Effect of Usage of Industrial Robots on Quality, Labor Productivity, Exports and Environment

Industrial robots are slowly finding their way into manufacturing companies. This paper examines the impact of robots on productivity, exports, quality, sustainability and labor in European manufacturing companies. There is little research on the use of industrial robots and their impact in developed countries. Most research relates to Chinese companies, and often, the data are outdated. The data in this paper come from the European Manufacturing Survey project, which was conducted in 2022 and includes 476 manufacturing companies. The results of the impact of industrial robots on quality, labor productivity, exports and green technologies are determined using a T-test between companies that use industrial robots and those that do not. However, the impact of higher investment in environmental technologies by industrial robot users was examined by a two-stage OLS regression analysis with control variables representing the contextual characteristics of the companies. The results show positive effects on all of the variables. The results show that the greater use of robots occurs in industries with low-to-medium technology intensity, that robots contribute to labor productivity and exports and that companies that use robots also tend to use environmentally friendly technologies.