Industry overview
What is shaping industrial robots & automation
Industrial automation and robotics are moving from large plants to mid-sized manufacturers. Adoption depends on clear payback, integrator support and confidence in the technology.
- Plant heads need a clear business case before investing
- System integrators are central to successful adoption
- Skills gaps slow down deployment
Client background
A global automation company entering India, working in India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A global automation company entering India
- Sector
- Industrial robots & automation
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Research consultancy, Financial modelling, Business panel
Client challenge
The company needed a credible estimate of demand for collaborative robots in India to plan its entry, but published estimates varied widely and lacked transparent assumptions.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: sizing the market for collaborative robots in Indian factories.
- Uncover the motivations and barriers people do not state in a survey.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 9 weeks.
Target audience
Scope: 45 interviews with integrators, plant heads and experts.
Audiences we typically reach in industrial robots & automation
Plant heads and ownersProduction engineersSystem integratorsAutomation distributorsMaintenance teams
Geographic coverage
Coverage: India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A qualitative design, built to uncover motivations, decision processes and the language people actually use.
- 1Brief
- 2Desk research
- 3Expert and integrator interviews
- 4Bottom-up model
- 5Insight
We combined industry data on factories by sector and size with interviews with system integrators, plant engineers and industry experts, estimating which applications were realistic for collaborative robots. Our finance team built a bottom-up model with scenarios and clearly stated assumptions. We also tested the model’s assumptions in follow-up conversations with several integrators, adjusting them where real project experience suggested different adoption rates.
Research consultancyFinancial modellingBusiness panel
Sampling strategy
- Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
- Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- interviews
- 45
- The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
- Secondary sources and client data were compiled and cross-checked before modelling.
Data quality & validation
- Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
- Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
- Review of open-ended answers
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
- Market model built from secondary data and primary evidence
Key findings
- Electronics assembly, packaging and machine tending in mid-sized plants offered the most realistic early demand.
Integrators knew where demand really was, because they saw projects before anyone else.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: integrators knew where demand really was, because they saw projects before anyone else.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: electronics assembly, packaging and machine tending in mid-sized plants offered the most realistic early demand.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The company prioritised partnerships with integrators serving those sectors and presented the model to its global leadership.
- The model was handed over with documentation, so the India team could update it each quarter as new project data arrived.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what do integrators need from robot makers?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.