Zebra Technologies winding down Fetch-based mobile robot group news from the Robot Report. Steve Crowe writes in the news item, “Zebra Technologies is winding down its autonomous mobile robot (AMR) division. The group was built around Zebra’s $290 million acquisition of AMR maker Fetch Robotics in 2021. The move marks a strategic retreat from the robotics push Zebra launched to expand its warehouse automation capabilities.”
I can’t find news on Zebra’s site, and they haven’t sent anything to me, but Crowe continues, “It’s unclear exactly how this story will end. According to multiple sources, Zebra is looking to sell its robotics division or ultimately shut it down. According to the sources, most of the robotics staff will be let go by the end of 2025. About 25% of the staff will stay on until March 2026 to manage current deployments. Multiple former employees of Zebra’s AMR group posted yesterday on LinkedIn that they are looking for new roles.”
Rockwell Automation hosted its annual Automation Fair last month. The head of the robotics unit, and former AMR technologist, spoke to us. Between his presentation and that of the upgrades to Rockwell’s own manufacturing, it looks as if they are making strides at integrating these products into their overall solution package. The tech may not fit everyone’s strategic portfolio.
Ash Sharma, VP of research at market intelligence company Interact Analysis sent these comments about the market. They are pretty accurate.
“Fetch was acquired at the peak of the AMR hype cycle for nearly 30 times its annual revenue, despite likely operating at a loss. Other companies adopted similar strategies, paying exceptionally high valuations to secure a share of this fast-growing sector. For example, ABB Robotics acquired Spanish firm ASTI, and Teradyne purchased Mobile Industrial Robots. All three have faced challenges integrating and scaling these startups, leading to divestments or significant reductions in investment.
“Although the AMR industry now exceeds $4 billion annually and continues to grow at a double-digit rate, a common misconception is that it represents a single addressable market for any vendor. In reality, the industry comprises multiple segments, each requiring specific AMR form factors tailored to distinct workflows. The segment targeted by Zebra through Fetch’s technology was worth only a few hundred million dollars.
“Another misconception is that Western markets dominate AMR adoption. In fact, China manufactures and installs more than half of all AMRs worldwide.
“The greatest challenge lies in scaling AMR operations. Five years ago, most AMRs were sold to small organisations purchasing only a handful of robots. This fragmented customer base made scaling difficult for companies lacking broad distribution and sales networks. Mobile Industrial Robots grew rapidly during this period. However, the market has since evolved. While small customers remain, most AMR volume now comes from major retailers and 3PLs, which deploy hundreds of robots per site and thousands across networks. Their requirements and procurement processes differ significantly from early adopters, demanding a fundamentally different approach to achieve scale.”
It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.—Attributed to Yogi Berra
This is the season of predictions. Take them with a grain of salt. They are useful thought experiments. Extrapolation from past data is fraught with potential errors. Policy initiatives from Washington remains volatile. But we do need to wrap our brains around what’s happening in order to do some sort of planning for next year. These thoughts appear pretty rational to me.
This is the second of decent thinking and research about the manufacturing market that has come my way. I’ve talked with principals of Interact Analysis about their methodology and remain more favorably disposed toward their analyses than others I’ve seen.
In short:
Disparity between manufacturing’s perceived downturn and actual performance.
Total global production is expected to grow 1.9% to $46.7T in 2025.
Some smaller Asian and European territories are registering strong growth.
They take a look at recent output numbers and factor policy volatility.
Global manufacturing production output is currently relatively stable and growing in multiple regions, according to the latest data from market intelligence specialist Interact Analysis. Manufacturing output growth of 1.9% to $46.7 trillion is forecast for 2025. However, underlying pessimism caused by global economic uncertainty and fears surrounding trade tariffs continue and are particularly affecting the machinery market. With access to 7-8 months of production indicators for the majority of regions for 2025, the Manufacturing Industry Output Tracker shows a clear disparity has emerged between the market’s perceived downturn and its actual performance.
US production output currently remains positive despite global trade wars, with predicted growth of between 2% and 3% for 2025. Other countries where the outlook remains good include Brazil, India, China, and smaller APAC territories, which continue to show signs of expansion. While the largest economies in Europe have struggled in recent years, this is partially offset by growth in smaller, emerging countries. However, the European region as a whole is expected to register a -0.1% contraction in manufacturing output in 2025.
Steady growth forecast for all regions out to 2030.
All major regions are expected to see growth longer-term, but smaller territories have far more headroom to grow and significantly less baggage than their larger counterparts. Globally, manufacturing industry growth has a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.3% between 2025 and 2030. For 2025, the outlook in the Americas is 2.1%, compared with 2.5% in Asia, and -0.1% in Europe. Between 2025 and 2030, CAGRs are projected to hit 2.3% in the Americas, 2.3% in Europe, and 3.3% in Asia; indicating steady long-term growth overall.
Jack Loughney, Senior Data Analyst for Interact Analysis, says: “We still don’t fully appreciate what the long-term impacts of tariffs will be. With such a changeable global trade climate, it is understandable that industries, particularly more traditional ones requiring larger investments, are cautious. This is having a clear impact on machinery sales and order books, as investment is delayed while companies wait and see what the outcome of global trade wars will be.”
“However, the overall outlook for manufacturing output is for steady growth through to 2030. Smaller territories, particularly those in the APAC region and Europe, are expected to continue to benefit from stronger growth potential than their larger, more established counterparts.”
Manufacturing Industry Output Tracker (MIO)
In a fast-moving sector with complex correlations, it is critical to understand the state of the market now, where it was, and where it will be. This quarterly-updated tracker quantifies the total value of manufacturing production with deep granularity – for over 102 industries and sub-industries, across 45 countries, and presenting 17 years of historical data – for a complete business cycle, pre-recession to the present day.
This is the season of predictions. Take them with a grain of salt. They are useful thought experiments. Extrapolation from past data is fraught with potential errors. Policy initiatives from Washington remains volatile. But we do need to wrap our brains around what’s happening in order to do some sort of planning for next year. These thoughts appear pretty rational to me.
Manufacturers are heading into 2026 with soft demand, rising costs, and growing pressure on their workforces. The sector spent much of 2025 in contraction, with the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index below the growth threshold and factory employment declining. More than 42,000 jobs were eliminated between April and August alone — including 12,000 in one month — as companies reduced headcount to offset rising costs and soft demand for durable goods such as vehicles and appliances. This combination of falling orders, job cuts, and reduced capital spending signals that manufacturers are entering 2026 focused heavily on cost control and cash preservation.
Tariff volatility and supply-chain uncertainty are intensifying financial strain across the sector. Input costs for materials and components climbed through 2025 as shifting tariff policies raised prices for steel, aluminum, and other intermediate goods. Many manufacturers also expect input costs to rise more than 5 percent in the year ahead, while more than three-quarters identified trade uncertainty as their top concern. In this environment, some companies push out supplier payments as a short-term relief strategy — a behavior reflected in rising Days Beyond Terms, meaning the number of days late a company pays its bills. While delaying payments may temporarily stabilize a manufacturer’s own balance sheet, it often strains smaller suppliers that depend on predictable cash flow to meet their own obligations.
The outlook for 2026 will hinge on whether manufacturers can protect liquidity while investing strategically in areas of proven demand. There are meaningful openings ahead, including expanded tax incentives for equipment investment, renewed reshoring momentum, strong demand tied to data-center infrastructure, and more than $500 billion in announced commitments to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Manufacturers with strong liquidity, stable supplier relationships, and disciplined cost management will be best positioned to capitalize on these opportunities and pursue modernization and automation initiatives. For those already experiencing cash-flow volatility or tariff-related margin pressure, the priority will be maintaining financial stability and avoiding overextension. In 2026, the companies most likely to outperform will be the ones that protect the balance sheet, manage risk carefully, and align investments with demonstrated market demand rather than optimistic forecasts.
Disclaimer
The above commentary reflects the current opinion of Creditsafe and may differ from or be contrary to those expressed by other entities or individuals. Creditsafe’s opinion is based upon data derived from selected public and licensed sources, which Creditsafe believes to be reliable. Creditsafe cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information. The above commentary does not constitute and should not be construed as investment advice or recommendations by Creditsafe.
Not long after news from another automation supplier about an investment in manufacturing in the US, here comes news from Teradyne Robotics about an investment in suburban Detroit. I’m sure it’s beneficial for Teradyne both for saving shipping costs (we won’t mention the T word) and also for improving customer service. The products to be manufactured here were designed and built in Denmark.
Perhaps this indicates some resurgence in American manufacturing? I hope so.
Teradyne Robotics announced it will open a new U.S. Operations Hub in Wixom, Metro Detroit, Michigan in 2026. This strategic expansion reflects Teradyne Robotics’ commitment to operating close to its customers and meeting the growing manufacturing demand in the U.S. and the Americas.
The new facility will manufacture Universal Robots (UR) industrial collaborative robots (cobots), with future potential to include MiR autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). It will also serve as a regional customer training center, service hub, and visitor experience center.
The new U.S. Operations Hub will support the re-industrialization of America with advanced robotics. The company seeks to support the evolving needs of American industry, including productivity, reshoring, upskilling, and increased automation to address workforce challenges and enhance global competitiveness.
This facility expands Teradyne Robotics’ presence in the Detroit area, creating over 200 jobs over the coming years and an all-new robotics technology hub supporting advanced manufacturing in Michigan, the Midwest, and throughout America.
A recent survey shows that 73% of North American manufacturers cite productivity improvement as their top reason for investing in automation. Of the companies already using cobots, the vast majority (87%) are already seeing double-digit productivity improvements. Eighty-three per cent of all respondents reported positive employee sentiment towards robotics adoption.
I’ll be writing about a report from a survey indicating that executives anticipate spending on automation next year in order to improve operations. This gives Teradyne a jump on the market.
I visited Automation Fair, Rockwell Automation’s annual customer showcase gathering, Tuesday. We had six briefings and a gathering to discuss the new ControlLogix 5590 platform. This year’s event felt both similar to past years (this was my 29th) and also a bit different. The original format recreated the trade show environment. The past few years has seen a change to include large keynotes as other large automation suppliers traditionally feature and more breakout sessions. And a bit more than 10,000 people turned out. (I didn’t get an official number, but guessing was perhaps 12,000 total attendees.)
The briefings provided insight into several areas of the company including cybersecurity, building new manufacturing “factory of the future” using Rockwell products and services, software defined architecture, and a bit more. All of this I will detail in my next post.
The big news…
I’m old enough to remember Rockwell Automation moving a lot of manufacturing, especially for control products, to Asia. Recently they’ve touted a new production line for OTTO AMRs in Milwaukee. Executives also pointed to work in progress upgrading production lines in Twinsburg, Ohio.
Following an established theme for 2025 manufacturing, Rockwell Automation has announced plans to build a new, 1 million square foot facility somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin. The project marks the next step in the company’s previously announced $2 billion investment in plants, digital infrastructure, and talent to grow share, build resilience, and expand margins over the next five years. The facility has the potential to be Rockwell’s largest manufacturing campus globally, with a significant footprint and the flexibility to scale operations.
Note that this is an announcement. Much work remains before anything physical happens. We were give a bit more detail here.
This new facility will span more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space and will be equipped with advanced automation, robotics, and digital systems that will showcase modern manufacturing and demonstrate Rockwell’s leadership in industrial automation.
And the obligatory quotes:
“Rockwell Automation has been leading the way with high-quality manufacturing and technology solutions for over a century. We’re incredibly proud of that tradition and how they’ve continued to exemplify the innovation and excellence that Wisconsin is known for, and we are excited to celebrate their continued growth and success in our state,” says Gov. Tony Evers. “I want to thank Rockwell Automation for their ongoing commitment to Wisconsin, our workforce, and our communities, and I look forward to seeing how this newest expansion will accelerate our statewide goals of building a 21st-century workforce and economy.”
“Designing a new facility presents the opportunity to create the future of industrial operations, with highly orchestrated production,” says Blake Moret, chairman and CEO at Rockwell Automation. “We are expanding our U.S. manufacturing footprint with advanced production capability that supports growth and performance with the latest Rockwell technologies and solutions.”
“It will integrate the latest in Rockwell’s production technologies, including AI and analytics tools, to increase efficiency and precision, while providing team members with access to advanced tools and training. I’m excited to see our highly skilled workforce maximize the potential of this site,” says Bob Buttermore, chief supply chain officer at Rockwell Automation. “This investment reflects our confidence in our teams that deliver excellence every day.”
Buttermore told us at the media briefing that his team’s work is to bring in some of the margins paid out to other companies through more vertical integration.
This reinforces Rockwell’s long-term commitment to American manufacturing and to the skilled workforce that drives production and innovation. The Southeastern Wisconsin location will be near the company’s global headquarters in Milwaukee.
Construction and site planning are in progress in concert with local and state officials. Additional details will be shared as the project advances.
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We met in a conference room at an office in Barrington, IL. A place where sometime later a couple guys thought they’d screw me in a business deal. I came out ahead in the end, but the place has mixed memories.
This meeting involved thinking about the future of asset data and systems interoperability. We had a system diagram. The idea was to solve a huge problem for owner/operators of process manufacturing enterprises—flowing engineering data into other software systems for operations, maintenance, and enterprise. The incumbent system was a morass of paper (or pdf documents which was much the same thing).
We did trademark searches and domain name searches and eventually settled on the Open Industrial Interoperability Ecosystem—OIIE.
I plot this history for context for the conference I attended recently—the 2nd ADIF Workshop at Texas A&M University dubbed Driving Asset Data and Systems Interoperability Toward an Open and Neutral Data Ecosystem.
This workshop brought together owner/operators, EPCs, System Integrators, university researchers, standards organizations, and software vendors. Each group conducted a panel discussion of its needs and successes. I was there for a short presentation and to moderate the standards panel.
Professor David Jeong from Texas A&M and the session leader previewed the discussions. One of his colleagues later presented research his team has performed to provide a method for taking P&ID documentation into a standard format usable by other software systems.
The message that came to me from the panel of owner/operators (grossly summarized, as will be all the discussions) included two key words—collaborate and operationalize. They are impatient about solving this data interoperability problem. One panelist quipped, “We know the project is finished when the large van backs into the loading dock and disgorges mountains of paper.”
What blows my mind is that I was moved to a position called Data Manager in 1977 to tackle the (much smaller) mountain of paper our product engineering department provided to operations, accounting, and inventory management. I led a digitalization effort in 1978 to tackle the problem. The problem not only remains, but it is immensely more complicated and critical.
The EPCs basically said that their hands were tied by the owner/operators mandating which design and engineering software to use and the inflexibility of the vendors of said design and engineering software. When owner/operators had requested digital documentation, they had responded with pdfs. Hardly interoperable data.
Our standards panel included the leader of DEXPI, whose organization has developed a method of changing P&ID data into an xlsx (Excel) format. That, of course, is a good start.
An organization called CFIHOS (see-foss) presented their take on standards. I’m afraid I got a bit lost in the slides (note: more research needed). What I gathered was that they were attempting one overriding standard—and that that work was years away. Interesting that I listened to Benedict Evans’ podcast this morning. He is a long-time tech industry analyst. He remarked in another context, “It seems that where there are 10 standards and someone comes along with a standard to encompass them all, you wind up with 11 standards.”
The ISA-95 was presented. This messaging (and more) standard is incorporated with the OIIE, which was presented next. Dr. Markus Stumptner of the University of South Australia presented his research work on proof of concept of the OIIE.
If we can get enough momentum focusing on this area and find some SIs willing to take the OIIE to an owner/operator, perhaps we can finally prove the business case of asset data and systems interoperability.
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