The industrial robot industry is developing rapidly
According to the data of the prospective industry research institute, China's industrial robot industry flourished in 2016, with a total annual output of 72400 units, an increase of 34.3% year-on-year. From January to April 2017, the output of industrial robots in China was 35073, with a year-on-year increase of 51.7%, still maintaining a high-speed growth trend. In terms of sales volume, the sales volume of industrial robots in China reached 34000 units in 2016. With the gradual maturity of China's robot industry technology, it is expected that the sales volume of industrial robots in China may reach 43000 units in 2017, with a year-on-year increase of 26.47%. The report released by the International Federation of robotics and loupventures shows that the global industrial robot market will reach US $14billion this year, an increase of 13% from US $12.3 billion in 2016; Sales will increase by more than 20%. It is estimated that by 2025, the scale of the global industrial robot market will increase by 175%, reaching about US $33.8 billion.
Imported robots continue to grow
Although the rapid growth of the domestic robot market has driven the development of domestic robot enterprises, at present, the biggest "beneficiaries" are still foreign enterprises. According to the statistics of Xiamen Customs, from January to May this year, Fujian Province imported 49 industrial robots, with a year-on-year increase of 75%, of which 6 were imported in May.
Data show that the EU, Japan and Taiwan are the main sources of imports. From January to may, Fujian Province imported 18 industrial robots from the European Union, an increase of 5.9%; 16 sets imported from Japan, an increase of 1.7 times; The import of 11 sets from Taiwan increased by 1.2 times, accounting for 91.8% of the total import of industrial robots in Fujian Province in the same period. In addition, according to relevant statistics, China imported 52186 industrial robots in 2016, with a total amount of $877551300, an increase of 6105 over 2015, while China exported 30011 industrial robots in 2016, with a total amount of $155.174 million, an increase of 18218 over 2015.
It can be seen that imported products account for a large part in meeting the growing demand of China's industrial robot market. At the same time, foreign-funded or joint venture production plants in China are also the main force to meet the growth demand of China's industrial robot market.
Japanese enterprises seize business opportunities to increase production
According to Japanese media reports, Japanese robot manufacturers such as Yaskawa electric are ramping up production capacity to meet Chinese demand. YASKAWA electric plans to increase the monthly output of industrial robots from the current 3000 to 5000. YASKAWA electric plans to build new facilities in the factory area of Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, where the company produces industrial robots, and increase China's monthly output to more than 1200 units by 2019.
Nabotsk will invest a total of 7billion yen in the main plant in Tianjin, Japan, and the Chinese plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China to increase production of speed reducers. Fanuc also plans to invest about 63billion yen to build a new plant next to the Tsukuba plant in Tsuyoshi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, and ultimately plans to expand the monthly output to 11000 units, nearly twice the current level. Kawasaki heavy industry will increase the output of its main Suzhou plant to 7000 units this year, an increase of about 80%. Bueryue will start using new factories in China before 2018, increasing the production capacity to about three times the current level, that is, 1000 units per month.
Domestic robots need to break through core technologies to achieve high-end development
Now industrial robot technology can be said to be basically concentrated in Japan and Europe. In Japan, its key component reducer is far ahead, and has formed a strong technical barrier; Germany has great advantages in raw materials and body parts of industrial robots; In China, our robot industry is now at the downstream of the industrial chain, mainly system integration, secondary development, customized parts and after-sales service. In other words, our technology is still at the low end.
The low-end of high-end industries and the surplus of low-end products in the field of industrial robots are becoming increasingly prominent, which has attracted the attention of relevant national departments. Xinguobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of industry and information technology, said that at present, the Ministry of industry and information technology is formulating industry access conditions and raising the entry threshold for industrial robots. In order to achieve "catching up from behind", China's robot industry not only needs to raise the threshold, but also needs to promote technological innovation and breakthroughs. Key robot parts and service robot technology should become the main direction.
On the one hand, the state needs to further increase technology expenditure, vigorously support robot projects with strong innovation ability and advanced technology, and promote domestic enterprises to make breakthroughs and innovations in key technology fields; On the other hand, enterprises should strengthen their awareness of innovation, increase investment in robot research and development, technical personnel training and other links, and make full use of the centralized advantages of robot industrial park research and development innovation and standard system to speed up enterprise innovation; In addition, domestic enterprises can learn from the experience of foreign excellent enterprises through active cooperation to shorten the gap between the two. Until we really master the core technology and realize the innovation leading, China's industrial robots can have global competitiveness and revive the dream of becoming an industrial power.