Analysis of the development background and status quo of China’s industrial robot industry
Today’s world is in the stage of profound changes and adjustments after the financial crisis. The new generation of technology exchanges and collisions such as mobile Internet, Internet of Things, and big data are becoming more and more frequent. Major industrialized countries are turning their attention to manufacturing again. Under pressure, choosing to develop the emerging industry of intelligent manufacturing is the most rational development path to complete industrial transformation and upgrading and promote the high-level and deep integration of industrialization and informatization. It is the general trend that Industrial Robots replace traditional labor for production activities on a large scale.
1. Background and status quo of the development of Industrial Robots in China
(1) Multi-layer reasons promote the development of global Industrial Robots in 2014
The reason for the steady development of industrial robots is not only the issue of labor costs, but also the inherent requirements of high-end precision and intelligent manufacturing methods. At the same time, they also bear the historical mission of liberating human beings from heavy, dangerous and repetitive labor. In recent years, the number of installed industrial robots in the world has grown rapidly. On the one hand, developed countries have learned from the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis and implemented reindustrialization strategies; on the other hand, they have benefited from the rapid growth of China’s industrial robot market demand.
At present, countries around the world have shown strong interest in intelligent manufacturing, and various policy measures have been introduced one after another. The important reason is that the global manufacturing industry has continued to decline over the past three years, and factors such as the market and employment have gradually increased the pressure on the economies of various countries. Traditional developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan expect to use intelligent manufacturing to cope with the weak domestic economic situation, consolidate the economic foundation, and counter the general trend of manufacturing manufacturing to emerging market countries. Developing countries and regions hope to use intelligent manufacturing to adjust industrial structure and improve comprehensive competitiveness. Germany’s iconic “Industry 4.0” is the long-term goal of the development of intelligent manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing equipment is marked by industrial robots.
In 2014, the global installed volume of industrial robots hit a new high, reaching 205,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%, mainly driven by the steady increase in demand from the automotive industry. Compared to 2012, global installations have grown by nearly a third. While the global robot industry maintains a good growth momentum, with the growing demand for electronic products and new industries, as well as the need for automated production, industrial robot applications are mainly concentrated in the fields of automobiles, electrical and electronic, rubber and plastics, metals and machinery.
(2) Many fields represented by automobiles promote the development of industrial robots in China
In the past two years, with the introduction of national strategic emerging industries and the steady progress of the integration of industrialization and industrialization, China’s intelligent manufacturing equipment field has received extensive attention from the whole society. With the increase in internal demand for improved product performance and rising labor prices in China, the pressure for industrial transformation and upgrading continues to increase. As a representative of the intelligent manufacturing field, industrial robots are playing an increasingly important role in the process of industrial transformation and upgrading. Driven by the incentives of industrial policies and market demand, China’s industrial robot industry has achieved rapid growth in recent years, and the industrialization capabilities of leading companies in the industry have been continuously improved. At the same time, more and more new companies are also actively participating in the robot industry. In 2014, the output of industrial robots in China was 12,050 units, a year-on-year increase of 26.2%. From the application industry statistics, the automobile and electronics industries are the main application fields of domestic industrial robots. Among them, the automotive industry is the largest application industry of industrial robots, accounting for 38%, and the automotive industry is also the industry with the highest use density of robots.
With the development of factory automation in China, industrial robots will also develop rapidly in other industrial industries, such as electronics, rubber and plastics, military industry, aviation manufacturing, food industry, medical equipment, metal products and other fields.
As high-tech equipment, industrial robots are of great significance in promoting national defense, intelligent manufacturing, re