'Because of the technical gap between the core components such as reducers and servos, domestic manufacturers often have high reliance on international manufacturers and the purchase premium is very serious, which directly hampers further breakthroughs in the Chinese industrial robot industry. The main problems are structural problems, lack of high-end capabilities, low-level redundant construction in the low-end areas, and blind development.]
China's economy is entering a new phase of the switch between old and new kinetic energy. China's manufacturing industry, once labelled with low-margin profits, has provided a huge market space for domestic robotics companies in the process of transformation and upgrading.
China has become the fastest growing country in terms of the global growth rate of industrial robots. In the latest statistics of the International Robot Federation (IFR), China’s industrial robot density is ranked 23rd in the world, and the government also continuously supports them through policies. Before, China was built into the top 10 countries in the world for automation.
Rely on government subsidies
Thanks to the huge domestic market demand, the domestic robotics industry has developed rapidly. In 2017, the output of domestic industrial robots reached 131,000 units (caliber of the National Bureau of Statistics), an increase of 81% over the same period of last year. In 2018, it also continued its growth momentum. 1, 2 In the month, the output of domestic industrial robots was 18,770 sets, a cumulative increase of 25% over the same period last year.
According to the data in the 2017 annual report, the leading robotics companies such as Xinsong Robotics, Eston, Xinshida, Tuostar, and Huazhong CNC achieved operating income of 2.456 billion yuan, 1.079 billion yuan, 3.414 billion yuan, 764 million yuan respectively. 985 million yuan, of which Xinsong robots had the highest net profit, reaching 448 million yuan and a net profit rate of 18.24%. Subsequently, Xinshida, Topstar, all broke through 100 million yuan; the company with the fastest net profit growth was Huazhong CNC. , The year-on-year increase was 146.80%, followed by Tuosida, which was just listed for one year, with a growth rate of 78.15%.
However, at this stage, domestic listed companies are more dependent on government subsidies.
According to statistics from China Merchants Securities, 2016 government subsidies for Xinsong Robotics, Estun, Tuostar and Xinshida listed companies accounted for up to 30% of net profits. The first financial reporter noticed that despite 2017's large Some robot companies have achieved rapid growth, but some corporate profits have come from government subsidies. Under the guidance of national policies, the enthusiasm of local governments has increased, and their development goals have far exceeded the national-level planning goals.
From the national to the local, the robotics industry more meets the economic goals of the future. This is obviously one of the reasons why robotics companies have received huge subsidies from the government. Take Guangdong as an example. The certified robot manufacturing company in Foshan City of Guangdong Province subsidizes 500,000 yuan; The identified robot system integration and fostering enterprises will subsidize 300,000 yuan. The backbone enterprises that have broken through the major technical bottleneck of the robots will receive subsidies of up to 8 million yuan each year. If the total investment of the robots in Dongguan accounts for more than 50% of the total project investment, the maximum funding for a single project is even higher. Up to 6 million yuan.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, there are more than 800 companies involved in the production of robots in China, of which more than 200 are robotic body manufacturing companies. Most of them are based on assembly and processing, and they are at the low end of the industrial chain, with low industrial concentration, and overall scale. Small. The reason why these companies can survive is largely related to the various industrial parks that the government is currently keen to establish and various forms of government subsidies.
Price advantage is no longer narrowing profits
These 'bottomed' robotics companies not only boosted the bubble in the industry, but also dragged down the entire industry's profitability, and thus formed a vicious circle of 'bad money drives out good money'.
According to Qu Dao-kui, president of Xinsong Robotics, although the industry is booming, domestic robotics companies still have a long way to go.
He told CBN reporters that China’s huge market has not bred China’s own robotics company that can compete with the “Four Big Families” (Fanuc, Yaskawa, ABB, and KUKA) in the field of industrial robots.
At present, the Xinsong robot with the largest domestic industrial robot revenue, in 2017, had a revenue of only 2.456 billion yuan, which translates into only US$ 386 million in US dollars.
In contrast, the KUKA, which has the smallest revenue in the 'Four Family's, achieved a revenue of US$1.2 billion in the robotics sector in 2017. The combined net profit of FANUC in 2017 has already reached 10.5 billion.
The First Financial reporter noted that due to the delay in the high-end market, there is a clear trend in the domestic robotics industry that the profits of domestic robotics companies are narrowing. The reasons for this are reported by reporters after many interviews. Because in the past, the domestic robot companies relied on price advantage to occupy the low-end ecology of the industry chain and were quietly changing.
While the core technology has not yet caught up with the 'four major families', the rapid decline in robot manufacturing costs is threatening Chinese robot companies' foothold.
It is understood that the average sales price of industrial robots 10 years ago was around 500,000. The price is now four family robots selling at 150,000 to 200,000 yuan. The prices of domestic robots such as Evert and Eston are slightly lower than the four major ones. Family, economical pure Chinese robot terminal sales average price of about 80,000 yuan.
Industry insiders told the First Financial reporter that with the localization of components such as speed reducers, the average price of industrial robots is estimated to fall below 50,000 yuan.
The First Financial reporter noted that domestic robot companies emphasize their own advantages more from the perspective of 'cost-effective'.
Zhang Jing, director of the Shuanghuan Transmission Machinery Research Institute, told the CBN reporter that taking into account the import tariffs, transportation and production costs, the prices of the reducer produced by the institute could be reduced by 20% to 30% compared with foreign imports. At present, most domestic robotics companies still rely mainly on assembly and processing. They rely on 'cost-effectiveness' rather than core technologies to open the market, and are at the lower end of the industry chain.
The analysis report on the development trend and investment decision-making of China's robot industry for 2017-2022 shows that although the growth of revenue and net profit of China's robotics industry is significant, the gross profit margin and net profit rate have both been declining in recent years. The gross profit rate is in 2010. Between 2016 and 2016, it fell from 40.89% to 34.53%, while the gross profit rate in the first three quarters of 2017 was 31.65%. The downward trend in net interest rate was even more pronounced. The net interest rate for the first three quarters of 2017 was only 12.34%. In contrast, the net interest rate in 2010 was as high as 23.24%.
Zou Tao, vice president of sales for KUKA Industrial Muse Robotics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd., told the First Financial reporter that due to technical gaps in the core components such as reducers and servos, domestic manufacturers often rely heavily on international manufacturers. High, the purchase premium is very serious, which directly hampers the further breakthrough of China's industrial robot industry. The CICC research report believes that the current industrial robot production capacity problems are mainly structural problems, lack of high-end capabilities, low-level areas of low-level repeated construction , Blind development.
Wang Ruixiang, President of the China Federation of Machinery Industry, told the First Financial Reporter that it should be clearly aware that China’s robot industry base is still relatively weak, especially the weak capability of independent innovation of enterprises and the lack of core technologies. This has become a constraint on China’s robotics industry. The bottleneck of development.