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Text |Quadrant quadrantYou can't see the world in a dichotomous way, but a dichotomy is an interesting way to study a problem.
If we roughly divide robot companies into two categories: "taking the customized route" and "taking the large-scale route", then which one may be smoother to go to sea?
In the robotics industry, customization in a sense reflects the diversification of market demand and the level of technological development. Especially with Industry 40 and the in-depth promotion of intelligent manufacturing, many Party A enterprises have increasingly diversified and personalized needs for automation and intelligent solutions (of course, there are many industry needs are common), which has led to the enhancement of the customization trend of the robot industry.
On the one hand, different industries, and even different enterprises in the same industry have different production processes, product characteristics, and process requirements, and standardized robots sometimes cannot fully meet the application needs in all scenarios. Therefore, from mobile robots to industrial robots, many manufacturers provide customized system integration services, including selecting the robot model suitable for specific application scenarios, developing dedicated end-effectors or software interfaces, and designing optimized overall solutions.
In a sense, manufacturing customers have higher requirements for robot customization, and this is the direction that many domestic robot companies are trying to improve. For example, in response to the new business needs of small batches and multiple varieties, various collaborative robots are gradually favored in the industrial field due to their simple deployment, cost-friendly and small size, and promote the rapid iteration and update of collaborative robot production line solutions.
On the other hand, although customization can better adapt to the specific needs of customers, it also brings a series of challenges to robot companies, such as increased costs, extended delivery cycles, and increased difficulty in quality control. At the same time, customized projects require robot companies to have deep technical accumulation, rapid response capabilities (including pre-sales and after-sales services) and high-level R&D strength to ensure the economic feasibility and long-term stability of customized solutions.
Therefore, in fact, many enterprises are still faced with the old problem of how to balance the relationship between customization and standardization - not only to reduce the additional cost and complexity brought by customization, but also to improve the versatility and scalability of products.
Robot companies that take the large-scale route usually refer to those enterprises that have the ability to mass produce and standardize product development, reduce unit costs, improve production efficiency, and further expand market share through large-scale production and market coverage. This type of enterprise usually has the following characteristics:
Standardized product rangeLarge-scale robotics companies tend to develop and produce standardized robotic equipment or systems that can meet the basic needs of most customers in the market. For example, general-purpose industrial robot arms, standardized a** (automated guided vehicles), or other application solutions with high repetition rates.
Mass production capacityThey will invest a lot of money to build a modern production base, introduce advanced production equipment and assembly lines, and realize the large-scale production of robot products, so as to reduce costs and improve product quality stability.
Extensive market coverageLarge-scale robot companies usually operate on a global scale, have a complete sales network and service system, and can quickly promote their standardized products in multiple regions and industries to achieve large-scale sales.
R&D investment is concentratedAlthough standardized, large-scale enterprises still need to continue to invest in R&D to maintain the technological advancement and competitiveness of their products. They will focus on optimizing the performance of existing products, reducing costs, improving compatibility, and more.
Branding & MarketingLarge-scale robot enterprises attach importance to the shaping of brand image and market promotion, and attract more customers to choose their standardized products by establishing a good brand image and reputation.
Strategic cooperation and industrial chain integrationSuch enterprises often establish long-term and stable cooperative relations with partners in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to ensure the efficient operation of raw materials, technical support, after-sales service and other links.
Some people can choose a good business model at the beginning of their business, while others are completely feeling the stones. If we analyze purely from a theoretical perspective, what kind of enterprises are suitable for customized routes? Who is suitable for the scale route?
When robot companies decide whether to take the customized route or the large-scale route, they need to comprehensively consider factors such as market demand, their own technical strength, industry characteristics and competitive situation.
It is suitable for enterprises that take the customized route
Serving highly segmented markets: In specific industrial fields (such as fine processing of auto parts, assembly of special equipment, etc.) or non-standard automation scenarios, customer needs are extremely diverse and unique, and standard products are difficult to meet.
It has the ability to develop core technologiesThe company has a strong technical research and development team, which can respond quickly and deeply to the individual needs of customers, including software algorithms, mechanical design, system integration, etc.
Advantages of high value-added services: It can provide value-added services in the customization process, such as process optimization, production line transformation consulting, etc., and improve customer stickiness through overall solutions.
The market is broad and the cost is acceptable: The size of the target market allows the company to offer customized products at a high level of ** and ensures a reasonable return on investment.
Suitable for enterprises that take the route of scale:
Application fields with a high degree of standardization: such as logistics handling, palletizing, general welding and other fields, there are a large number of customer groups with similar requirements for basic functions.
Mature modular design: enterprises can reduce costs through modular design and manufacturing, mass production of standard robots, and achieve large-scale production and sales.
Brand influence and channel advantage: It has a certain brand awareness in the market and a wide range of sales channels, which can quickly promote standardized products and occupy market share.
Pursue economies of scale: reduce unit costs through large-scale production, so as to be able to gain a foothold in the most competitive market.
Generally speaking, enterprises that take the customized route often aim at markets with strong differentiated needs, focusing on technological innovation and service quality; Enterprises that take the large-scale route pay more attention to the popularity and economy of products, reduce costs through scale effects, and occupy the vast standardized market. In practice, many robot companies may adopt a strategy of combining the two, while maintaining a certain scale of production, to provide customized services for some customers to take into account the needs of different markets.
Customized and large-scale robot companies have different demand spaces in overseas markets
Customized Robot Enterprise:
In some specific fields and complex application scenarios, such as medical surgical robots, service robots or special robots designed for special environments, overseas customers pay more attention to the customization ability of robots.
Customized robots can be developed and optimized according to customer needs to adapt to industry standards, operating habits or work scene requirements unique to different countries and regions.
Large-scale robot enterprises:
For industrial robots with a high degree of standardization and wide range of applications, such as welding robots in automobile manufacturing lines or automated guided vehicles (a**) in logistics and warehousing, large-scale production can reduce costs and ensure product stability**.
Large overseas manufacturers often need to purchase such robot equipment in large quantities to achieve automation transformation and upgrading, so they may be more inclined to cooperate with companies that can provide large-scale and stable quality robot products.
To sum up, the demand for overseas markets is not absolutely biased towards customized or large-scale single-type enterprises, but depends on specific application scenarios and customer groups. Large-scale production is critical to meeting the automation needs of high-volume, repetitive tasks, while the ability to customize can help companies gain a competitive advantage in the high-end market and when dealing with diverse, personalized needs. With the development of AI technology and the expansion of the market for service robots, the demand for customized solutions is likely to grow further.
Overseas customers in some industries have such needs and habits: the pursuit of highly specialized division of labor, and do not directly look for robot manufacturers.
System integrators: Many overseas customers may prefer to work with a system integrator with industry expertise and project implementation experience. These integrators can integrate the hardware and software components provided by different manufacturers according to the individual needs of customers, and customize them into a complete automated production line or solution.
Component vendors and technical service providers: Some highly specialized companies may specialize in providing core components such as robot arms, sensors, control systems, and vision systems, or focus on developing algorithms and services in specific fields, such as AI algorithm optimization, machine learning model training, etc. Overseas customers may purchase these high value-added technical services and products separately to create customized robotic systems that fit their business processes.
Modular design and open platform: With the development of the trend of modular design, customers can choose different module combinations according to their own needs, so as to achieve a certain degree of customization. At the same time, the open platform also encourages third-party developers to add new functions or applications to the robot system to meet more diverse market needs.
Therefore, in the global market, the trend of highly specialized division of labor makes the cooperation between the upstream and downstream of the robot industry chain closer, and jointly promotes the innovative development and diversified application of the robot industry. For robotics companies, it is important to flexibly adapt to such market changes and strengthen collaboration with other industrial chain links.
The key for the two types of enterprises to go overseas is to flexibly use their own expertise and resources, and formulate strategies based on the characteristics of the target market. Customized enterprises can cooperate with local enterprises to develop the market by relying on technical advantages and service capabilities; Large-scale enterprises can achieve rapid market penetration through channel building, brand building, and product cost performance improvement. At the same time, with the acceleration of globalization, more and more companies are choosing a "hybrid" strategy, that is, on the basis of maintaining a certain scale of production, customized solutions for specific markets or customers.