Industrial robots seem to be moving from four families to three pillars?            

When it comes to industrial robots, we have to mention "four families". The so-called four families, namely the Japanese fanako, Yaskawa electric, Switzerland's abb and KUKA. This magical combination dominates half of China's industrial robot market. In 2017, the four families accounted for 57%.            

Most of the robot businesses of the four families started in the 1970s, and in addition to KUKA, the other three started from the research of motion control, and then entered the robot business. Because of this, the business level of KUKA has been poor. In addition, after Midea acquired KUKA in 2017, its revenue declined all the way.            

Industrial robots seem to be moving from four families to three pillars?            

Four competing families           

ABB            

In terms of volume, abb is the largest of the four families.            

In 1988, abb was formed by the merger of ASEA in Sweden and brown Boveri in Switzerland. Power grid and electric automation were the company's main sources of revenue. So industrial robots were just a small part of ABB's business.            

However, in recent years, abb has shown more emphasis on automation.            

In 2018, after the acquisition of Ge industrial system, its advantages in the field of power electrical automation are more prominent.            

Later, at the end of 2018, due to the limited profits and declining business of power grid business, abb transferred all business of its power grid business department to Hitachi Group of Japan. We are dedicated to automation. The proportion of robot business increased to about 23%.            

Product advantage            

ABB's competitive advantage lies in the integration of motion control and automation.            Motion control is the core technology of ABB, which is the first-class level in the industry. Through the use of motion control technology, the industrial robots produced by the company are outstanding in terms of integrity - easy to integrate with surrounding facilities and existing production lines. This has also formed ABB's long-term leading advantage in the field of system integration.            

In addition, ABB's technical documents have also been highly praised by the industry. This is much more "generous" than the FANUC.            

FANUC            

In 1956, FANUC of Japan started from CNC system. In 1971, FANUC became the largest CNC system manufacturer in the world, with a market share of 70%. Then began the research and development of industrial robots in 1974. Now, fanako has formed the business model of industrial automation, machine tool and robot three business collaborative development.            If abb is large, it is "virtual". After all, the proportion of industrial robots in the company's business is still limited. So, FANUC's huge market share is "substantial".            

In 2014, FANUC sold more than 360000 units, ranking first in the world. In 2017, FANUC surpassed 500000 units, becoming an absolute global leader.            

Perhaps because of its monopoly position, I dare to be so stingy in technical documents and product materials.            

In 2009, FANUC informed the famous industrial robot forum robot forum to delete the random documents and technical materials of FANUC robots shared by all users on its website.            Therefore, if you buy a second-hand FANUC robot, in order to "rightfully" own it - FANUC updates the owner of the machine in its database, you have to pay FANUC a re authorization fee of about $10000 / robot. If you don't pay, you will face no technical support, no software upgrade, no repair parts, or even the user manual can't be searched.            

Product characteristics            

Fanuc robot inherits the characteristics of stable and easy-to-use CNC system, high cost performance and wide coverage. There are more than 240 kinds of product models, and the load range is from 0.5kg to 2.3t, which can meet all the mainstream industries and link applications of robot at present.            

In addition, due to the collaborative development of three businesses of FANUC, its robot has its own first-class servo system and motion control system in the upstream, and the first-class machine tool and robot are responsible for the machining and production of machinery; there is a huge amount of CNC integrated application support in the downstream, thus forming a technology and cost advantage that other manufacturers cannot surpass.            

In general, FANUC products have the characteristics of high precision, light weight and miniaturization. However, fish and bear's paw can't have both. It's hard to coexist with accuracy and overload capacity. So when the robot's basic load reaches 80%, it will alarm.            Electrical machinery            

Founded in 1915, Yaskawa motor started as a servo motor. Because Yaskawa has its own servo system and motion controller products, and its technical level is also the first-class level. The overall technical scheme of its robot is very similar to that of FANUC, and its mechanical design, servo system and controller are all completed by its own company.            

Yaskawa motor has four business divisions: drive control, motion control, system control and robot. Its market share of AC servo and frequency converter ranks first in the world. Industrial control products represented by servo motor are its core advantages.            

In 1996, Yaskawa electric entered the Chinese market and was the first one among the four families to enter the Chinese market.

Product characteristics            

Although the overall technical scheme is similar to that of FANUC, its product features are "opposite" to the latter.            

YASKAWA robot has good stability, large load, full load operation and no alarm. However, the accuracy is less than that of FANUC. And among the four families, the comprehensive price of Yaskawa robot is the lowest.            

KUKA            

In terms of age, KUKA should be the largest of the four families, but he is the weakest in ability.  

KUKA was founded in Germany in 1898. Different from other three families, KUKA started from welding equipment due to the development of German automobile industry, so it lacks accumulation of motion control. So in general, it is the smallest in volume and the worst in development.            

At present, KUKA has three major business segments: robotics, system integration and ruishige (mainly involving the integration of automation in the medical and warehousing fields).

From the perspective of various businesses, the proportion of system integration business has been high. In 2018, the system integration business of KUKA accounted for 40.14% of the revenue.            

However, the core technology has always been its short board. In 2017, KUKA ushered in a small turning point. Midea completed the 94.55% share acquisition of KUKA with 29.2 billion yuan, and KUKA fell into the pocket of the Chinese people. However, this change doesn't seem to surprise us.

In 2018, KUKA's revenue was 3.242 billion euros, down 6.81% year on year. EBIT was 34 million euros, down 67% year on year. The sharp decline was mainly caused by the loss of system integration and Rexroth business.            

As a result, the acquisition does not seem to achieve a strong combination, thus a stronger situation.            

Product characteristics            

The advantage of KUKA lies in the innovation of ontology structure and ease of use. The system integration business accounts for the highest proportion and is easy to operate. However, due to the lack of core technology, its products are difficult to keep up with the changes in the market.   

Profitability            

The technical level and performance of products are ultimately to achieve profitability.

Obviously, the profit level of FANUC is the most outstanding among the four families, with gross profit margin of about 40% for a long time, far exceeding that of the other three enterprises, and its net interest rate is also the best.            

Due to ABB's huge business, FANUC's revenue is only 21%, but its market value is 60% of ABB's. From this point of view, FANUC is obviously the eldest of the four families.            

Because robot itself is not a high profit industry, it is difficult for a pure industrial robot enterprise to have a large scale. The value of robots lies in the synergy generated by providing overall solutions as the center of system integration and combining with other businesses, and the combination with machine numerical control is undoubtedly the most appropriate, which explains why FANUC is the most successful in the development of these four families.

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