Behind the sharp rise in demand for industrial robots brought about by the upgrading of domestic manufacturing industry, domestic robots are accelerating the pace of catching up with the international market leader.

The situation is stronger than the people. Under the combined effect of many reasons, such as the decline of demographic dividend, the upgrading of manufacturing industry and the strong support of policies, the demand for domestic industrial robots has risen sharply in recent years.

A few days ago, a reporter from the Securities Times visited Shenzhen Dazu Robot Co., Ltd., located in the North Ring Road of Shenzhen High-tech Park. Wang Guangeng, general manager of the company, said in an interview with reporters that on the basis of the domestic industrial robot output exceeding 100000 units in 2017, it is expected to exceed 1 million units in the next few years. Shenzhen Dazu Robot Co., Ltd. was established on September 7, 2017 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dazu Laser.

The surge in sales data also confirms the strong demand for industrial robots. Hua Kang, the key account manager of Shenzhen Haikorui Technology Co., Ltd., one of the "four major families" of robots, told reporters that the global sales of industrial robots in 2017 increased by 15% to 17% compared with 2016, and the growth rate of domestic industrial robots was 30%, which is expected to be faster in 2018 than in 2017. The company's main customers cover Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhuhai and other places.

A brokerage machinery industry analyst introduced to reporters that a visit to well-known domestic industrial robot manufacturers found that the sales of industrial robots basically doubled in 2017, and the sales of domestic robots accounted for about 1/3 of the total sales.

According to IFR(internationalfederationofrobotics, International Robotics Association) estimates, China's industrial robot sales are expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2016 to $5.89 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of about 14.72.

Reasons for the significant increase in demand for industrial robots

The increase in labor costs, the relocation of enterprises, industrial upgrading and other reasons have become the main reasons for the substantial increase in the demand for industrial robots in the domestic market.

In an interview with reporters, Wang Guangneng said that the reason for the wide demand for the robot market is that no one is willing to do many things in many factories. Many traditional factories have moved out of China, but the actual situation is that the investment risk in India, Southeast Asia and other regions is high, but the introduction of robot production lines does not need to move out of the domestic market.

The relocation of manufacturing enterprises in Dongguan is not uncommon. On January 24, the reporter was on the way to Tuostar to participate in the research. The taxi master who has lived in Dongguan for a long time introduced to the reporter that at present, there is no way to rent out the factory buildings in Changping area of Dongguan at a price of 6 yuan per square meter per month, and many warehouses are idle. Judging from the daily rental situation, the house he rented in Dongguan has dropped from 800 yuan/month to 300 yuan/month. Compared with previous years, the number of workers in factories such as glasses and shoes has dropped sharply, and the number of pedestrians on the streets has also decreased a lot compared with the past. Songshan Lake area due to the relatively dense manufacturing enterprises, the situation is relatively much better.

Mo Zhuoya, deputy general manager of Guangdong Tianmachine Robot Co., Ltd., told reporters that the substantial increase in labor costs and automation investment only take 1 to 2 years to return to the cost. The combined effect of these two factors has led to a substantial increase in the demand for industrial robots.

It is worth noting that the demand for industrial robots in the 3C (computer, communications and consumer electronics) industry may face a decline this year. Mo Zhuoya told reporters that the upstream, midstream and downstream prospects of the entire 3C industry in 2018 will be relatively bleak, especially in the first half of the year. However, orders for cars and new energy should increase.

Policy support is also one of the important reasons for the increase in the demand for industrial robots. In recent years, with the release of policies such as "Made in China 2025" and "Robot Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)", it has provided a good policy environment for the development of the industry.

At the same time, the average density of industrial robots in China still has a lot of room for improvement. Anxin Securities research report pointed out that compared with Germany, Japan and South Korea and other countries, the average density of industrial robots in China is still very low. According to IFR data, the average density of industrial robots in China in 2015 was about 49 units/10,000 people, only 71% of the world average, one tenth of that of 1/6 and South Korea in Japan and Germany.

Domestic robots are working.

Overall, more than 60% of the market share of industrial robots is still occupied by the four families (ABB, Yaskawa, Kuka and Fanaco), but domestic robot companies are accelerating their efforts to catch up.

Wang Guangeng told reporters that ethnic robots used to make non-standardized products, faced with a variety of customer needs, it was very tiring to do it, and the economic effect was not good. Based on the accumulation of technology in the past few years, the company focuses on the manufacture of the six-axis robot Elfin, which is a man-machine collaboration, and penetrates into various industries such as industry and medical treatment. At present, big robots and Huada Gene and Huawei are developing robot products for use in the medical field.

At the same time, Wang Guangeng mentioned that more than 80% of the core components of large-scale robots are domestically produced, and by 2025, it can reach 100% domestically produced. From the perspective of product performance, large family robots also have great technical advantages in anti-electromagnetic interference.

It should be pointed out that from the perspective of product prices, there is still much room for improvement in domestic robots. Wang Guangeng told reporters that enterprises with strong capital, such as 3C and automobile, are acceptable for a single six-axis robot with a price of about 100000 yuan. But for traditional enterprises, such as the bathroom industry, such a price level is difficult for enterprises to accept. In the future, the company's products will try its best to reduce the price to 50000 yuan/set.

During the on-site interview, Gu Dai, an application development engineer of Shenzhen Dagu Robot Co., Ltd., demonstrated to reporters the application of Dagu robots in PCB, medical treatment, spraying, handling and welding. From the weight of the robot, it is mainly divided into three models: 3kg, 5kg and 10kg. On the basis of the Elfin robot body, different industries can be used with the corresponding product configuration. It is worth mentioning that in the handling of some dangerous goods, industrial robots replace manual labor, which can effectively reduce the instability of personnel operation and avoid the safety hazards of manual operation.

It is worth noting that different industrial robot manufacturers, due to differences in the positioning of enterprises, there will be big differences in the development of robot products.

Unlike Da-zu Robot Co., Ltd., which focuses on robot body production, Rio Star, as an operator of the overall automation solution, will flexibly package industrial robots of different brands into the solution when providing the solution.

On January 24, in the process of answering investor research on the spot, Rio Star Chairman Wu Fengli mentioned that in the process of providing customers with solutions, corresponding robot products will be configured according to the needs of customers. In the case of little difference in product performance, customers will be recommended to use domestic robot products, and then according to customer reputation and satisfaction, the proportion of domestic robots in the solution will be gradually increased. The products of the four major families of robots, as long as customers have demand, will be purchased accordingly. From the current stage, there is still a certain gap between domestic robots and overseas well-known brand robots.

In the process of on-site investigation, Yang Hai, vice president and secretary of the board of Rio Star, showed investors the rectangular coordinate robot that the company currently has a strong competitive advantage in the market. The workshop is located at No. 90 Xintang Road, Xintang Village, Dalang Town, Dongguan City, next to the Dazu Laser Administrative Office Building.

On January 8, Rio Star released its 2017 annual performance forecast, showing that the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies last year was 130 million to 145 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 67.58 to 86.92. However, the announcement did not separately state the profits brought by the robot business.

At the same time, Changying Precision chose to establish a joint venture with Yaskawa to promote the company's industrial robot production. According to the data, Guangdong Tianji Robot Co., Ltd. was established on July 12, 2017. Changying Precision holds 65%, Yaskawa Electric (China) Co., Ltd. holds 25%, and Yaskawa Tongshang (Shanghai) Industrial Co., Ltd. holds 10%. On October 9, 2017, Guangdong Tianji Robot Co., Ltd. launched the first small six-axis industrial robot TR8.

Due to the short establishment time of Guangdong Tianmachine Robot Co., Ltd., the effect of short time is limited. On January 16, Changying Precision released its 2017 annual performance forecast, showing that the company expects the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies to be 581.1789 million yuan to 683.7399 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of less than 15%.

Wang Jiayan, a partner of Dongguan Boshi Ruidexin Robot Equity Investment Center, told reporters that compared with robot brands in Germany, Japan and other countries, domestic robots have greater advantages in system integration and application, and the main gap is in hardware, that is, there is a big difference between the robot body and core components. For Germany, Japan and other countries, the robot industry began in the 1960 s and 1970 s, belonging to the sunset industry, while the domestic robot industry belongs to the sunrise industry. As a big manufacturing country, in the process of domestic manufacturing upgrading, the demand for industrial robots is growing faster. However, from the perspective of the market structure, the market share of industrial robots has not changed much in recent years, and the robots of the four major families still occupy more than 60% of the market share.