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
An industrial robotics company, working in Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ludhiana & Rajkot. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- An industrial robotics company
- Sector
- Industrial robots & automation
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Business panel, Qualitative research, Quantitative research
Client challenge
Robot adoption was growing among large automotive plants but remained rare in small and mid-sized factories. The company wanted to understand what held these manufacturers back and how to make automation feel achievable.
Research objectives
- Answer the core question: why small manufacturers hesitate to adopt industrial robots.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
Scope: 40 interviews, 450 survey responses.
Audiences we typically reach in industrial robots & automation
Plant heads and ownersProduction engineersSystem integratorsAutomation distributorsMaintenance teams
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ludhiana & Rajkot. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Plant owner interviews
- 3Telephone survey
- 4Insight
We first interviewed owners and plant heads at small factories in machining, welding and packaging clusters, exploring their experiences with automation, labour challenges and investment decisions. A telephone survey then measured how common each barrier was, segmented by industry and company size.
Business panelQualitative researchQuantitative research
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.
- Telephone contacts were dialled from verified lists, with quotas tracked live by the field team.
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- interviews
- 40
- survey responses
- 450
- Telephone interviews were run from our CATI centre, with calls monitored for quality.
- 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.
Data quality & validation
- Live call monitoring and recording review
- Call-back verification
- 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
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Owners were less worried about robot prices than about downtime during installation, lack of in-house skills and uncertainty about payback.
- Early pilots were placed with owners who had taken part in the research, which gave the company real case examples for other factories in the same clusters.
Reducing perceived risk mattered more than reducing the price.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: reducing perceived risk mattered more than reducing the price.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: owners were less worried about robot prices than about downtime during installation, lack of in-house skills and uncertainty about payback.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The company introduced fixed-price pilot cells with guaranteed installation timelines, operator training and a simple payback calculator for its sales team.
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
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what stops plants from automating?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.