With the rapid economic growth, the pace of industrial structure transformation and upgrading is also accelerating. The era of industrial 4.0 is the era of using information technology to promote industrial change. The human labor force has been difficult to meet the needs of enterprise development, and industrial robots have become the new favorite of the manufacturing industry. It not only undertakes the mission of liberating human beings from heavy and repetitive labor, but also is necessary for large-scale and precision production of manufacturing industry, and even solves the problem that human beings are difficult to complete their work in dangerous and harsh environment.

With the rapid economic growth, the pace of industrial structure transformation and upgrading is also accelerating. The era of industrial 4.0 is the era of using information technology to promote industrial change. The human labor force has been difficult to meet the needs of enterprise development, and industrial robots have become the new favorite of the manufacturing industry. It not only undertakes the mission of liberating human beings from heavy and repetitive labor, but also is necessary for large-scale and precision production of manufacturing industry, and even solves the problem that human beings are difficult to complete their work in dangerous and harsh environment. At present, there are many kinds of industrial robots, which are divided into handling robots, assembly robots, welding robots, joint robots, Cartesian coordinate robots, etc., and are widely used in all aspects of industrial production.

 

The analysts of Sutu Research Institute analyzed and discussed the development trend of the domestic industrial robot market by collecting and sorting out the relevant data of industrial robots in the first half of 2019 and cooperating with user research.

China is the largest market for industrial robots

In 2013, my country's industrial robot sales volume was 36600 units, surpassing Japan for the first time, becoming the world's largest industrial robot production and sales country. In 2015, China's industrial robot sales were 68500 units, accounting for 27.7 of the global industrial robot sales of 247000 units, more than 1/4 of the global total.

In 2017, China's industrial robot sales of 138100 units, an increase of 58.7, is also the fastest growing year. By 2018, the sales volume of industrial robots in China has reached 156400 units, ranking first in the world for five consecutive years.

 

Industrial robot development history

From the 1940 s to the 1960 s was the early stage of the development of industrial robots, marked by the emergence of stand-alone automated processing equipment. The typical equipment was the digital control machine tool developed by MIT in 1952, which has a program control system. Compared with the traditional handicraft industry, the advantages of automatic processing equipment are more obvious, more able to meet the needs of mass production, and gradually replace the position of manual.

The 1970 s to the 1990 s was the middle of the development of industrial robots, marked by automatic production lines. At this stage, with the improvement of production efficiency requirements, a more integrated automated production line has emerged. At the same time, virtual software such as CAD and CAM are also used in engineering design and manufacturing. This automated production line with the combination of software and hardware is more suitable for batch production and processing.

After the 1990 s, with the rapid development of computer technology, its integration with the industrial industry, more integrated, more professional, and more intelligent industrial robots appeared, and continued to develop in a deeper and broader direction. Nowadays, most industrial robots have the ability to walk, sense and adapt to the environment.

 

Four families of industrial robots account for more than 50%

Although China is already the world's largest industrial robot market, the proportion of foreign-funded enterprises is still very high. The four families of Fanaco, KUKA, ABB and Yaskawa occupy the main market share, with market shares of 16.5 per cent, 13.4 per cent, 12.9 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively in the first half of 2019. Among them, Fanaco is a Japanese CNC company with 240 kinds of robot products, which are widely used in assembly, handling, welding, casting, spraying, palletizing and other production links. It is also the only company in the world that uses robots as robots.

ABB established a robot production line in Shanghai, China in 2005, and is also the first international enterprise engaged in robot research and development and production in China. Relying on its strong manufacturing power and software algorithm capabilities, it acquired B & R and GE Industrial Systems and continued to lay out in the field of industrial automation.

 

The proportion of domestic industrial robots has increased.

Limited by the suppression of foreign-funded enterprises, the market share of domestic brand industrial robots is relatively low, but rapid progress has been made in recent years, and the market share is constantly expanding. In the first half of 2019, domestic brands accounted for 35.8, of which Guangzhou Lifan accounted for 10.2, the largest share of domestic robot brands. Guangzhou Lifan is mainly engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of right-angle and joint robots and peripheral supporting equipment, covering spraying, palletizing, handling, machine tool loading and unloading, cutting, welding, polishing, laser and other industries. This was followed by 5.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent of the shares of Eft and New Pine, respectively.

 

Robot Industry Development Policy Support

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 body, reducer, servo motor, controller, sensor and driver, 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 100000 units, and the annual output of six axis and above industrial robots should reach more than 50000 units, and more than 5 robot industrial clusters should be built.

 

Analysts of Sutu Research Institute believe that: at present, as the world's largest industrial robot market, China is still in a stage of low-end surplus of local brands and insufficient supply of high-end products, and foreign brands have occupied the leading force for a long time. Secondly, in the field of industrial robots, the upstream core components are still the shortcomings of Chinese enterprises. High-end products such as reducers, servo motors, and controllers need to be imported, and these core components determine the overall performance of the robot and improve the core The level of localization of parts has become the key to the rapid development of industrial robots in my country. Of course, in a highly competitive market, price has always been the advantage of domestic brands. In the future, we can rely on price wars to continue to win a place in the market.