Universal Robots expands production in nation for growth opportunities

Universal Robots' booth during a high-tech expo in Nanjing, Jiangsu province in December. The firm is expanding production in China to tap the industrial robot market. (WANG LUXIAN/FOR CHINA DAILY)

Universal Robots, a Denmark-based collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturer, announced on Tuesday that it has expanded manufacturing capabilities to China, a move designed to better serve the world's largest industrial robot market with innovation, high quality and value.

"The strategic decision to establish UR's first overseas production capability in China is a testament to the country's globally recognized industrial importance," said Kim Povlsen, president of Universal Robots.

Calling the decision a milestone, Povlsen said the local presence will enable Chinese customers to access UR's newest high-quality and globally recognized robot platform at competitive pricing, while UR can leverage faster supply cycles to consistently meet the booming automation needs in the Chinese market.

"By bringing part of our manufacturing to China, including the supply chain, we aim to create a deeper and mutually beneficial relationship with the Chinese market," said Povlsen.

Stacey Moser, chief commercial officer of UR, said there is no bigger opportunity than China when explaining why UR chose the country for the company's first overseas manufacturing capabilities outside of Denmark.

"There is no place that is better to accelerate and advance growth," Moser said, adding that China is by far the world's largest market. The 276,288 industrial robots installed in 2023 represent 51 percent of the global installations.

"The other piece is our ability to integrate our supply chain here in China to improve both our cost competitiveness as well as our price competitiveness. We are developing products for China and addressing the market expansion outside of traditional markets, like automotive and electronics into new markets, like pharmaceuticals and logistics, foods and beverages that we see expanding here in China at a rate, unlike other places," said Moser.

Tero Tolonen, chief product officer of UR, said the essence of their strategy is made in China, for China.

"China is the largest market and also the toughest market. We want to compete here because it also helps make us stronger and helps us then call elsewhere," Tolonen said.

In 2023, China surpassed Germany and Japan to become the third-largest country in robot adoption in factories, after South Korea and Singapore, according to a report by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) on Nov 20.

The country's push to embrace automation technology results in a high robot density of 470 robots per 10,000 employees in contrast to 402 units in 2022, said the report, adding that China only entered the top 10 in 2019. It has managed to double its robot density within four years.

Robot density, a key gauge to measure the adoption of automation in manufacturing, is the number of robots per 10,000 people in the manufacturing industry.

"Robot density serves as a barometer to track the degree of automation adoption in the manufacturing industry around the world," said Takayuki Ito, president of the IFR.

According to Ito, China has made significant investments in automation technology, and the country's rise is notable.

Moser said entering into the highly competitive China market is great, because it gives credibility to the technology and the chance to expand the market as well as the adoption of the technology.

"So the competition that we see both here in China as well as outside of China is helping grow the cobot market much faster than it would if it was only UR that were playing in the market today," said Moser.

Along with the newly unveiled expansion plan, UR also introduced two new cobots designed for the Chinese market on the same date.

"With the addition of two new products, our product portfolio has been further strengthened. UR will continue to deepen its work in China and is committed to fulfilling its promise to help companies across industries achieve automation success," said Xu Yilin, president of Universal Robots China.