2024 was a record year for industrial robots, but the U.S. fell behind.
While the world installed 542,000 new robots, Asia carried nearly 75% of the growth.

America’s installs slipped. Orders for early 2025 show a rebound, but momentum only matters if deployments move faster, simpler, and smarter.

That’s where Conduit changes the equation.

The Global Scoreboard
The industrial automation race now runs year-round, and the leaders aren’t waiting.

Global installed base (end of 2024): 4.66 million units

Asia: ~75% of new installs
Europe: ~17%
Americas: <10%

By country:

China: 295,000
Japan: 44,500
United States: 34,200
South Korea: 30,600
Germany: 26,982
India: 9,100

In North America, Q1–Q2 2025 orders hit 17,635 units (worth $1.09B).
But orders aren’t impact. Only deployment speed delivers advantage.

What Rivals Are Doing
China:
Scale is strategy. Procurement, financing, and deployment move as one. New lines go live in weeks, not quarters. Local OEMs dominate, and every install feeds a national learning loop.

South Korea:
Density is doctrine. More than 1,000 robots per 10,000 workers.
Plants follow standard playbooks; upgrades roll out like software updates.

Germany & Japan:
Precision meets process. Deep supplier networks, rigorous training, and relentless consistency.

India:
Speed from simplicity. Rapid growth through repeatable deployments. Time-to-value beats feature lists.

The American Reality
Our competitors aren’t just out-producing us. They’re out-learning us. Every slow deployment means lost bids, lost data, and lost ground. If we can’t retool faster, supply security and national independence are at risk.

2024’s softness was a warning shot. 2025 is a reset — but only if we close the deployment gap now.

The Blockers

- Too many bespoke integrations
- Tools that don’t talk
- Long change orders
- Short integrator capacity
- Operators trapped in silos

The result?

Slow upgrades. Fragile systems. High cost of change.
Every disconnected device becomes a drag on resilience.

The Playbook for 2025
The path forward is not more point solutions. It’s orchestration.

1. Standardize on a control layer.
Every new cell, every retrofit — one vendor-neutral orchestration platform on top.

2. Design for swap-ability.
Make hardware replaceable in minutes without code.

3. Treat mixed fleets as normal.
AGVs, AMRs, CNCs, conveyors — one team, one mission.

4. Measure outcomes, not installs.
Track time to first article, throughput/hour, MTTR, and queue wait time.

5. Finance automation on performance.
Tie payments to uptime and output — not licenses.

6. Train for autonomy.
Operators should command from one screen, not chase five dashboards.

Where Conduit Fits

Conduit is the operating system for industrial orchestration. It’s how you deploy automation in minutes, not months, and make it stick.

Cross-OEM Integration: One layer connects any robot, PLC, or system.

No-Code Missions: Workflows built in plain English, not custom scripts.

Real-Time Orchestration: Traffic, safety, and scheduling managed automatically.

Edge & On-Prem Control: Secure, low-latency, even in air-gapped environments.

Outcome Proven: Shorter time to first article. Lower MTTR. Higher throughput per shift.

When the world’s production race depends on speed, Conduit turns slow, bespoke integration into a repeatable national advantage.

The Bottom Line

Factories that win the next decade will orchestrate, not integrate.
Every day you wait is lost production and lost ground.
Conduit gives America what it needs most:
Speed. Control. Resilience. Victory.

Factories across America are already moving faster with Conduit.

Sources:
IFR World Robotics 2025, Our World in Data, and A3 North America Order Trends.