When talking about the world's industrial robots, we cannot avoid the four major families represented by Fanuc, KUKA, ABB, and Yaskawa Electric. They are also important in the Asian market and occupy the Chinese robot industry. More than 70% market share. So, what are the characteristics of the products of the four major families of robots, and what are their advantages and disadvantages?
The four major families have their own strengths in various technical fields. ABB's core area is control systems, KUKA is in system integration applications and body manufacturing, FANUC is in CNC systems, and Yaskawa is in servo motors and motion. Controller area.
ABB Switzerland
ABB is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. The business covers five major fields: power products, discrete automation, motion control, process automation, and low-voltage products. It is most famous for power and automation technology. ABB emphasizes the integrity of the robot itself. For its six-axis robot, the single-axis speed is not the fastest, but the accuracy of the six-axis joint operation is very high.
Core areas
ABB’s core technology is the motion control system, which is also the biggest difficulty for the robot itself. ABB, which has mastered motion control technology, can easily achieve robot performance such as path tracking accuracy, movement speed, cycle time, and programmability, greatly improving the quality, efficiency, and reliability of production.
Technology: The algorithm is the best, but slightly expensive
ABB first started with frequency converters. In China, most power stations and frequency conversion stations are made by ABB. For the robot itself, the biggest difficulty lies in the motion control system, and ABB's core advantage is motion control. It can be said that ABB's robot algorithm is the best among the four major brands. Not only does it have comprehensive motion control solutions, but its technical documentation for product use is also quite professional and specific.
It is reported that ABB’s control cabinet comes with Robot Studio software, which can perform 3D operation simulation and online functions. The connection with external devices supports a variety of common industrial bus interfaces, and communication with various brands of welding power sources, cutting power sources, PLCs, etc. can also be achieved through marked input and output interfaces. In addition, ABB's control cabinet can also freely set the current, voltage, speed, swing and other parameters of arc starting, heating, welding, and arc closing sections, and can set up various complex swing trajectories by itself.
ABB also pays attention to the overall characteristics of the robot. While focusing on quality, it also pays attention to the design of the robot. However, it is well known that ABB robots equipped with high-standard control systems are very expensive. In addition, many companies have reported that ABB has the longest delivery time among the four major brands.
Domestic market analysis
ABB implements the strategy of “high promotion and high success” domestically, focusing on cooperation with major Chinese customers. Huawei, Changhong, and Topstar are the leaders in applications and integrators in the 3C home appliance industry respectively. They play a role as a benchmark in the industry. It can be seen that ABB attaches great importance to the 3C industry. Its future products will incorporate more advanced technologies such as intelligence, interconnection, and big data. Ontology companies are beginning to move toward the application side, and their relationship with system integrators will become closer; at the same time, Ontology companies themselves are also beginning to focus on the development of integrated applications.
KUKA of Germany
KUKA of Germany was established in Augsburg, Germany in 1898. It initially focused on indoor and urban lighting, and soon began to get involved in other fields. KUKA's main customers come from the automotive manufacturing field. It also focuses on providing advanced automation solutions for industrial production processes, and is also involved in brain surgery and radiography in hospitals.
Core areas
KUKA robots can be used for material handling, processing, spot welding and arc welding, involving automation, metal processing, food and plastics industries.
Technology: Simple operation, but high failure rate
Midea’s acquisition of KUKA has made KUKA popular. If ABB is the Mercedes-Benz of cars, then KUKA is the BMW of cars. Although they are both high-end cars, BMW's repair rate is higher than that of Mercedes-Benz.
It is reported that compared to robots such as ABB and FANUC, the repair rate of KUKA robots is higher. People familiar with the matter reported that one robot that had used Kuka's robots broke down almost every day.
KUKA’s advantage in domestic sales lies in its good secondary development. Even a novice with no technical foundation can start operating it within a day; in terms of human-machine interface, in order to cater to the needs of the Chinese KUKA has made it very simple, as easy to use as a game console. In comparison, Japanese brand robots have many control system keyboards and the operation is slightly complicated.
It is worth mentioning that KUKA is doing relatively well in the field of heavy-duty robots. Among robots above 120KG, KUKA and ABB have the majority market share, while in heavy-duty robots of 400KG and 600KG Among robots, KUKA has the largest sales volume.
Domestic market analysis
KUKA is currently accelerating the deployment of localized services in the Chinese market, opening up new territories in the southwest, and will continue to make efforts in the field of automotive equipment in the future. The acquisition of KUKA by Midea has been recorded in history and has had a major impact on the influence and market response of the two major brands. The joint effect of Midea + KUKA in the future is also worth looking forward to.
Japan's FANUC
FANUC was founded in 1956. Three years later, it first launched an electro-hydraulic stepper motor. In the 1970s, it benefited from microelectronics technology and Power electronics technology, especially computing technology, is developing rapidly. FANUC resolutely abandoned the electro-hydraulic stepper motor CNC products that made it famous and began to transform. In 1976, FANUC successfully developed a CNC system, and then jointly developed a high-level CNC system with Siemens, gradually becoming one of the companies with the strongest CNC system, design, and manufacturing capabilities in the world today.
Core areas
FANUC is a professional CNC system manufacturer in the world. Compared with other companies, industrial robots are unique in that: process control is more convenient and the base size of similar robots is smaller. , and also has a unique arm design.
Technology: The accuracy is very high, but overloading is not possible
Fanuc’s research on CNC systems can be traced back to 1956. Forward-looking Japanese technical experts foresaw the arrival of the 3C era. , and established a scientific research team. When applying the advantages of CNC systems to robots, Fanuc's industrial robots are also highly accurate. It is reported that the repetitive positioning accuracy of Fanuc's multi-functional six-axis small robot can reach plus or minus 0.02mm. In addition, FANUC industrial robots are unique compared with other companies in that process control is more convenient, the base size of similar robots is smaller, and they have unique arm designs.
It is worth mentioning that FANUC has applied the blade compensation function of CNC machine tool finishing to the robot, and has algorithmically implanted the blade compensation function, which makes the robot more efficient in finishing cutting. During the process, you can walk in circles and circles, but Yaskawa's robot itself does not have this function. To achieve this function, it can only be compensated through secondary development. This is why some customers have reported that Yaskawa robots are not very convenient. place.
However, FANUC is not the best at robot stability. During full load operation, when the speed reaches 80%, FANUC's robot will alarm. This also shows that the overload capability of FANUC robots is not very good. Therefore, FANUC’s advantage lies in light-load, high-precision applications. This is also the reason why FANUC’s miniaturized robots (under 24KG) are so popular.
Domestic market analysis
FANUC’s strategy is slightly different from other companies. Its strategy is to find and enter markets with large demand, targeting the Chinese market with huge growth potential. In the Chinese market, 55% of FANUC's sales of industrial robots are used in general manufacturing industries, with the top three being home appliances, logistics and electronic and electrical industries. FANUC is currently the robot brand with the largest total sales volume in the market. It does not rely on the sales of large customers and adopts an open market strategy.
Founded in 1915, it is Japan's largest industrial robot company and is headquartered in Kitakyushu Island City, Fukuoka Prefecture. In 1977, Yaskawa Electric used its own motion control technology to develop and produce Japan's first fully electrified industrial robot. Since then, it has successively developed various automated robots such as welding, assembly, painting, and transportation, and has been leading the way. leading the global industrial robot market.
Core areas
The servo and motion controllers mainly produced by Yaskawa Electric are key parts for manufacturing robots. It has successively developed various fields such as welding, assembly, spraying, and handling. Automated work robots, whose core industrial robot products include: spot welding and arc welding robots, painting and processing robots, LCD glass plate transfer robots and semiconductor chip transfer robots, etc., are one of the earliest manufacturers to apply industrial robots to the semiconductor production field. .
Technology: good stability, but slightly poor accuracy
With nearly a century of electrical motor technology inheritance, Yaskawa’s AC servo and frequency converter market share ranks first in the world, as early as 1977 In 2006, Yaskawa developed Japan's first all-electric industrial robot.
Yaskawa starts from the motor, so it can maximize the inertia of the motor. Therefore, the biggest feature of Yaskawa's robot is its large load, high stability, and operation at full load and full speed. There will be no alarm during the process and it can even run overloaded. Therefore, Yaskawa has a relatively large market in heavy-load robot applications, such as the automotive industry.
Compared with Fanuc robots, the accuracy of Yaskawa robots is not that high. On the basis of the same price, if customers require high accuracy, they will often choose Fanuc robots.
However, the price advantage of Yaskawa robots is obvious. It can be said that it is the lowest price and the most cost-effective among the four major brands. Yaskawa's welding robots include welding packages, and the quoted price is only 130,000/140,000. Compared with Panasonic's welding robots, Yaskawa's welding robots are batch-based. path of transformation.
Domestic market analysis
Yaskawa has made frequent big moves in the domestic market in recent years: establishing a new robot center, increasing investment in factories, establishing a joint venture with Midea, etc., aiming to accelerate the realization of local services. China is a demand-side market, and Midea is also a home appliance giant. The demand for robots is huge, which can help Yaskawa increase sales.
Yaskawa has been conducting research on service robots, especially in the field of medical robots, but it has not progressed smoothly in the Japanese market. It may bring new growth points to the domestic service robot market. At present, major robot ontology companies tend to seek cooperation with larger application-oriented companies. As market competition becomes increasingly fierce, such strategic cooperation will become more frequent in the future.
The best industrial robots are undoubtedly European products, with KUKA being the top one. When the four major families entered the Asian market, the quality of localized ABB robots declined. Compared with European and American products, Japan's Yaskawa and Fanuc have higher CP values ??and are more in line with customer needs in China.
Today, robot manufacturers usually prefer to cooperate with well-known brand car manufacturers. For example, Volkswagen only uses KUKA, General Motors mainly uses FANUC, European brands prefer ABB, etc. It is closely related to the strategic adjustments of the four major industrial families.
The four major families all started out in businesses related to the robot industry chain. For example, ABB and Yaskawa Electric are engaged in the power equipment motor business, FANUC researches CNC systems, and KUKA initially engaged in welding equipment. In the end, they were able to become the world's leading comprehensive industrial automation company because they mastered the technology of the robot body and its core components, and devoted themselves to research, ultimately achieving integrated development.
Whether it is historical reasons or the influence of cultural concepts, from the products of these four major robot companies, we can see the different development paths that companies choose in the face of market changes, and who can take it? Even further, it will ultimately be determined by the market.