Analysis of the Current Development Status in the Field of Industrial Robot System Integration

Compared to robot body suppliers, robot system integration suppliers also need to have product design capabilities, process understanding of end customer application requirements, relevant project experience, etc., to provide standardized and personalized complete sets of equipment that can adapt to various application fields.

From the perspective of the industrial chain, the robot itself is the foundation of the development of the robot industry, while downstream system integration is the key to the commercialization and large-scale popularization of robots. Due to high technological barriers, the main product has a certain degree of monopoly, strong bargaining power, and high gross profit. The barriers to system integration are relatively low, the bargaining power with upstream and downstream is weak, and the gross profit level is not high, but its market size is much larger than the main market.

At present, most domestic robot companies are system integrators. Based on international experience, the development of the domestic robotics industry is closer to the American model, which focuses on system integration, outsourcing or OEM of unit products, and providing customers with turnkey projects. The Chinese robot market has a low foundation and a large market. The most feasible industrialization model for robots in China is to adopt a division of labor model from integration to maturity.

Analysis of the Current Development Status in the Field of Industrial Robot System Integration

At present, the integration of industrial robot systems has the following characteristics:

System integration projects are non standardized, and each project is different. It is difficult to achieve 50% replication, not to mention 99.99% replication, so it is difficult to scale up. Anything that can be scaled up is generally replicable, such as developing a product that is rarely changed after being finalized. Each model of product is the same and can be replicated in large quantities through production and sales. Moreover, due to the need for advance funding, integrators usually need to consider the number and scale of projects to be implemented simultaneously.

Due to the fact that robot integration is a secondary development product, familiarity with downstream industry processes is required to complete tasks such as reprogramming and deployment. Domestic system integrators, if they focus on a certain field, can usually obtain higher industry barriers and have no problem surviving. However, due to industry barriers, it is difficult to achieve cross industry business expansion, and mergers and acquisitions are also not feasible, making it difficult to scale up. Robot system integrators should have been small, at least at present, the scale of domestic integrators is not large.

The core competitiveness of a system integrator is talent, among which the core are sales personnel, project engineers, and on-site installation and debugging personnel. Sales personnel are responsible for receiving orders, project engineers design solutions according to order requirements, and installation and debugging personnel go to the customer's site for installation and debugging, and deliver them to the customer for use.

Almost every project is non-standard and cannot be simply copied for quantity. System integrators are actually order based engineering service providers with light assets, and their core assets are sales personnel, project engineers, and installation and debugging personnel. Therefore, it is difficult for system integrators to expand their scale through mergers and acquisitions.

The payment for system integration usually adopts the "361" or "3331" method, which means that 30% will be received after the drawings are reviewed, 30% will be received after shipment, 30% will be received after installation and debugging are completed, and then 10% of the warranty deposit will be left. According to this payment process, system integrators usually require advance funding.

Generally speaking, integrators do not face too much financial pressure, but if several projects are being carried out simultaneously or if the amount of a single project is too large, there will be financial pressure. After all, many of integrators' businesses are also outsourced and require payment to suppliers. Some purchased parts require payment on delivery.

In short, due to the decreasing prices and thinner profits of hardware products year by year, the sales model of relying solely on projects to drive hardware products has become a thing of the past. At the same time, in terms of basic applications such as handling, palletizing, sorting, etc., the entry threshold is getting lower and the competition is becoming more intense. The bargaining power with upstream and downstream is weak, and the gross profit level is not high, but its market size is much larger than the main market.

The industrial robot industry is an industry that integrates system integration, advanced manufacturing, and precision matching, and requires accumulated experience in technology, manufacturing, and research and development. From the perspective of the development of China's machine industry chain, due to various factors such as core technology limitations, the main breakthrough in China's industrial robot industry is currently in the field of system integration.