Estun
Assembly Line
Chinese Robots Hit the Factory Floor
And though Chinese buyers once relied on foreign robot suppliers such as Japan’s Fanuc and Yaskawa, factories in China are increasingly deploying less advanced but cheaper homegrown models, as part of the country’s self-sufficiency drive led by Xi Jinping. According to research firm MIR Databank, for the first three quarters of this year, domestic companies such as Shenzhen-based Inovance and Estun from Nanjing together sold more units in China than their foreign counterparts for the first time.
“Chinese firms will change robotics in Europe and the U.S.,” says Georg Stieler, head of Robotics & Automation at Stieler Technology & Marketing Consulting. “Their aggressive pricing will bring more competition and force established players to rethink some of the ways they have been doing business.” It helps that Chinese robots are 10 to 15 percent cheaper than comparable models from foreign brands, due to their localized supply chain, according to estimates from HSBC Qianhai Securities.
In January, the Beijing government set up a 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) fund alongside a subsidiary of Shougang Group, a state-owned steel enterprise, to give the robotics industry a boost. Siasun, one of China’s largest robotic manufacturers, has received 588 million yuan ($80.9 million) in subsidies in the last three years, according to its annual report.
To meet the growing demand, Efort, a company known for its paint-spraying robots, announced plans to build a 1.9 billion renminbi ($261 million) factory at its headquarters in Wuhu, Anhui province, in August. The company says the plant will focus on high-end and specialized robots, and increase its annual output tenfold to 100,000 units by 2029. Some of those units may well end up in factories outside of China, as Efort and other Chinese robotics companies step up their expansion abroad.