Chongqing robot intelligent equipment industry see prototype

In recent years, major global economies have integrated the robot industry into their national strategies as an important means to maintain and regain the competitive advantage of the manufacturing industry.

In the face of the wave of global robotics industry, in 2011, the city began to vigorously promote the development of the robot industry. Now, four years have passed, and the robot and smart equipment industries in our city have formed the embryonic form of the industry chain. In 2014, the output value reached nearly 10 billion yuan.

Multiple projects put into production

Industry chain has taken shape

On the morning of April 18th, in the electronic zone 5 of Phoenix Lake Industrial Park, Yongchuan District. A new factory building was busy inside and outside, and several workers and technicians were busy unloading machinery and equipment from large trucks to assemble robotic production lines.

This is Shenzhen Delight Control Technology Co., Ltd. to relocate the factory from Shenzhen as a whole to Chongqing. "It is expected that in May of this year, the company will complete the relocation work and formally put into production." Shi Wei, general manager of Chongqing Deruite Control Technology Co., Ltd. disclosed.

At this time, the local robot company, Chongqing Sheping Technology Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Sheping Technology) is located in the factory of the Shuangfu New District, Jiangjin, and is building an automated three-dimensional storage system. Under the orderly operation of the workers, high-level shelves, palletizing robots and other equipment are gradually being “walked” under the production line.

Deng Sheping, general manager of Sheping Science and Technology, told reporters that the company's automated three-dimensional storage system was officially put into production in January this year, with an annual production capacity of about 200 sets, each worth more than 100 million.

This is just a microcosm of the steady development of the robot and smart equipment industry in our city. According to Zhao Bin, Director of the Equipment Division of the Municipal Economic and Credit Commission, in recent years, the city has introduced and cultivated a group of leading enterprises in the robotics and intelligent manufacturing equipment industry. At present, there are more than 60 robotics companies in the city, which are mainly located in Liangjiang New District, Yongchuan, Dazu, Jiangjin and Laoshan. Among them, more than 20 integrated projects have been completed and put into production, including Chongqing Guangda Robot, Chongqing Huayuan Robotics, and other companies, including Hawthorn Robots, Metaspect Robotics, and Sheping Science and Technology; Chongqing Chongqing Hi-tech, Chongqing Luobotaier Robot The complete machine project of Chongqing, Schroder Robotics and other companies is gradually starting up and putting into production.

At the same time, a number of national and municipal R&D service platforms and enterprise technology centers have also been formed, including the Chongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Robot Detection Calibration Center, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Production, Teaching, and Research of Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment.

According to the city's Economic and Information Commission statistics, in 2014, the city's robotics and smart equipment industry achieved an output value of nearly 10 billion yuan. It is estimated that by 2015, this figure will reach 15 billion yuan.

“It can be said that after four years of efforts, the city has initially formed a prototype of the industrial chain of R&D, complete machine manufacturing, system integration, parts and components and application services,” said Zhao Bin.

Urban linkage to seize market opportunities

The robotics and smart equipment industry is seen as an important indicator of a country’s technological innovation and high-end manufacturing levels. In recent years, major economies in the world have incorporated this into national strategies. Among them, Germany's "Industry 4.0" strategic plan, the United States' "Advanced Manufacturing Plan" and Britain's "Industry 2050 Strategy" are the most eye-catching.

Faced with the wave of the global robotics industry, our city will promote the development of the robot industry as soon as possible in 2011. In March of that year, the Chongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came into being, and robotics technology was taken as an important research direction. At the same time, it also introduced senior experts and established Chongqing Robot Experts Group.

In December of the same year, the city organized and organized the "Robot Exhibition and Industry Matchmaking Fair", which clearly stated that it would make our city a "robot capital."

In October 2013, the municipal government issued "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Robot Industry" (hereinafter referred to as "opinions"). By 2020, a complete R&D, inspection and manufacturing system will be established and become an important and globally influential robotic industrial base in China. The sales revenue of the robot and smart equipment industry in the city will reach 100 billion yuan.

Before and after this, several provinces and cities have also issued robot development plans. Among them, cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Foshan, Guangzhou and Shenyang, which have been referred to by the industry as "the top ten cities in the robot industry," are even more ambitious.

As the crowds competed, the city came up with a unique way. Firstly, the Municipal Economic and Information Commission and the Liangjiang New District, Yongchuan, Dazu, Laoshan, and Jiangjin established a joint investment promotion group to launch global investment promotion, and established a coordination and protection mechanism jointly promoted by the main leaders to create an intelligent equipment industry gathering area; Focus on the collaborative development of the industrial chain, innovative business models (formation of financial leasing companies), cooperation between production, teaching and research, and personnel training, and other initiatives to promote the autonomous R&D and application of robots and smart devices.

"This model draws on the successful experience of the laptop industry, but it is different, because the robot and smart equipment industry involves the entire industrial chain of research and development, manufacturing, testing, integration, parts and components and application services." Zhao Bin said.

He Guotian, leader of the Chongqing Robotics Experts Group, believes that the city’s robotics industry is starting from scratch. This model is conducive to the rapid formation of industrial chain and scale production capabilities, and to seize market opportunities.

Comprehensive advantages Clear development prospects

With the continuous increase in labor costs in the manufacturing industry and the decline in robot prices as technology matures, the demand for robots has become more and more robust in recent years.

According to reports of research institutions such as Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and McKinsey, in 2013, sales of industrial robots in China's domestic market ranked first in the world, reaching more than 36,000 units, accounting for nearly one-fifth of global sales. It is estimated that in the next few years, the average annual increase in sales volume in the domestic robot market will exceed 30%, and it will reach 3 trillion yuan in 2020.

The sales situation of the robot market in our city is even more optimistic. According to statistics provided by the City Commission of Economics and Information Technology, in 2013, the robot market in the city sold more than 2,200 units, making it the first city in the country to demand robots. In 2014, this sales volume increased by approximately 36% year-on-year to approximately 3,000 units, and it is expected that the proportion will continue to lead the country.

According to insiders, at present in China, manufacturing industry is the absolute main force in the use of robots, and the use of automobile and motorcycle and electronics industries is the largest. “In the city, the production capacity of automobile, motorcycle and electronic information industry ranks among the top in the country, and there are numerous manufacturing companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, which will certainly generate huge demand for robot use in the country.” Robot and intelligence in Chongqing According to Wei Dong, secretary general of the Equipment Industry Development Alliance, this is the biggest advantage of the city in developing the robotics industry. Coupled with such policies and logistics advantages as the municipality's system, inland open highlands, bonded port areas, the Yangtze River's golden waterway, and the "Yaoxinou" international rail transport link, the comprehensive advantages of the city's development of the robot industry are even more pronounced.

Lack of key technologies can only earn small profits

However, at present, the city's robotics industry is facing a serious development bottleneck. "That is, there has been no substantial breakthrough in key core technologies." He Guotian said that if this bottleneck fails, it will hinder the robot industry from becoming bigger and stronger.

It is understood that the core components of the robot mainly include electronic control systems, servo motors and speed reducers. The corresponding three key core technologies are mainly controlled by a handful of foreign robotic companies such as Teijin in Japan, Fanuc in Japan, Yaskawa in Japan, KUKA in Germany, and ABB in Switzerland.

"As a result, about 90% of China's robot market is occupied by foreign robotics companies. More than 95% of domestic robot companies can only do system integration." He Guotian told reporters that China's robotics industry as a whole is still doing system integration. Relatively low-end stage, our city is no exception.

Due to the lack of key core technologies, enterprises have always been subject to foreign upstream companies in terms of price, order quantity, etc., and their viability is not strong.

Deng Sheping revealed that Sheping Technology can only earn about 10% gross profit for system integration, and most of the profits are earned by foreign upstream companies.

Why does this happen?

He Guotian believes that weak research and development capabilities are the main reasons. According to its introduction, although there are several research institutes and colleges and universities such as the Chongqing Institute of Green Intelligent Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing University, and Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, which are engaged in research and development of robotics technology, there is a shortage of high-end R&D personnel and scattered research and development forces.

Another reason is that the industrialization and application of R&D results have been poorly applied.

In December 2014, Sheping Science and Technology, which was unwilling to make profits only, successfully developed a four-axis handling robot with an electronic control system with independent intellectual property rights. Deng Sheping had optimistically predicted that the company’s operating profit would therefore increase by at least two or three. Times.

However, three months later, due to lack of trust of users, this robot has been left out of the market.

“Actually, users do not trust domestic robots is a common phenomenon.” He Guotian said that this is because domestic robots have always been difficult to match with imported robots in terms of accuracy, reliability, and stability.

How to reverse this situation?

He Guotian suggested that the government can lead the establishment of the Robotics Research Institute to cultivate high-end R&D talents and integrate the current decentralized R&D forces. On this basis, a technical research team was established to fully overcome the key core technologies of the robot. “In addition, the government can also encourage companies to use local robots through fiscal and taxation incentives and other measures to solve the problem of poorly applied R&D achievements.”