Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Robotics shows a trend of "high-end industry becoming low-end"

On June 16, the China Robot TOP10 Summit was initiated by 10 robot companies including Shenyang Siasun Robotics, Anhui Efort, Nanjing Estun, and Guangzhou CNC. It was recently held in Shenyang. The 10 companies participating in the summit issued a joint declaration to strengthen industry self-discipline, promote fair competition, strengthen industrial innovation, and build world-class robot companies.

In recent years, the number of robot-related companies in my country has increased rapidly. Under the "hot" situation of the industry, the above joint declaration of backbone enterprises also reflects the industry's weaknesses to a certain extent.

Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, who participated in the summit, said bluntly: "At present, my country's robot industry has shown a trend of 'high-end industry becoming low-end', and there is a hidden worry of overinvestment."

Xu Fang, president of Shenyang Siasun Robotics Institute, told the Daily Economic News: "Most of my country's robot companies are small in scale and lack R&D capabilities. Companies with a slightly larger scale also lack the motivation to conduct research due to market demand and risks. The large number of companies and the fragmented industries also make it easy for a 'herd rush' to form."

The industry has obvious weaknesses

In recent years, my country's robotics industry has developed rapidly. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country's industrial robot output in 2015 was 32,996 units, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%.

At the same time, the weaknesses of my country's robotics industry are still very obvious. The White Paper shows that my country's domestically produced industrial robots are mainly low-end products, mainly handling and loading and unloading robots, mostly three-axis and four-axis robots. The market for high-end industrial robots with six axes or more, which are used in high-end industries such as automobile manufacturing and welding, is mainly occupied by Japanese and European and American companies. Domestically produced six-axis industrial robots account for less than 10% of the country's new industrial robot installations.

Qu Daokui, president of Shenyang Siasun Robot, previously stated that robots are high-end equipment, but currently most of the high-end market is still monopolized by foreign companies, and domestic products only account for about 14 or 15 percent.

"Core components such as motors, drives, and high-precision reducers rely on imports, which account for about 60% to 70% of the cost. The hollowing out of core technologies and the reliance on imports of core components, coupled with the marginalization of the high-end market, are the three major shortcomings of my country's traditional robots at present," said Qu Daokui.

Xin Guobin said bluntly: "my country's robotics industry has shown a trend of 'high-end industry becoming low-end'."

The "Robotics Industry Development Plan (2016-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") released in April this year proposed that it will take the lead in breaking through ten iconic products such as arc welding robots, vacuum (clean) robots, surgical robots, and intelligent nursing robots, as well as breaking through five key components such as high-precision reducers.

A reporter from the Daily Economic News learned that the newly established China Robot TOP10 is positioned to be a high-end think tank for Chinese robots and a promoter and practitioner of the development of China's robot industry. It will also build a robot think tank platform to support the TOP10 robot companies as the leading units to integrate production, education, research and application resources to develop new technologies and tackle new product problems.

Industry consolidation has begun to emerge

At present, all regions are favoring the robotics industry. According to data from the China Robotics Industry Alliance, over 40 robotics industrial parks have been built or are under construction in the past two years.

At the "Plan" press conference on April 26 this year, Li Dong, Director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also introduced that according to preliminary statistics, there are more than 800 companies involved in the production of robots, of which more than 200 are robot body manufacturing companies.

Regarding the current situation of a large number of companies entering the market, Xin Guobin frankly said: "There is a hidden worry of overinvestment in my country's robotics industry."

Wang Ye, president of Ninebot Technology Co., Ltd., told the Daily Economic News: "Too many companies is not necessarily a good thing. As soon as a large number of robot companies saw that welding robots and palletizing robots were selling well, they rushed in to do what others had already done. These companies not only lack competitiveness themselves, but also lead to overcapacity in the industry."

Xin Guobin mentioned that the robot industry should avoid blind expansion and low-level duplication of construction. He also said: "my country's robot companies should not only move forward on their own, but also move forward together, and pay more attention to cooperation between companies to achieve complementary advantages and win-win cooperation."

The newly established Robot TOP10 also proposed to support the TOP10 companies to increase the scale of the industry through mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.

It is worth noting that the integration of the robot industry has also begun to emerge. Wang Jiegao, general manager of Nanjing Estun Robotics, told the reporter of the "Daily Economic News": "We will actively seek to acquire and merge excellent companies that have synergy effects on the company's two core businesses and have performance support."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.