After the acquisition of the German robot giant KUKA, Midea finally made a big move for their cooperation.
Yesterday morning, U.S. and KUKA jointly announced that U.S. will inject capital into the subordinate operations of Kukka China and set up three joint venture companies to expand the business of industrial robots, medical care, and warehouse automation. Nandu reporter learned from the U.S. group. After the establishment of the company, Midea and Kuka will each own a 50% stake in the joint venture. The joint venture will establish a production base in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong.
At the 'new race' competition outside of home appliance manufacturing, the giants of Midea, Haier and Gree have gradually changed from the previous layout phase to the realization phase. After a step in the United States' construction, the competition may speed up.
Human-computer interaction business lasts 'real hammer'
According to U.S. and KUKA, the JV will adapt to the rapid development of smart manufacturing, smart medical and smart logistics, and new retail in the Chinese market, develop products and solutions that suit the needs of Chinese customers, and realize the full speed of the automation business sector. increase.
In fact, since the completion of the US purchase of the KUKA tender offer last year, the specific model of cooperation between the two parties has been 'shadowed'. After the public announcement of the development plan, U.S. KUKA’s joint planning and layout of the robotics business will follow. Exposure. Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea Group, said that through the joint venture with KUKA to establish a joint venture company, the two sides integrated their superior resources and achieved closed-loop integration of the US version of the industrial Internet. 'Foreigner, we continue to deepen our efforts in the industrial and consumer robot market. Broad demand, from a higher perspective to promote the 'new generation of man-machine' evolution in the Chinese market. '
In fact, at this year's AWE (China Household Electrical Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo) eve of the US Group's annual strategic conference, they announced the need to open the 'new era of man-machine' strategy, 'We will not stop at the manufacturing, the robot will be the future logistics Transport, medical rehabilitation, and even an important member of the smart family. Olof Gehrels, general manager of Midea Robotics, told reporters at the time.
In the subsequent A WE, Midea also exhibited the latest achievements in smart manufacturing, smart medical and smart logistics, new retail and other fields. For example, KUKA launched LBRM ed robotic components in orthopedic surgery, ultrasound diagnosis, minimally invasive. In the new retail sector, Midea’s 'smart shopping guide' uses face recognition technology, big data technology, natural language understanding technology, and intelligent recommendation algorithms to recommend appropriate products.
Smart Logistics is also an important part of Midea's realization of the 'new age of man-machines'. Midea's deputy general manager, Li Zhuo-sheng, of the United States, said to the Southern Capital Reporter that from an automation point of view, after the U.S. acquisition of KUKA, warehousing has been improved. The technical support can provide a complete set of solutions for smart logistics, 'starting with the beauty of the manufacturing industry, can give other manufacturing companies overall smart logistics solutions.'
Income beyond home appliance manufacturing
The rising costs and the slowdown in the growth of the home appliance manufacturing sector, over-reliance on air-conditioners and other single products, and the search for new revenue growth poles are the problems that home appliance giants have to face.
Similarly, taking the example of Smart Logistics of the United States, Li Zhuosheng revealed to Southern Capital that, currently among the income of Andhra Group, the proportion of 'non-beauty' businesses is getting higher and higher, reaching about 50%, 'a platform company with Jingdong, a rookie and other companies. Different, the United States based on manufacturing and channels started, the external 'output' of smart logistics business, can help companies get through the supply chain, improve inventory turnover. '
Nandu reporters also learned from Midea Group's financial report that in the first three quarters of 2017, KUKA’s revenue reached 19.8 billion yuan. However, in the entire US-based group, revenue accounted for only 10.6%, which is still far below consumer electronics and warming. Air conditioning and other plates.
According to the data released by the International Federation of Robotics, the current annual sales of Chinese industrial robots have reached the highest level in all countries since records: In 2016, sales reached 87,000 units, and the annual growth rate was 27%. From 2018 to 2020, the sales volume of Chinese industrial robots will increase by 15% to 20%. The ability of Midea to take advantage of the revenues of robots and automation systems will become the key. The underlying logic of the industrial Internet is exactly the robot industry. In other words, this is the KUKA, which we can judge, the importance of the robot industry in the United States in the next few years will be further improved. 'The home appliance industry senior observer Liu Buchen told the Southern Reporter, 'I personally think that the robot business sector accounts for the entire United States' Group revenue of 20% is a more reasonable ratio.
Compared with Midea's aiming at the Industrial Internet, Haier, which also has several brands in its hands, focuses on the whole set of customized wisdom packages and tries to export the smart family as a whole.
Since Gree announced its diversification in 2016, it has also outlined a diversified outline. However, from the perspective of revenue, Gree’s smart equipment has already sprouted, but the market has not yet been 'detonated'. Gree 2017 The semi-annual report shows that the proportion of smart equipment business is about 2%. Gree Electric Appliances Chairman Dong Mingzhu also said in an interview with the media during the two sessions of the National Committee that the number of CNC machine tools and the air-conditioning is 100 billion yuan overnight. It's not realistic, but it's very important to 'lay the foundation'. 'My CNC machine tools either don't do it or do it best.'
The three giants of China’s home appliance industry are extending beyond the main business. This is actually a 'required action' after the company has developed to a certain scale. 'The development of large global companies is like this, extending from specialization to diversification. From strong-relevant diversification further to relevant diversification, Haimei is currently in the stage of extending diversification into related industries. Gree is in the stage of specialization and diversification. ' Liu Buchen commented.
We hope to extend the idea of perfect human-machine interaction to various fields such as life, manufacturing, logistics, and medical care, and focus on more valuable imagination and innovation. This is the new ecology of human-computer interaction that the United States hopes to explore.
— During the Fortune Forum in December last year, Fang Hongbo revealed when he was interviewed by reporters from the Southern Capital. This time the U.S.-Kuka cooperation officially landed, and it seems to have verified the U.S. focus on high value.