FANUC: This is how the market is to be developed
FANUC, the world leader in industrial robotics (800,000 robots installed worldwide), waited longer before properly entering the cobot market. For years, the green models from the "CR" series were already available, but they were never really promoted. With the "CRX" series, which now covers almost all requirements, things look different.(Link to the cobots with 5 to 35 kg payload.) The aim is to become the market leader for cobots, at least in Europe. An equation with several unknowns could be derived from the objective: If the cobot market grows by roughly 30% per year as forecast, and Universal Robots has a market share in Europe of around 50% today, can the Danes still grow significantly at all if FANUC were the European leader in 5 years, for example? (All the other cobot manufacturers also want to grow.) It is certain that FANUC is already massively expanding its production, as has been exclusively reported here.
Good starting position
FANUC Germany was able to increase its sales in the double-digit range to €193 million in the previous year. In the current year, the upward trend is expected to continue. The cobots play an important role here: "The CRX robots are an entry-level segment. But at FANUC, it doesn't stop there; the series seamlessly complements our industrial robot portfolio and that of the collaborative CR robots," says Germany CEO Ralf Winkelmann.
In contrast to many a competitor that has yet to prove its quality, FANUC should find it easy to argue its case here. Its existing industrial robots have a good reputation. According to Robert Koopmann, Technical Manager at FANUC Germany, "Thanks to our 40 years of experience in building industrial robots, the CRX family is also designed to work reliably and accurately even under difficult conditions and to provide our customers with the highest possible uptime for their production. In addition, as a leader in factory automation, we always have a keen eye for the needs of the manufacturing sector. The fact that our CRX is a true industrial product is also demonstrated by the fact that the Cobot is maintenance-free for eight years. That in itself is a strong commitment from us." The company also has the largest robotics spare parts warehouse in Europe in Luxembourg.
New distribution channels
At the press conference on the occasion of the automatica, Winkelmann emphasized the objective of wanting to be at the forefront of cobots. To this end, small and medium-sized enterprises and even the skilled trades are to be addressed. On my question, how one can imagine this, whether the industrial robot expert used so far primarily large-scale enterprises appears in the future also with KMU, referred Winkelmann to other selling approaches.
On the one hand, they have had good experience with the new branches where everything can be shown. I.e. entrepreneurs and also craftsmen from the respective region seek out the local FANUC representation. FANUC is currently in Neuhausen (headquarters), Neutraubling (Regensburg), Seevetal (Hamburg) and Meinerzhagen (A 45, near Cologne). Further branches are to follow, e.g. in the east. The success of the regional "all about automation" trade fairs shows that there is a need here.
On the other hand, one works together with partners. I.e. companies that already serve an industry, e.g. with their devices/machines, are persuaded to automate their units by means of CRX, so that cells are created. Sales can then be made via the best-known partners. By the way, Neura Robotics seems to have similar plans. As an example for FANUC, marketing boss Niels Tersteegen mentioned the cooperation with Wiesheu. Wiesheu is the market leader for bakery ovens. Thanks to the cooperation, the CRX cobot is controlled via the oven, so that the baker only has to start the oven as usual.
Classic robot solutions
In addition to these industry partners, there are of course also complete solutions for activities. Five were presented at automatica: EWM-EUEN (welding cell with CRX), HandlingTech (SRZ 300 for loading and unloading with 2-fold palletizing slide), CNC Häberle (Häberle RobodrillPlus-K Max), HENKEL + ROTH (mobile platform with CRX and 2D Vision) and INperfektion (gluing application).
Further automatica innovations
Among other things, the M-1000iA handling robot was also presented. The M-1000iA is the largest robot from FANUC to feature serial kinematics instead of the parallel kinematics commonly used for high payload robots. As a result, this robot has a greater range of motion in both vertical and horizontal directions. The arm can stand upright and rotate backwards, which is not possible for robots with parallel kinematics. This special mobility provides tremendous flexibility across a wide range of handling applications.
Among other things, the video emphasizes the safety of the CRX series.
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-> To the Cobot group on LinkedIn (Link) .
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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He advises on almost all issues related to robotics incl funding/subsidies, but does not go in-depth into the technology. More about him can be found here.
