A robotic future
▶ China’s huge market scale to drive future export growth: experts
China, a late starter in the global competition in the robotic industry, has been catching up rapidly with rivals to claim a firm foothold in the robotic sector, according to industry insiders.
In South Korea, the imports of China-made robotic components account for 27.1 percent of the country’s total such imports in 2016, up eight times from the 3.6 percent level in 2015, according to latest data released by the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement on October 22. China has overtaken Germany and the US to become South Korea’s second largest import source of robotic parts after Japan.
During the same period, South Korea’s imports of German robotic parts dwindled sharply from 58.5 percent in 2015 to 18.8 percent in 2016, the data showed.
“There is a dramatic surge in China’s robotic parts imports which are price competitive, while the development of the robotic industry in South Korea has been stagnant,” Cho Bae-sook, a South Korean official was quoted as saying in the report.
Robotic technologies
Industry insiders pointed out that exports of China’s surging robotic parts to South Korea have shed light on its rapid progress in the robotic components as well as services robotics. Robotics, divided for the purpose of use, are generally categorized as industrial robotics and services robotics.
“In recent years, China has made major technological breakthroughs in robotic parts. For example, the reduction gear manufactured by Chinese firms is now cheaper than those by competitors in Japan and Germany, with almost the same performance in precision and accuracy,” Kong Minxiu, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Qianjiang Robot Co, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In addition, Chinese manufacturers have also overtaken their foreign peers in services robotics such as balance cars, drones and floor mopping robots, with exports dominating market shares even in advanced economies such as Germany and Japan, said Yang Xingyi, CEO of Chongqing Menlo Robot.
But on the other hand, “in terms of complete industrial robotics machinemaking ability, China still lags several years behind Japanese and European peers such as the ‘big four robotics families’ – Swiss ABB, German Kuka, Japan-based Fanuc and Yaskawa Electric Corp,” Yang told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Kong noted that the technologies of robotics generally stay in tandem with a country’s auto-making industry. “With regard to China’s vehicle sector, the country has not accumulated rich experience in machinebuilding,” Kong explained.
And prices for Chinese firms to implement one automatic production line would cost 100,000 yuan ($14,355) to 200,000 yuan more than other advanced players, he said.
While Japanese and European companies may be good at designing and researching on the underlying robotic technology, Chinese players could also leverage the country’s complete supply chain in South China’s Guangdong Province and East China’s Zhejiang Province to make the machine-making price more competitive, Yang suggested.
And such strength is exemplified by Chinese firms’ ability to customize and locally produce automotive system based on robot arms made by the “big four robotics families,” he noted.
Comparing the market
More importantly, China has an overwhelming advantage in its market scale which no other country can rival, analysts pointed out.
China has been an important driving force behind the booming global industrial robotics industry. In 2017, China sold 138,000 units of industrial robotics, up 58 percent year-onyear, data from the Germany-based International Federation of Robotics showed.
In contrast to China, analysts attributed South Korea’s stalling robotic industry to its saturated market and single-sided industry structure.
“The demand for industrial robots in South Korea is declining now… South Korea’s manufacturing industry has an extensive focus on just several traditional sectors such as electronics, automobiles and ship-building, meaning that the application scenario is limited,” Kong pointed out.
A businessman surnamed Wu, who has run a furniture-building factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, also told the Global Times on Tuesday that to cope with the rising labor costs, he is now shifting to automation system to replace laborintensive production lines.
“The move could cut as much as 20 percent of the costs,” Wu said.
In addition to traditional manufacturing, China’s “Made in China 2025” initiative, which was unveiled in 2015 to transform the country into an innovation-driven, global leader in high-end industry, is also creating new demand for intelligent robotics, observers said. Robotics could also be applied in China’s newly emerging industries including aviation, laser soldering, new-energy battery and production of environmental protection equipment.
In 2017, the 70 listed Chinese robotic makers have generated revenues totaling 455 billion yuan, up 36 percent year-on-year, news website sina. com reported. Their net profit was 25 billion yuan.
“It’s fair to say that in South Korea, intelligent robotic is merely a concept, while in China, robotic development is growing up with its expanding new manufacturing industries,” Kong explained.
And it is expected that in the future, China’s exports of industrial robotics will further rise as all the new products could be tested in the huge domestic market and improved accordingly, Yang noted.
International cooperation
Given China’s huge market application as well as foreign players’ accumulated experience in robotic technologies, experts urged that China could further open up its market to give full play to each other’s advantages and to allow Chinese firms to learn from their foreign partners.
On Saturday, Swiss industrial company ABB Group announced that it would invest as much as $150 million to set up the world’s most advanced robotic factory in Shanghai, the latest sign of a robotic giant to vie for a piece of pie on China’s burgeoning robotic market.
“Cooperation could offer a boost to accelerate the industry’s development in China,” Kong said.
China’s exports of robotic parts to South Korea have shot up about eight times in 2016 from the level in 2015 to account for 29.1 percent of South Korea’s total robotic imports, according to latest data released by a South Korean robotic industry body. How is China’s robotic industry development now? Does the country still trail foreign players who have an early start and rich experience? The Global Times recently spoke with several industry insiders who shared their views on the industry.