ACHI-EV-ABLE? THE ROAD TO PURE ELECTRIC WILL TAKE EFFORT, BUT IS DOABLE

The car you drive is changing, forever.

And it’s changing at a pace and scale the world has never experienced before.

By 2035, it’s widely expected that electric vehicles (EVs) will outsell combustion-engine vehicles.

Yet, this EV revolution requires the greatest transformation in designing, engineering and building cars since the advent of the automated production line.?

One hundred years of knowledge in internal combustion is being set aside in a race to develop new propulsion technologies and hardware, requiring completely new manufacturing methods, and supply chains.

Alongside this, cars themselves are transforming from a world of mechanical engineering to one of software and mechatronics, becoming more intelligent and autonomous and with new levels of digitalization and data to manage.

New models, new manufacturers and new suppliers are emerging and growing at a rapid pace, while legacy manufacturers work to balance the complexity of diversifying into EVs alongside the production of combustion-engine vehicles.

And all of this is happening at a time of great uncertainty in global manufacturing.?Disrupted supply chains, triggered by a war in Europe and the residual effects of a global pandemic, rising energy costs, labor and skills shortages, and climate change are all driving new legislation, which means manufacturers need to act fast and efficiently.

This is why automotive manufacturers are looking for new ways to adapt, evolve and build resilience against the headwinds they face.

At ABB, we recently commissioned a global Manufacturing Outlook survey with Automotive Manufacturing Solutions magazine, which included close to 600 industry experts, including vehicle manufacturers, and suppliers, to identify the biggest challenges faced by the automotive sector on its transition journey.

Here are three of the most interesting trends it revealed.

1.???Many believe that EV adoption targets are challenging within regulatory timelines…but sustainable manufacturing is possible.?

More than half (59%) of respondents believe the shift to pure electric vehicle production is not achievable within current legislative timelines.

They highlighted challenges in adapting to a new battery supply chain, concerns over high levels of capital investment required, shortages of raw materials, suitable infrastructure, and a lack of grid capacity.

Only 11% of those we surveyed believed that all regional targets for EV adoption by 2030-2040 were realistic.

But on sustainable manufacturing industry leaders were more optimistic, with 80% saying that increasing sustainability is possible, if challenging. The greatest barrier cited, by one in four respondents, is the capital investment required.

For our customers, the path to EVs doesn’t just involve more robots, but more flexible and intelligent automation as OEMs manage the transition to electric vehicle production, build resilience against uncertainty and respond to new customer demands for greater personalization. Through automation, we can reduce build times, simplify production, reduce costs, material usage and waste to transition to EV faster and more efficiently, while making manufacturing more sustainable in the process.??

To achieve EV adoption targets within the regulatory timelines, traditional production lines will need to be replaced by flexible, modular production cells that are digitally connected and networked, and served by intelligent autonomous mobile robots

2.???Manufacturers are moving from “just in time,” to “just in case”

Supply chain disruption and rising material costs are causing the global automotive industry to re-evaluate lean manufacturing principles, shifting from ‘just-in-time’ to ‘just in case’ strategies, and holding more stock to protect against unplanned disruptions.

Nearly two thirds (62%) of respondents cited ongoing supply chain concerns when asked to select their top three challenges to automotive manufacturing. In response, many are turning to increased stock-holding and bulk material purchasing to limit their exposure to disruption elsewhere in the supply chain, while working with a wider network of suppliers to ensure sufficient availability of parts.

This seismic shift in manufacturing logistics requires smart, effective solutions. For example, we see a growing trend in automotive customers towards Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), connecting and integrating scalable, modular production cells and optimizing the delivery of components across facilities.?

3.???Workforce challenges are a growing global concern for automotive manufacturing… but there are regional variations.

Against such a turbulent background of change in automotive, our respondents cited rising labor costs and mounting workforce shortages as two of the primary concerns for automotive manufacturers. Nearly a third (31%) of all respondents listed labor shortages among their top three challenges, while 35% ranked labor as their most concerning area when it came to rising costs.

As global populations age and new generations show a reluctance towards manufacturing as a career, we see many customers looking to bridge their labor gaps with automation, especially in the more repetitive, dirty or dangerous jobs. We are bringing them the latest generation of collaborative robots, with machine learning capabilities, that are able to work directly alongside humans, share tasks and learn by experience through AI.

This issue was followed by 48% who expressed the view that new skills were required by a fast-changing automotive landscape, suggesting more needed to be done to attract people to the industry.

Against such a labor shift, in the new era of EVs the industry clearly needs new expertise – in software, electronics and user interfaces, as much as more traditional engineering skills.?Training, upskilling and education were cited by 58% of respondents – by far the largest single measure – as key to addressing the challenges of a changing workforce.?

Our survey also highlighted regional variations throughout the industry, with general labor shortages a greater concern in North America (56%), compared to Asia (37%) and Europe (34%). Conversely, new skill sets are in much greater demand in Asia (57%), in contrast to just 37% in North America and 48% in Europe.

Through ABB’s global education program with over 100 universities and 40 sites around the world, we educate more than 30,000 students from schools, colleges and universities, as well as apprentices and workers each year. By equipping today and tomorrow’s workers with the skills to thrive in a new era of automation, we can solve labor shortages and produce a more highly skilled global workforce.

Our survey is a snapshot of today, as automotive manufacturers are looking towards a decade of transformation in their industry – not just in what they produce, but how they produce it.?

Against a backdrop of far-reaching global mega trends – from labor shortages and supply chain uncertainty to the growing pressure to operate sustainably – the EV revolution will make tomorrow’s automotive industry almost unrecognizable.?

It’s clear from our survey that this change is already creating significant challenges.?How well and how quickly manufacturers can adapt and evolve to this revolution will likely determine whose car you are driving tomorrow.

The ABB Automotive Manufacturing Outlook Survey includes close to 600 global industry experts, from vehicle manufacturers, and suppliers at all levels of management, engineering and other key professionals throughout the automotive world. Commissioned by ABB Robotics & Automotive Manufacturing Solutions . Download full results: https://new.abb.com/products/robotics/initiatives/abb-ams-automotive-manufacturing-outlook-survey

For more on how ABB Robotics supports the Automotive industry visit https://new.abb.com/products/robotics/industries/automotive or follow Joerg Reger , Managing Director, Business Line Automotive Robotics & Discrete Automation