Secret: Talk about how industrial robot system integrators make money.

The price of robots is transparent, and industrial robot integrators only earn money from non-standard design and service.

the robot body (unit) is the foundation of the development of the robot industry, and the integration of downstream systems is the key to the commercialization and large-scale popularization of robots. Only the bare robot can't do any work, and it can be used by end customers only after system integration. System integration solution provider is located at the downstream application end of the robot industry chain, providing application solutions for end customers. It is responsible for the development and integration of industrial robot software systems and is an important component of industrial robot automation. In China, system integrators mostly buy complete robots from abroad, and make solutions that meet the production needs according to the needs of different industries or customers.

it's not easy to integrate systems on a large scale. The working mode of a system integration enterprise is non-standardized. From the time when a salesperson takes an order to the time when a project engineer designs a scheme according to the order requirements, to the time when an installation and debugging personnel go to the customer's site for installation and debugging, and finally to the customer for use, projects in different industries will have their own particularity, so it is difficult to completely copy them. If you focus on a certain field, you can get a higher industry barrier, but this barrier also makes it difficult for system integration enterprises to expand across industries and its scale is difficult to go up.

The status quo of robot integration industry

As the main force in the robot market in China, robot system integrators are generally small in scale, with low annual output value, facing strong competitive pressure. According to GGII's data, as of September 214, there were 428 robot-related enterprises in China, among which system integrators accounted for 88%. According to the relevant market data, at this stage, the scale of domestic integrators is not large, and the enterprises with sales income below 1 million account for most of them, and those who can achieve 5 million are the best in the industry, and there are only a handful of nationwide enterprises with more than 1 million.

general industry refers to non-automobile industry. At present, the degree of automation in the automobile industry is relatively high and the supplier system is relatively stable. However, the demand for automation transformation in general industries is relatively strong. Global industrial robot integration has the highest proportion of "handling" from the perspective of application. In the global sales of industrial robots, half robots are used for handling applications. The handling application can be divided into picking and packing, taking parts by injection molding, loading and unloading by machine tools and so on according to different application scenarios. According to the application, the top three applications are handling 5%, welding 28% and assembly 9%. At present, industrial robot system integration has the following characteristics:

1. It cannot be copied in batches

System integration projects are not standardized, and each project is different and cannot be copied 1%, so it is difficult to scale up. Generally, those that can be scaled up can be copied. For example, when a product is developed, it is rarely changed after it is finalized. Every model of product is the same, and a large number of copies can be scaled up through production and sales. Moreover, due to the need for capital advance, integrators usually need to consider the number and scale of projects to be implemented at the same time

2. Be familiar with related processes < P > As robot integration is a secondary development product, it is necessary to be familiar with the processes of downstream industries and complete reprogramming, layout and other work. Domestic system integrators, if they focus on a certain field, can usually get higher industry barriers and survive. However, due to industry barriers, it is difficult to expand their business across industries, and mergers and acquisitions are not feasible, so it is difficult to expand their scale. Robot system integrators are supposed to be small, at least at present, the scale of domestic integrators is not large.

3. Professionals are needed

The core competitiveness of system integrators is talents, among which the most important ones are salespeople, project engineers and on-site installation and commissioning personnel. Salespeople are responsible for taking orders, project engineers design schemes according to the requirements of orders, and installation and commissioning personnel go to customers' sites for installation and commissioning, and finally deliver them to customers for use. Almost every project is nonstandard and cannot be simply copied.

System integrators are actually order-based engineering service providers with light assets, and their core assets are sales staff, project engineers and installation and commissioning personnel. Therefore, it is difficult for system integrators to expand their scale through mergers and acquisitions.

4. Need to pay in advance

Payment for system integration usually adopts the method of "361" or "3331", that is, 3% is obtained after the drawings are approved, 3% is obtained after delivery, 3% is obtained after installation and debugging, and 1% is left as the quality guarantee fund. According to such a payment process, system integrators usually need to pay in advance.

generally speaking, the financial pressure of integrators will not be too great, but if several projects are carried out at the same time, or if the amount of a single project is too large, there will be financial pressure. After all, many businesses of integrators are outsourced, and suppliers need to be paid for goods, and some outsourced parts require cash on delivery.

In short, because the price of hardware products is declining year by year and the profit is getting thinner and thinner, the sales model of hardware products driven only by projects has become a thing of the past. At the same time, the entry threshold for basic applications, such as handling, palletizing and sorting, is getting lower and lower, and the competition is more intense. The bargaining power with upstream and downstream is weak, and the gross profit level is not high, but its market scale is much larger than the ontology market.