COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — MES Inc., a global manufacturing sourcing and supply chain partner to Fortune 500 OEMs, has identified structural aluminum components as the next major bottleneck for robotics makers scaling from prototypes to volume production. The company is encouraging developers to settle process and supplier decisions for these parts before designs are locked.
The finding comes as robot demand reaches new highs. According to the International Federation of Robotics’ World Robotics 2026 report, released Sept. 24, factories installed 603,000 industrial robots worldwide in 2025, an 11% increase, and the global operating fleet reached a record 5 million units. The IFR expects installations to rise to 655,000 units in 2026 and 806,000 by 2029.
Global robot installations are forecast to reach 806,000 units a year by 2029.
AI software gets most of the attention in robotics, but every system still runs on structural hardware. That hardware includes joint and actuator housings, motor housings, gearbox and harmonic drive casings, frames, and battery and electronics enclosures. Most of these parts are aluminum because it combines a high strength-to-weight ratio with good thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance and clean machinability.
“When a robotics program moves from a few hundred units to tens of thousands, nearly every structural part has to be re-engineered for a new process,” said Hiten Shah, founder of MES Inc. “Teams that plan for that change during design keep their launch dates. Teams that wait until tooling is ordered often end up redesigning parts under schedule pressure.”
Where scale-up programs lose time
Billet machining works well for prototypes. At production volumes, the same parts move to die casting, extrusion or forging, and MES sees five decisions that most often determine whether that transition stays on schedule:
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Matching each component’s geometry and load case to the right process
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Completing design-for-manufacturability reviews before the design freeze
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Qualifying casting and forging suppliers ahead of launch commitments
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Building tooling lead times into the development schedule
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Defining machining datums so cast and machined features hold tolerance together
“A harmonic drive casing and a structural frame member can look like they belong with the same supplier, but they need very different processes,” said Brad Layne, Engineering Manager at MES. “We look at load paths, wall thickness and which surfaces need secondary machining, then choose the process and alloy around that. Doing that review early takes a few weeks. Doing it after tooling is cut can cost a full tooling cycle.”
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