In the first half of 2023, China's mobile robot market did not appear the expected demand outbreak, the industry growth rate slowed down, the market competition was fierce, and the pressure on enterprises further increased. Polishing good products, enhancing core technical advantages, improving delivery capacity, expanding sales channels, expanding overseas market share, and grasping cost control and other measures have become the survival and development strategies of mobile robot enterprises.
Favorable policy introduction
In 2022, China's mobile robot (AGV/AMR) market sales reached 18.5 billion yuan, an increase of 46.82%. From the perspective of market demand, the sales growth of mobile robots in the new energy industry exceeded expectations, while accelerating the penetration into new industry areas. With the emergence of the "inflection point" of China's population growth in 2022, and the acceleration of intelligent upgrading in various industries, it is conducive to the development of the mobile robot industry.
Entering 2023, China's mobile robots ushered in heavy industrial support policies. On January 18, 17 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Robot +" application Action Implementation Plan, proposing that by 2025, the density of manufacturing robots will double compared with 2020, and the application depth and breadth of service robots and special robots industries will be significantly improved; Focus on ten key application areas, break through more than 100 kinds of robot innovative application technologies and solutions, promote more than 200 robot typical application scenarios with high technical level, innovative application mode and significant application results, build a number of "robot +" application benchmarking enterprises, and build a number of application experience centers and test and verification centers.
Industrial policy will support the long-term development of China's robot industry, further expand the application of robots in manufacturing, new energy and other fields, and promote industrial technological change and upgrading, so as to promote China's robot industry to a new level.
State of market demand
With the support of industrial policy, the confidence of enterprise development has undoubtedly been boosted, and the haze of the epidemic has subsided, so that many mobile robot companies have been full of energy at the beginning of the year. However, in the context of frequent global trade disputes and complex and changing international environment, affected by China's macroeconomic situation, the domestic mobile robot market growth in the first half of 2023 was less than expected. According to Wang Yupeng, president of mobile robot BG of Shenyang Siasun Robot Automation Co., LTD., the market demand is mainly concentrated in the following three industry areas:
First, the logistics distribution of manufacturing enterprises, especially in the automotive industry, has formed a systematic demand for mobile robots since 2022, and projects have increased significantly. With the development of intelligent manufacturing, manufacturing enterprises are shifting from "production-centered" to "delivery-centered", which not only changes the original production model, but also subverts the original production logistics model. Mobile robots that integrate data processing, image recognition, visual recognition, deep learning and other technologies, with outstanding intelligent and flexible characteristics, can perfectly replace traditional tractor and forklift trucks, and automatically complete the online distribution of materials, so as to improve efficiency and reduce costs, and are more and more widely used in various industries.
Second, the power battery and energy storage battery industry, especially the power battery industry in recent years, the speed of investment in the construction of factories is very fast, and the demand for mobile robots is explosive. In the power battery factory, mobile robots are mainly used for material transfer and high-precision assembly of products, and have become an essential tool throughout the production process, the demand is very large, and a variety of types of products are needed to adapt to different scenarios. It is worth mentioning that not only domestic enterprises, but also Japanese and Korean power battery companies have begun to adopt this model.
Third, the photovoltaic industry, the current demand for mobile robots is second only to the power battery industry. In recent years, the capacity expansion of the photovoltaic industry has been aggressive, and after the substantial growth of the production capacity of the silicon material link, the investment in polysilicon, silicon wafers and modules is also not reduced. According to incomplete statistics of the Economic observation network reporter, in the first half of this year, more than 770,000 tons of polysilicon projects were started or officially announced; The listed photovoltaic companies disclosed a total of more than 23 projects related to silicon wafers and modules, the expansion scale of nearly 400GW. In the production workshop, from the distribution of raw materials to the production line of various scenes, mobile robots can complete from the issue of material to the production line, as well as in the production of velvet, diffusion, laser, etching, annealing oxidation, coating, back film, positive film, screen printing and other processes of the joint handling, to achieve a safe, efficient, automatic transfer of silicon materials, silicon wafers.
Wang Yupeng believes that in 2023, China's mobile robot market is expected to increase by 20%, and the demand of the above three industries accounts for about 60% of the market share, especially the mobile robot project of the power battery and photovoltaic industry is large, and the sales of a single project is hundreds of millions of yuan; Demand from other sectors is tepid and projects are relatively small. In the case of intensified market differentiation, if mobile robot companies do not successfully enter the above three major tuyere industries, growth will be weak.
It is worth noting that many Party A in the project bidding are mostly based on cost considerations, requiring mobile robot products to be "usable" and "practical", and do not value other added value, so that some suppliers feel that "brand and technology are worthless in front of price". The arrival of low-cost society will bring a series of changes to the business concept and product development of mobile robot enterprises.
Industry development characteristics
In the first half of 2023, China's mobile robot industry showed some characteristics and problems, affecting the development strategy of enterprises and industry trends.
1. Product homogenization is serious, and market competition is white-hot
The scale of China's mobile robot market continues to expand, with broad prospects, and a large number of new enterprises have launched fierce competition in the industry in recent years. Because the vast majority of mobile robot enterprises have been established for a short time, capital and technical strength are still accumulating, research and development investment is insufficient, product homogenization is serious, and the lack of core technical advantages can only rely on low prices to attract customers in the "fully competitive" market. In the case of weak demand this year, in order to compete for projects, bidding prices are "not the lowest, only lower", resulting in further decline in profit margins. In the long run, it will affect the sustainable and healthy development of the entire industry.
2. Project delivery is the pain point of the industry and the test of the comprehensive strength of the enterprise
"At present, large-scale landing delivery of mobile robots is still facing bottlenecks, and on-site implementation and deployment is a common pain point for robot companies, and it is also the most concerned issue in the industry." Wang Yupeng said that mobile robot project delivery is a systematic engineering, involving demand research, program design, equipment selection and production, equipment installation and commissioning and many other links, requiring suppliers to have a variety of capabilities and professional experience. Among them, the project implementation experience and site management ability are very important for the smooth delivery of the project and the control of the cost. It is understood that the construction period of on-site installation and commissioning is 1 to 2 months is the most ideal, but it is often extended, resulting in a large number of manpower staying at the site, the cost of the project increases sharply, and then eat the meager profits of suppliers.
In order to break through the project delivery problems, mobile robot enterprises should focus on in-depth understanding of customer needs in the early stage of the project, maintain communication with customers in the program planning and design stage, fully debug the product before the factory, constantly enrich the project implementation experience, and enhance the site management ability. This actually reflects the comprehensive strength of the enterprise.
3. Strive to polish products and pay attention to technological innovation
The entire mobile robot market is expanding, on the one hand, the rapid rise of upstream and downstream related enterprises in the industrial chain, and the market competition is becoming increasingly fierce; On the other hand, advanced technology has been widely used and technology iteration has accelerated. At the same time, under the trend of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading, customers' expectations and requirements are getting higher and higher, and manufacturers are seeking new development opportunities, but there are often various problems when the project is landed. The reason is that the mobile robot integrates a variety of technologies, and the application scenarios are different, the process requirements are different, the attributes of product customization development are very strong, and the project is difficult.
Therefore, mobile robot enterprises should focus more energy and resources on polishing products, independent innovation and industrial development as a necessary way for enterprises to maintain competitiveness for a long time, and continue to enhance their core technological advantages. The first is to improve the stability and reliability of the product, so that the software is easy to deploy and increase the added value of the product; The second is to improve the standardization ability of products and the replicability of projects, expand the market application of mass, and enhance customer stickiness and market influence; The third is to grasp the changes in market demand in a timely manner, and actively pay attention to cutting-edge technologies, constantly achieve the upgrading of products and technologies, and avoid falling into the replacement risk of new products and cutting-edge technologies.
As market competition intensifies and customer demand changes, mobile robot enterprises pay more attention to product and technological innovation
Low-cost unmanned is also one of the outstanding characteristics of this year's market demand. Such as the release of the fifth generation of multi-mode robot is undoubtedly a revolutionary innovation. It not only represents the latest achievements of artificial intelligence technology, but also indicates that the future of human-computer interaction will be more intelligent and diversified. It is believed that in the near future, these robots will become an integral part of our work scene. Many industry experts and customers have said that the new products of stable stone robots are highly innovative and practical, and will have an important impact on the development of the multi-mode era.
In addition, the combination of the mobile robot (foot) and the robot arm (hand) into a composite robot has become a kind of operation unit with the ability of perception and adjustment, and the application prospect is also very broad.
4. Accelerate the layout of overseas markets
China has a huge scale and complete industrial chain manufacturing industry, which can provide diversified and whole-process application scenarios unmatched by foreign countries, providing deep soil for the rapid iteration and technological upgrading of mobile robot products. China's mobile robot enterprises through a large number of domestic project cases, so that the product gradually polished mature, but also accumulated rich professional experience, coupled with prominent price advantages, in the international market has a strong competitiveness. In 2023, the enthusiasm of China's mobile robot enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions is generally high.
As more and more Chinese manufacturing, commerce and logistics enterprises go abroad, especially in recent years, power batteries, new energy vehicles and other industries began to build factories overseas, mobile robot enterprises as technical service providers also accelerated the pace of going to sea.
As more Chinese mobile robot companies show their skills in overseas markets, relevant parts and components enterprises in the industrial chain are also going abroad, which will undoubtedly help enhance the international influence of China's intelligent logistics brand.
5. Attach importance to the development of core components and key technologies
The mobile robot is mainly composed of three parts: drive, dispatch and guidance, and the most important cost is concentrated on the core components such as reducer, servo system and controller. At present, in the core components such as drive controllers, scheduling systems and excitation navigation sensors, international brands occupy the main market, although they can not achieve a direct monopoly of China's mobile market, but can use key technological advantages to form constraints and contain Chinese enterprises. For example, during the epidemic period, the supply cycle of foreign core components has become longer and the price has increased, which has an impact on the on-time delivery of mobile robot projects and corporate profits.
The localization of core components of mobile robots will accelerate
In the long run, upstream cost constraints will continue to affect the level of industry expansion. With the continuous expansion of the scale of China's mobile robot industry, in order to achieve high-quality development, it is necessary to be self-reliant and self-reliant, ensure the autonomy and controllability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and the breakthrough of core component technology has become the top priority. At the same time, from the demand side, Party A has cost requirements, and the high cost performance has always been the advantage of Chinese enterprises, providing market opportunities for domestic parts to replace imports. At present, many domestic enterprises are accelerating independent research and development, realizing the iterative optimization of core component technology, and accelerating the localization process.
In addition, machine vision, artificial intelligence and other technologies are closely combined with mobile robots, so that it not only has the ability to accurately detect and position the end, but also has the real-time adjustment ability of its vehicle robot arm and other actuators, this composite robot will bring more space to the future development of the industry.
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