Robotics industry Next: Beware of overheating investment

After the Chinese leaders put forward the concept of "robot" on several occasions, more and more local governments and enterprises began to pay attention to the industry. In mid-December alone, Guangzhou and Chengdu held a high standard robotics industry conference, and several local governments also planned to vigorously develop the robotics industry during the "Thirteen-Five" period.

Wu Shang, Director of Advanced Motor Center at the University of Central Florida in the United States, has also felt the change--in recent months he has received several times the amount of technical advice from Chinese companies.

"Robots are driving a new round of industrial revolution in China," Wu Shang, a reporter for the 21st century Economic report, "but it should also be seen that there is too little market demand in China." ”

Robot development Next: fuses the electricity merchant?

Mao Weiming, vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, said in Guangzhou that the era of 25% ultra-high speed growth of equipment manufacturing in China is over, and the development model of over-reliance on investment and scale expansion will be unsustainable.

Mao Weiming said that the industrial robot industry can not only through intelligent production to enable manufacturers to obtain high-quality product manufacturing standards, but also to deal with the rise in labor costs and other issues, is to solve China's rapid industrial cost growth, low value-added, environmental resources constraints and other factors of the important choice.

Mao Weiming said, was participating in the World Robotics Industry Congress of the industry to read: "China's version of the industry 4.0 plan."

However, from the perspective of market Development, Harbin Institute of Technology, the Deputy director of Robotics Li Ruifeng that, although as a new innovation can be a good fusion application of the continuous development of new technologies, but in the future only by the development of robots not enough to achieve industrial 4.0.

Li Ruifeng's suggestion is to introduce the electrical quotient model. He said: "The development of the robotic industry must be integrated with the development of the electric business model, in the new industrial sector small and medium-sized enterprises is such an example." In the era of Industry 4.0, product connection user cost is huge, have to rely on advertising, but in the industry 4.0 times, product connection user cost is 0, the product itself is an advertisement, such as Millet mobile phone, micro-letter and so on. ”

Deputy Director of Robot National Engineering Center, Siasun Robot AG President Qutauqui also agreed with this view, he said, the electric business does not talk about technology, but the big effort is the enterprise, with the latest business model to arm themselves, the global integration of talent, the introduction of international capital, in China's big market development, in addition to their own technology, Product research and development quickly seize the market, so do the industry first to do business, enterprise scale in accordance with the various elements of the market integration rather than in what have after their own business, this is China's biggest problem, should be "research and development + commercialization" to carry out.

Qutauqui said that relying entirely on their own mastery of core technology is likely to lose the development of the robot industry a major opportunity, "technology we must do, but also the key to the development of enterprises in the way to work." China's electric dealers in a few short years to the forefront of the world, if the electricity business every day to study technology, they will not be developed to the present height. ”

21st century economic reporter learned that the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information technology will organize the development of China's robotics roadmap and robot industry Thirteen-Five planning, through the strengthening of the top design, guide the industry development, while improving the standard system, the organization of China's robot industry standard system structure diagram and standard schedule, Strengthen the research and development of robotics and industrialization of financial support, build production and docking platform, cultivate industrial promotion demonstration base, focus on breakthrough key technologies and important links to promote the healthy development of the robot industry.

Beware of excessive investment

21st century economic reporter statistics show that the current announced will establish a robot industrial park provinces and cities include: Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Kunshan, Henan, Wuhu, Shanghai and so on, the total number of parks more than 30.

But it is noteworthy that, although the robot industry is being developed vigorously from central to local government, the robotics market is mainly focused on the automobile manufacturing industry. The data show that the global auto industry accounts for about 40% of the total number of industrial robots, compared with 70% in China.

Rojun, Secretary General of the International Robotics Alliance, also worries about this phenomenon: Although China, Germany, Japan and other countries in the past two years to vigorously promote the development of robotics industry, but the 2014 global robot output value of about 30 billion dollars, but not as much as the value of a traditional manufacturing enterprises in China.

On this issue, Qutauqui to the 21st century economic reporter said that the current robotic High-tech and robot market real demand is indeed a departure. The cost of a robot is high, a traditional labor-intensive factory, to transform into a robot factory, the cost is huge, a robot's labor rate equals 3.6 people, but its cost is about 5 to 50 times times. "Most traditional manufacturing profits are 6%, and banks ' financing costs are 10%, and companies don't have a strong incentive to drive their transition, and they don't have that much money," he said.

"At all levels of government is hotter than enterprises, now all over the government to build robot industry Park has more than thirty or forty, the actual government heat may directly to the future of industry blindness to create the role of", Qutauqui, "to be wary of the future of the photovoltaic industry to repeat the plight of overheating."

On the other hand, lack of innovation is also criticized by the industry. The 2014 International Robotics Association IFR released a report that China's robotics industry lacks technological innovation, including innovative ideas and creative achievements; there is no backbone enterprise that can participate in international competition, the general scale is very small, the quality and reliability of key parts is 5-10 years behind the world advanced level.

Wu Shang to the 21st century Economic report reporter said: "China's robot enterprises have basically mastered the industrial robot design technology, but such as sensors and advanced control and other core technologies rely on foreign countries, the same quality of robot products domestic enterprises can obtain little profit, robot production enterprises are generally small scale, difficult to form a scale effect , Enterprise manpower, research and marketing costs remain high, domestic robots lack of brand awareness, the market is largely occupied by foreign brands, domestic product brands lack of production practice test. ”

Qutauqui also says another big risk for robotics is the high technology and low value-added risks of robotics. "There are big problems with robots, high technology, but the value-added is now low to enter the conventional industry, in fact, the robot is typical three high, high technology density, high talent density, high capital density, but such a three high-tech industry now in the overall market performance has entered a very low output status, This leads to the next step of the robot who will vote, who will develop into a problem, that is to say, the traditional robot has gone down the High-tech altar. ”

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)