Spain Automation and Digital Services
Manufacturing accounts for 14% of Spain’s GDP and currently ranks 12th worldwide in manufacturing output. Spain’s manufacturing industry involves 189,000 companies, employs 2 million workers and generates 572 billion euros in turnover. 84% of the Spanish industrial sector is made of small and medium sized companies. Spain exports over 50% of its manufactured goods. Overall, the leading industries are automotive, aerospace, biotechnology, health technologies, pharmaceutical, ICT and digital content, environmental protection industries, renewable energy and energy efficiency and agribusiness.
Spain launched the industrial digitalization initiative in 2016 called Connected Industry 4.0, intended to provide a strategy to support companies in their digital transformation. The main objectives of the initiative include increasing industrial added value and qualified employment in the sector, favoring the Spanish model for future industries and the local supply of digital solutions.
Spain provides good opportunities in the robotic and automation sub sectors where US exporters can be competitive. Spain is the tenth largest market in the world and the fourth in Europe. The new installation of robots in Spain reached 5,266 units in 2018 and is expected to increase in coming years. Spanish companies employ 160 robots per 100,000 workers. 53% of companies in Spain are currently adopting robotic automation implementation processes.
The main industries using robots are the automotive industry followed by the food and beverage, metal working, chemical rubber and plastics. In the automotive sector, which leads the use of industrial robotics, the most widely used are collaborative robots (cobots) and automatic guided vehicles (AGV), since they allow companies to optimize processes, achieve high productivity levels and increase competitiveness.
In the International context, Industrial Robotics will be a fundamental part of the 4th industrial revolution in Spain. The International Federation of Robotics forecasts that between 2019 and 2022, investments in industrial robotics in Spain will increase by around 10% on average every year.
For more information contact office.madrid@trade.gov.