Recently, Midea Group, a Chinese home appliance company, proposed to acquire GermanyindustryrobotThe news of the giant KUKA has attracted much attention. At present, Industrial Robots have been widely used in automobile manufacturing,mechanicalIn the future, it will expand to industries such as home appliances, petrochemicals, clothing, food, rubber, and rail transit. The application of robots can reduce operating costs, improve product quality and consistency, improve employee working conditions, expand production, enhance manufacturing flexibility, reduce raw material waste, and improve yields.
According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the global sales of industrial robots in 2014 was 225,000 units.The global market share of the top four companies exceeded 10%, followed by Japan’s FANUC (16.6%), Germany’s KUKA Roboter (11.2%), Switzerland’s ABB (10.8%) and Japan’s Yaskawamotor(Yaskawa Electric) was 10.7%. In terms of the share of each company in the Chinese market, ABB ranks first with more than 20%, Yaskawa Electric ranks second with 20%, followed by Fanuc and KUKA, both with a share of less than 20%.
Next, let us reveal the true face of these leading Industrial Robot companies:
FANUC
Japan’s FANUC CORPORATION is the world’s largest and most profitable robotics company, known as “Microsoft under Mount Fuji”. FANUC robots are widely used in automobiles, engines, food and beverages, medicine, construction machinery, metal processing, plastic electronics,machine tooland other fields.From the Boeing airliner flying in the sky to the Toyota car driving on the ground, there are no robots produced by Fanuc and installed on the ground.automation equipmentThe “heart” inside — the computer numerical controller (CNC) — just doesn’t work.
The FANUC brand was founded in 1956. In 1971, FANUC became the world’s largest professional CNC system manufacturer, accounting for 70% of the global market share.
In 1974, the FANUC industrial robot based on servo numerical control began to come out. In 1977, FANUC’s first-generation robot ROBOT-MODEL 1 began mass production. According to the needs of the market, FANUC started the research and development of intelligent robots and put into production in 1999, which has become one of the most important products of FANUC.
In June 2008, FANUC’s global robot sales exceeded 200,000 units, becoming the global leader in industrial robots. As of the end of November 2015, the global installed capacity of FANUC robots has reached 400,000 units. In the head office factory in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, FANUC has a monthly manufacturing capacity of 5,000 robots, which are all manufactured with FANUC robots.
KUKA Roboter
KUKA AG is the world’s leading intelligentautomationSolution provider, promoter of Industry 4.0, founded in Augsburg, Germany in 1898. As a specialist in robotics and automation technology, KUKA Roboter is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of industrial robots.
In 1956, KUKA built the first automatic welding equipment for refrigerators and washing machines and supplied Volkswagen with the first multi-point welding line. In 1971, KUKA built Europe’s first welding line with robots for Daimler Benz. In 1973, KUKA developed the world’s first industrial robot FAMULUS with six electromechanical drive axes. In 2007, KR titan was launched, with a carrying capacity of 1000 kg and an action range of 3200 mm, it is the largest and most powerful 6-axis industrial robot in the world. In 2013, KUKA launched the LBR iiwa, the world’s first light robot (sensing robot) suitable for use in the industrial field.
The product range of KUKA Roboter includes six-axis robots covering almost all working ranges and load capacities, robots that are resistant to high temperatures, dust and water, robots for the food and pharmaceutical industries, clean room robots, stacking robots, welding robots, stamping robots Wired robots, rack-mounted robots, and high-precision robots. Provides solutions for gas shielded welding and many other welding processes, machine tool industry, foundry and forging industry, plastics industry, electronic equipment industry, food industry, auto parts suppliers, car manufacturers and other industries.
At present, Midea Group, a Chinese home appliance company, through its overseas affiliate MECCA International Ltd. holds a 13.5% stake in KUKA.
ABB
ABB is a global leader in power and automation technology. It was formed by the merger of Sweden’s ASEA and Switzerland’s BBC Brown Boveri in 1988. The group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
ABB is the world’s leading supplier of industrial robots, providing Robotic products, modular manufacturing cells and services. More than 40 years ago, ABB was the first in the world to develop electric-driven industrial robots and industrial spraying robots. ABB has installed more than 300,000 robots worldwide. Its robotics products include industrial robots, small, large, spraying and special robots for the automotive, foundry, metalworking, plastics, packaging and stacking, solar, wood, electrical and electronic equipment industries.
Today, the vast majority of global automakers and their Tier 1 suppliers use ABB robotics solutions in all or part of their manufacturing processes for powertrain, stamping automation, body-in-white manufacturing and painting finished products. ABB’s robots also weld, press grind, polish and paint electronics such as personal computers, laptops, iPods, mobile phones, cameras and game consoles for companies such as Apple, Dell, Foxconn, Hewlett-Packard and more. AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and other world-renowned pharmaceutical companies have adopted ABB robots for picking, packing and stacking medicines.
Yaskawa Electric
YASKAWA Electric Corporation, founded in 1915, is the pioneer of the concept of “mechatronics”, covering drive control business, motion control business, robotics business, and systems engineering business.
In 1977, Yaskawa Electric used the best motion control technology to develop and produce Japan’s first all-electric industrial robot – MOTOMAN No. 1 (MOTOMAN). Since then, various industrial robots for automation such as welding, assembly, painting, and handling have been developed. Yaskawa’s robot technology is widely used in various industries such as automobile manufacturing, machining, electrical and electronic, food and beverage, and resin rubber. As of 2014, the cumulative number of industrial robots manufactured by Yaskawa Electric has exceeded 300,000 units worldwide.
On August 4, 2015, Yaskawa Electric and Midea Group formally signed a joint venture cooperation agreement to establish two robot-related joint ventures: Guangdong Yaskawa Midea Industrial Robot Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Midea Yaskawa service robot Co., Ltd.
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