Data collection, collation and analysis of industrial robots in the first half of 2019

With the rapid economic growth, the pace of industrial structure transformation and upgrading is also accelerating. The era of Industry 4.0 is an era of using information technology to promote industrial transformation. Human labor can no longer meet the needs of enterprise development, and industrial robots have become the new favorite of the manufacturing industry. It not only shoulders the mission of liberating humans from heavy and repetitive labor, but is also a must for large-scale and precision production in the manufacturing industry, and even solves the problem that humans are difficult to complete work in dangerous and harsh environments. At present, there are many types of industrial robots, which are divided into handling robots, assembly robots, welding robots, articulated robots, rectangular coordinate robots, etc., and are widely used in various links of industrial production.

Analysts from Sutu Research Institute collected and collated relevant data on industrial robots in the first half of 2019, and conducted user surveys to analyze and discuss the development trends of the domestic industrial robot market.

my country is the largest market for industrial robots

In 2013, my country's industrial robot sales reached 36,600 units, surpassing Japan for the first time and becoming the world's largest industrial robot producer and seller. In 2015, China's industrial robot sales reached 68,500 units, accounting for 27.7% of the global industrial robot sales of 247,000 units, more than a quarter of the global total.

In 2017, my country's industrial robot sales reached 138,100 units, a year-on-year increase of 58.7%, which was also the fastest growth year. By 2018, my country's industrial robot sales had reached 156,400 units, ranking first in the world for five consecutive years.

Development History of Industrial Robots

The 1940s to 1960s were the early stages of the development of industrial robots, marked by the emergence of stand-alone automated processing equipment, a typical example of which was the digital control machine tool developed by MIT in 1952, which had a program control system. Compared with traditional handicrafts, automated processing equipment has more obvious advantages, is more adaptable to the needs of mass production, and has gradually replaced manual labor.

The 1970s to 1990s was the middle period of the development of industrial robots, marked by automatic production lines. During this period, with the improvement of production efficiency requirements, more integrated automatic production lines appeared, and virtual software such as CAD and CAM were also used in engineering design and manufacturing. This combination of software and hardware automatic production line is more suitable for batch production and processing.

After the 1990s, with the rapid development of computer technology, it was integrated with the industrial industry, and more integrated, professional and intelligent industrial robots appeared, and continued to develop in a deeper and broader direction. Nowadays, most industrial robots have the ability to walk, perceive and have strong environmental adaptability.

The four major families of industrial robots account for more than 50%

Although my country is already the world's largest industrial robot market, foreign-funded enterprises still account for a high proportion. The four major families, FANUC, KUKA, ABB, and YASKAWA, occupy the main market share, with market shares of 16.5%, 13.4%, 12.9%, and 11.7% respectively in the first half of 2019. Among them, FANUC is a Japanese CNC company with a series of up to 240 robot products, which are widely used in different production links such as assembly, handling, welding, casting, spraying, and palletizing. It is also the only company in the world that makes robots by robots.

ABB established a robot production line in Shanghai, China in 2005, and is also the earliest international company to engage in robot research and development and production in China. Relying on its strong manufacturing and software algorithm capabilities, it has acquired B&R and GE Industrial Systems and continuously expanded its presence in the field of industrial automation.

The proportion of domestic industrial robots has increased

Due to the suppression of foreign-funded enterprises, the market share of domestically-owned industrial robots is relatively low, but rapid progress has been made in recent years, and the market share is expanding. In the first half of 2019, domestic brands accounted for 35.8%, of which Guangzhou Qifan accounted for 10.2%, the largest share of domestic robot brands. Guangzhou Qifan is mainly engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of right-angle and articulated robots and peripheral supporting equipment, covering spraying, stacking, handling, machine tool loading and unloading, cutting, welding, polishing, laser and other industries. Efort and Siasun followed with 5.8% and 5.4% respectively.

Policy support for the development of the robotics industry

The rapid development of China's industrial robot market is inseparable from the strong support of national policies. In May 2015, the "Made in China 2025" document mentioned that it is necessary to break through the technical bottlenecks of key components such as robot bodies, reducers, servo motors, controllers, sensors and drivers, and system integration design and manufacturing. In March 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Robot Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)". The document mentioned that the annual output of independent brand industrial robots should be more than 100,000 units, the annual output of six-axis and above industrial robots should reach more than 50,000 units, and more than 5 robot industry clusters should be created.

Analysts at the Speed ​​​​Tour Research Institute believe that: my country, as the world's largest industrial robot market, is still in a stage where low-end local brands are in excess and high-end products are in short supply, and foreign brands have long been the dominant force. Secondly, in the field of industrial robots, upstream core components are still the shortcomings of Chinese companies. High-end products such as reducers, servo motors, and controllers all need to be imported, and these core components determine the overall performance of the robot. Improving the localization level of core components has become the key to the rapid development of my country's industrial robots. Of course, in a highly competitive market, price has always been the advantage of domestic brands, and in the future they can rely on price wars to continue to gain a place in the market.