Development status of industrial robots: foreign brands account for 70% of the market

As a representative of emerging industries, industrial robots can create new industries by developing new demands. It is the key to China’s realization of “made in China 2025” and also a new engine to drive economic development after China’s economy enters the new normal.

In the latest national economic industry classification, which will be officially implemented on October 1, 2017, robot manufacturing is included in the national economic industry classification as an independent industry for the first time. According to the new classification, industrial robot manufacturing and special operation robot manufacturing are two sub industries. It can be said that China’s industrial robot industry has entered the fast track stage of large-scale development. A few days ago, the author combed the development status of China’s industrial robots.

First of all, from the global perspective, the global manufacturing industry began to transform and upgrade in 2014, and the demand for industrial robots increased significantly, with a growth rate of 19.5% that year. In 2016, the sales volume of industrial robots in the world was about 290000, with a year-on-year increase of 12.4%. It is estimated that the global sales of industrial robots will be 322000 in 2017 and 414000 in 2019.

Judging from the orders of industrial robots in various countries (regions) in 2016, the Asia Pacific region undoubtedly became the largest consumer country. Among them, the orders of industrial robots in China alone reached 85000, exceeding the total orders of Japan, South Korea and Germany.

The domestic industrial robot industry has entered a rapid growth stage since 2009. In 2015, the sales volume of domestic industrial robots was 66700, accounting for 27% of the total sales volume of global industrial robots. It is expected that the sales volume of domestic industrial robots in 2017 will be 104000, with an increase rate of 22.4%. According to relevant statistics, in the first half of 2017, China’s industrial robot output increased by 52.3% year-on-year, 24.1 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year, ranking the first in all industrial products.

The sales volume of industrial robots in China accounts for more than 20% of the global sales volume every year. It is expected that the proportion will reach 34.2% in 2017. With the increase of domestic demand for industrial robots and the rise of domestic brands, this high proportion will continue to be maintained in the next few years.

In terms of market, domestic industrial robots show a high market concentration. In 2015, foreign brands accounted for 70% of the market share, of which only four families accounted for more than 50%. We can also see the rise of domestic robots. In 2016, the sales volume of domestic robots in China was 29000, with a year-on-year increase of 30.9%, and the market share reached a historical high of 32.6%. At present, the five manufacturers of Guangzhou Qifan, EFT, Xinsong, Easton, Guangzhou CNC and xinshida have started earlier, and all have a certain scale and technical strength.

If the current market is divided into four individual teams, there is no doubt that the first team is the four big families of robots, the second team is the old brand enterprises such as Odyssey, Panasonic and Kawasaki heavy industries, and the third team is the relatively well-known robot manufacturers in China such as Xinsong, Guangzhou CNC and Guangzhou Qifan.

In terms of industrial chain, the industrial robot industry is divided into upstream, midstream and downstream according to the industrial chain. Core parts of upstream production: including reducer, servo system and controller; The midstream is the body manufacturer, including the industrial robot body. Downstream are system integrators, including single system integrators and integrated system integrators.

Decelerator: the research on precision decelerator for industrial robots in China started late and the technology is not mature, resulting in the situation that precision decelerator cannot be self-sufficient and relies heavily on imports. For high-precision robot reducers, Japan has an absolute leading advantage. Currently, 75% of the precision reducers in the global robot industry are monopolized by Japan’s nabtesco and harmonicdrive.

Servo motor: at present, the domestic high-end market is mainly occupied by foreign famous enterprises, mainly from Japan, Europe and America, and there is a large space for domestic replacement in the future. At present, foreign brands account for nearly 80% of the market share of China’s AC servo market, mainly from Japan, Europe and America. Among them, Japanese products take the first place with a market share of about 50%. Its famous brands include Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric, Yaskawa, Sanyo, Fuji, etc. its product characteristics are that its technology and performance level are relatively in line with the needs of Chinese users, and it has obtained a stable and continuous customer source with good cost performance and high reliability. It has a monopoly advantage in the small and medium OEM market. In the next five years, China’s servo system industry will benefit from the impact of industrial upgrading and will maintain rapid growth. There is still a lot of room for domestic replacement.

Controller: the software part of the robot controller is the “heart” of the industrial robot and the key component with the smallest gap between the robot products and foreign products. At present, the controllers of foreign mainstream robot manufacturers are independently developed on the basis of the universal multi axis motion controller platform, and each brand of robot has its own control system to match it. Therefore, the market share of the controller is basically consistent with that of the robot. After years of precipitation, the hardware platform adopted by domestic robot controller is not much different from that of foreign products. The difference is mainly reflected in the ease of use of control algorithm and secondary development platform. In the next few years, China’s domestic robots will develop rapidly, and the domestic robot controller application market will face a good development opportunity, especially for enterprises that have been deeply engaged in the field of motion control for many years.

System integration: the research and development of integrated systems is the link with the highest profit and the highest technical threshold in the robot industry chain. Generally, the scale of the system integration market can reach three times the scale of the robot body market. At present, the main competitive advantage of Chinese enterprises is in system integration. 80% of Chinese robot enterprises are concentrated in this field, but they are generally small in scale and have low annual output value. Moreover, as the threshold for entering the field of system integration becomes lower and lower, the bargaining power between the enterprise and the upstream and downstream is weak, the gross profit level is not high, and the competition is more intense.