MOTIVATION FOR AUTOMATION

A recent survey of manufacturing companies found that the main motivations for installing Automation was to

• Increase Efficiency
• Increase Productivity/Speed
• Provide a more consistent product
• Reduction of costs and errors
• Reduce the need for manual labour, thereby creating a more streamlined workforce.

But it would appear that these initial observations have in fact been superseded, in 2026 the motivation for automation has shifted from a “luxury” to a strategic survival requirement. With the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan and the EU’s focus on decarbonisation, businesses are automating to solve the “Triple Threat” labour shortages, uncompetitive energy costs, and the need for extreme precision. So things have progressed rather rapidly and some factors have not been in the direct control of the Robotics Industry.

The 2026 “Motivation Matrix”

Automation also enhanced safety by taking over dangerous tasks that were formerly done by human workers. Improved finished products and the allowance to free-up human workers for higher value tasks were other bonuses of the automation project. Businesses also automate to improve customer satisfaction, ensure compliance and to remain competitive in rapidly evolving markets.

Car Production lines (as seen above ) have gone through vast changes over the past 45 years as companies required more competitiveness in the market. So is all in the garden rosy, well as with anything there is a price to pay. There are negative impacts that need addressing before any company goes down the automation route.

• Job displacement and depending on the type of Industry this potentially could be huge.
• decreased flexibility and adaptability to changing market needs.
• loss of essential human skills.
• Cybersecurity risks and open to hacking.
• Initial costs of installing and integrating an automated system.

One way that the Industry has sought to overcome this last problem has been the introduction of RaaS (Robotics as a Service) similar to the SaaS (Software as a Service) business model whereby a company can obtain automation on a recurring subscription payment basis, some monthly or quarterly rather than a large upfront payment for purchasing equipment.

This model allows businesses to avoid high initial expenditure, freeing up funds and offering financial flexibility. thus smaller companies can adopt automation earlier. Also for the Engineering manager under the studious eye of the accountants it can be put down as (OpEx) operational expenditure rather than (CapEx) capital expenditure.

The other negativity about Automation- the human cost, is something that Governments and Politicians Globally are going to have to address at some stage. If all the human skills are gone from the workplace and with the forecast AI revolution set to decimate White-collar jobs there could be a lot of people sat around feeling downtrodden and abandoned, who knows how that will pan out. If you observe the photograph above, not 1 human is in the frame !!

It would now appear that at long last the Government has woken up to the Pro’s and Con’s of the Robotics Industry,  in early 2026, the landscape for UK automation has shifted from “expensive luxury” to “strategic necessity,” largely driven by aggressive government backing. A cornerstone of this shift is the Made Smarter Adoption programme, which recently received a significant £99 million boost. This initiative is designed specifically to strip away the financial and technical barriers for SMEs, offering match-funded grants and specialist digital roadmaps that help businesses integrate industrial robotics and “smart” factory technologies. For many firms, this funding provides the final nudge needed to transition from manual processes to automated systems that can run 24/7 with higher precision and lower waste.

Beyond the hardware, the government is also tackling the “robotics talent gap” through the newly reformed Growth and Skills Levy. Replacing the more rigid apprenticeship levy in April 2026, this new system offers businesses unprecedented flexibility to fund shorter, modular training units rather than just multi-year apprenticeships. This means a company can now use their levy funds to rapidly upskill existing staff in specific areas—like cobot maintenance or AI-driven process control—ensuring that when the robots arrive, the workforce is ready to manage them. Together, these incentives represent a dual-track strategy: providing the capital to buy the technology and the flexible funding to master it.

Key UK Government Support for Automation (2026)