
Projected Year ? 2028
TARGET AUDIENCE

Traders, Distributors, and Suppliers
Manufacturers
Government and Regional Agencies and Research Organizations
Consultants
Distributors
SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The scope of this report covers the market by its major segments, which include as follows:

MARKET, BY PRODUCTS

SCARA
Articulated
Traditional
Cartesian
Dual-arm
Collaborative
MARKET, BY APPLICATION

Picking and Packaging
Laboratory Applications
Pharmaceutical Drugs
MARKET, BY REGION

North America
U.S.
Canada
Europe
Germany
France
Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific
India
China
Rest of APAC
Rest of the World
Middle East and Africa
Latin America