OFweek Industrial Control Network: Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries will invest nearly 10 billion yen (about 604 million yuan) in China to build a factory that produces industrial robots. It is scheduled to be put into operation in April 2015, with an initial annual production capacity of approximately 2,000 units, which will be sold to local Chinese automakers. In addition, Seiko Epson plans to gradually transfer the manufacturing business of “horizontal multi-joint robots†for precision parts assembly to China. In China, where labor costs are rising, the investment in robots implemented to reduce labor is increasing year by year. Japanese companies hope to rely on Japanese technology to improve efficiency and fully explore the Chinese market.
Japanese industrial robots are eager to try
Kawasaki Heavy Industries will build a new plant in a hydraulic equipment plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, with a total construction area of ​​10,000 square meters, mainly producing robots for automotive welding and parts handling.
The production scale of the plant will increase to around 10,000 units by 2017. Kawasaki Heavy Industries' current robot manufacturing capacity in Japan is currently 18,000 units. If China is added, the total output will be close to 30,000 units. This scale will be one of the few in the world.
Seiko Epson plans to transfer production of “horizontal articulated robots†from the Nagano Plant in Japan to Shenzhen. The robot can be used for the assembly of precision parts such as "screws". The company's current production is 4,000 units per year, and Japan and China each account for half of production. In the future, the production system will be adjusted, and all robots except custom products will be produced in China within two years.
Japanese companies are expected to reduce their production costs by up to 30% by transferring production bases, including labor and procurement costs. This move is intended to increase competitiveness to counter leading European manufacturers.
Compared with 2009 and 2012 after the Lehman crisis, China’s labor costs, including social security contributions, are considered to have risen by about 60%. Young people are increasingly looking to work for companies such as IT that are expected to achieve high incomes. For manufacturing companies, it is increasingly difficult to ensure the production of first-line talent. This has also become the reason for the growing demand for industrial robots.
In this industry, Yaskawa Electric has started to use the new plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province to start the full production of industrial robots, and will expand production capacity in phases. The current production capacity is 3,000 units per year, but will increase to 12,000 units by 2015. In addition, Japanese manufacturer Fujitsu has established a production line in the hydraulic equipment factory in Zhangjiagang City, and plans to expand its annual production capacity to 3,000 units by 2015.
"World Factory" is changing
According to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), a global manufacturer of industrial robots, China's supply in 2012 reached 23,000 units, an increase of about 50% over 2010. According to the survey, the trend of handing over the manual work to robots will continue to expand. In 2014, it will reach 28,000 units, which is comparable to Japan, and is expected to reach 34,000 units by 2015. By then, China is expected to become a global The largest industrial robot market.
At present, European companies are leading the way in exploring the Chinese market. The Swiss ABB Group not only has a production base in China, but also established a research and development base to build a system that responds to the needs of local businesses in the first place. The German KUKA Roboter is also strengthening sales and services locally.
Industrial robots in China are currently mainly used for cost reduction, mainly for welding and spraying in automobile factories. However, in the future, robots will be more concerned with the advantages of quality than manual labor, so it is very likely that industrial robots will gradually adopt in the field of electronic products such as semiconductors.
To achieve factory automation, not only the introduction of industrial robots, but also the construction of the entire production line. Therefore, not only the industrial robot industry, but also factory automation (FA) such as automated handling equipment will continue to develop in China. Mitsubishi Electric has also raised its consolidated earnings forecast for fiscal year 2013 (as of March 2014) due to its aggressive investment in automation in China.
As China's labor costs continue to rise, the production bases of enterprises in various countries have shifted to Southeast Asia. In addition, the United States is also pushing manufacturing to return to the United States. The situation in China, known as the "world factory," is changing. China hopes to actively promote production automation by introducing industrial robots and other means to restore its advantages as a production base.
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