Universal Robots under pressure - is its own marketplace coming?

As reported, Universal suffered a 16% decline in sales in Q1 2023. Contrary to my interpretation of the weak market environment, other suppliers apparently made gains. At least in the DACH region, FANUC and Doosan Robotics in particular are said to have gained market share. In Asia, AUBO is likely to have succeeded in doing so solely due to the rumored large order from BYD. The Chinese cobot manufacturer could already be the global market leader in terms of unit sales by the end of the year. Jaka Robots, which is already well financed, now wants to raise $108 million on the stock market to build up a production facility with an annual output of 50,000 "intelligent" robots. Doosan Robotics from South Korea even wants to raise US$750 million in an IPO. Samsung, in turn, recently acquired a significant stake in Rainbow Robotics (also South Korea).

Teradyne CEO wants a "marketplace"

Universal Robots belongs to the US test provider Teradyne. Teradyne acquired Universal Robots in 2015. Greg Smith (photo above, source: Universal Robots) joined Teradyne in 2016. In 2020, he became head of the Industrial Automation division, which includes Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots (MIR). The board was apparently so pleased with his work - sales increased by 44% within 2 years, after all - that he became CEO of the entire group in February of this year. So he knows Universal Robots very well, as well as his word carries extreme weight. Coincidence or not, the head of MIR retired early this week.

The How to Robot website gives Greg Smith's impressions: large users are autonomous while smaller companies have little robotics knowledge and are also afraid because they need extensive support. Smith: "The existing ecosystem doesn't provide much of that kind of support to customers," says Greg Smith, referring to the automation market model that focuses on distributors and integrators who typically deliver complex, customized solutions that are operated and maintained by the end user, according to How to Robot. But complexity and high transaction overhead means expensive, according to my interpretation. I .e., the distribution battle begins. Furthermore, he explains that many customers use Google, which - according to a further assessment on my part - can of course also lead to incorrect price assessments if the first ad to appear is that of a Chinese manufacturer.

Final, he is quoted as saying, "A marketplace can provide smaller companies with the support they need to buy automation solutions. It can help close the gap between what the customer needs and what can be provided to them in the most efficient way " This raises the question of what he means by this statement, how it should be interpreted. For this, unfortunately, Smith did not reveal.

Unchained Robotics as a role model? Or...

In my opinion, the Paderborn-based startup Unchained Robotics has taken the path of a marketplace outlined above. It initially provides price information on the Internet and offers integration to potential customers via local partners.

... ECOSPHERE AUTOMATION as a role model

In theRoboik in Industrypodcast, Danny Denk of ECOSPHERE shared his approach: Over the past four years, his company has integrated 80 Universal Robots, creating an extensive digital library of solutions, including parts lists. In this way, he can offer a quasi successive standardization. If an integration was previously equivalent to building a special machine, in the ideal case an older order can be duplicated. Minor adjustments may still be necessary. Ultimately, however, the resourceful customer can be put in a position to do everything himself, or the majority of it. In this way, the customer can save costs and gain confidence early on because he can understand the facts. As a result, the customer no longer needs service. If he is aware of this, he trusts the solution offered.

The knowledge of the Universal Robots network is large

Universal Robots today already has access to a network of important tools, the UR +. However, it is not yet possible to buy and the integrator is not yet offered. Therefore, the offer still lacks usability for laymen. But if Universal Robots tries and succeeds in bundling all the knowledge of its ecosystem, it would have a competitive advantage. The prerequisite, of course, would be that the partners also want to and are able to share their knowledge (they would have to have already digitized it). Then, of course, there is the question of remuneration for this know-how and the role of the distributors in this. Universal Robots would ultimately go down the path of sales transformation as companies like Vorwerk have done. The Thermomix supplier offers an online store in addition to sales through its local partner ("cooking party"). In order not to annoy the local partners, they receive the usual commission, according to my sources.

The variant of letting the customers integrate themselves would have the advantage that the customer saves money, which he can then use for a more expensive Cobot. Because the competition from the Chinese low-cost suppliers will increase and somehow the enormous price difference must be reduced.

Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone should have a comparable market and solution overview. Thanks to state subsidies, SMEs have the opportunity of a company visit with concrete recommendations etc. at a flat rate of 1,750 € ("special areas" 800 €) incl. travel.