Cobots represent the future of SME manufacturing in India — offering an agile, affordable, and scalable pathway to automation, says Darshana Thakkar.

In today’s rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are constantly seeking innovative ways to boost productivity, improve quality, and maintain competitiveness. Collaborative Robots or Cobots — offer an exciting opportunity for SMEs to automate critical processes without the massive investment or complexity associated with traditional industrial robots.

Unlike conventional robots that require safety cages and complex programming, Cobots are designed to work alongside humans safely, efficiently, and flexibly. For India's growing SME sector, adopting cobots can be a game-changer, opening doors to global competitiveness and operational excellence.

Key areas of cobot applications in SMEs

1. Assembly Operations

Cobots can assist with small parts assembly, screwdriving, inserting, and fitting processes with high precision. Cobots are useful in precision assemblies like PCB assembly, gearbox assembly, and consumer electronics.  SMEs in sectors like electronics, consumer goods, and automotive can gain massive advantages.

2. Packaging and Palletizing

SMEs in food processing, FMCG, and logistics can utilise cobots for repetitive packaging and palletizing tasks, improving speed while reducing human error. The process like box packing, labeling, and pallet stacking are automated effectively with Cobots, especially in food, pharma, FMCG, and export-oriented SMEs

3. Machine Tending

Cobots can handle CNC machines, injection moulding, or press machines, helping SMEs maximise machine uptime while freeing human workers for higher-value tasks. Especially the processes like loading and unloading CNC machines, injection moulding machines, and stamping presses are automated effectively and easily.

4. Welding and Soldering

In fabrication and light manufacturing industries, cobots provide consistent welding and soldering, enhancing quality and reducing waste. Ideally for repetitive welding tasks with precision (small automotive parts, metal fabrication). It helps reduce human errors and improves joint strength.

5. Quality Inspection and Testing

Cobots equipped with cameras and sensors can automate inspection tasks, ensuring better quality control, especially in electronics, precision engineering, and automotive SMEs. Vision-enabled cobots can inspect defects in electronics, automotive parts, and consumer goods while Ensuring consistency and zero-defect deliveries.

6. Material Handling and Sorting

Cobots streamline internal logistics, material transfer, and order picking, boosting warehouse efficiency for SMEs in manufacturing and distribution. It reduces logistics bottlenecks inside the shopfloor. It helps Safe and efficient internal transfer of components

7. Polishing, Deburring, and Finishing

In an engineering unit, several processes are repetitive and require precision. The Cobots perform surface finishing jobs for metal, plastic, and wooden parts efficiently and accurately. Processes like polishing, debarring, and finishing on fabricated and machined components are performed very effectively by cobots. It Improves surface quality and reduces manual fatigue.

8. Screw Driving and Fastening

An assembly line of engineering components requires labour for screw driving and fastening processes. Here cobots can be used extensively for tightening and fastening in automotive and electronics sectors. It helps to maintain torque consistency and reduces manual labour.

Benefits of cobots for SME in manufacturing

Affordable Automation: Cobots cost significantly less than traditional industrial robots and offer faster Return on Investment (RoI), often within 6 to 12 months. SMEs can automate with Cobot without major infrastructure changes.

Ease of Use: Cobots are easy to program through simple interfaces, reducing the need for highly specialised technicians. No complex coding skills are needed — drag-and-drop style interfaces.

Flexibility: They can be easily redeployed across different tasks, making them ideal for SMEs with varying production volumes and products. Cobots fit into existing workspace easily — no need for safety cages in many cases.

Enhanced Safety: Built-in safety features like force sensors and speed controls allow Cobots to work alongside human workers safely without extensive guarding. They are equipped with force sensors and emergency stop features.

Increased Productivity and Quality: Cobots work tirelessly with consistent quality, helping SMEs meet strict delivery schedules and international quality standards.Workers are freed from repetitive and risky jobs, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.

Talent Optimisation: Cobots take over repetitive and physically strenuous tasks, enabling SMEs to better utilise human employees for creative and complex work.

Business Scalability: Cobots allow SMEs to scale production flexibly according to demand. Increased productivity with Cobot helps SMEs scale their business without any additional investment or cost.

Global Competitiveness: Increased productivity, improved quality, and reduced production cost due to automation reduce the overall cost of final products. That helps the company to become competitive in the market. Automation readiness improves export potential and competitiveness in global supply chains.

Top emerging Indian sectors actively adopting cobots:

Auto components

Textiles

Electronics

Packaging

Engineering job shops

Food & beverage, and

Medical devices and pharma.
Many Indian system integrators offer custom-built cobot solutions combining imported robotic arms with local integration, making it even more cost-effective for SMEs.

Leading companies offering cost-effective Cobots for Indian SMEs:

For more clarity and benefits I am sharing a few data points for  SMEs to understand.

• Universal Robots Whitepaper 2023 Studies show SMEs achieve RoI with cobots typically within 6 to 12 months, depending on the application and process complexity.
• Real-world case studies published by Universal Robots India) and Indian system integrators (2023-24), show uptime improvements between 20% to 25% in SMEs after cobot deployment
• Techman Robot and Doosan Robotics deployment reports for Indian electronics SMEs highlighted error reduction ranging from 30-40% and productivity improvement of 15-20%.
• ABB YuMi and Omron TM series deployment in Indian and Southeast Asian furniture and metal industries showed safety incident reduction by 30-45%.
• According to Markets and Markets Research Report, 2024 Cobots' share of the total robot market is growing at ~40% CAGR globally, and India is emerging as a key market.
• As per the IFR – International Federation of Robotics, India report 2023 Cobots deployment growth in India is estimated at ~28% annual growth.

Conclusion

Cobots represent the future of SME manufacturing in India — offering an agile, affordable, and scalable pathway to automation. In the new global economy, where efficiency, quality, and responsiveness are critical, SMEs that invest in cobots today will emerge as the industry leaders of tomorrow.

By embracing collaborative automation, SMEs can not only survive but thrive in an increasingly competitive and connected world.

Darshana Thakkar is an MSME Transformation specialist and Founder of Transformation – The Strategy HUB. With an Electrical engineering and MBA in business operations background, she has 28 years of hardcore industrial experience in transforming Small businesses. She helps MSMEs define growth paths, derive marketing strategies, improve business operations, adopt digital Transformation, and increase profitability.Darshana Thakkar is an author, speaker, and TV panelist. Her achievements, journey, and interviews have been featured in several newspapers, Premium business magazines, and TV.

She has won several regional, national, and international awards and is famous as an MSME activist and women's business leader. Her consulting venture, Transformation, was listed among the most trusted consulting companies in 2022 and among the top 50 consulting companies for MSME in 2023. She holds a few honorary positions in industry associations.

Major achievements:

• Winner of Global Women Leader -2023 by Global Women Leadership Award
• MSME Honor award-2022 -Champion of Cause by Tally Solutions
• Winner of Gujarat Women's Leader Award – 2021

She is associated with a few other premier institutes as

• Certified Women Director & Independent Director by IICA, MCA, GoI.
• Member of the Board of Management at Makarpura GIDC Industrial Estate Cooperative Bank Ltd.
• National President: WICCI-Entrepreneurship Development Council
• Trainer, Startup mentor, & Jury member at CED, Government of Gujarat.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darshanamthakkar/

[email protected]