Fan Cheng Midea and Yaskawa electric announced the dissolution of the joint venture robot compan
Published on:2020-07-10
Recently, & lt; Electronic enthusiast Network & gt; It is found from the national enterprise information system that the joint venture industrial robot company established by Midea Group and Yaskawa electric issued the cancellation filing / announcement information on June 29, and a liquidation group has been established to accept the declaration of creditors rights.
The joint venture is Guangdong Yaskawa Midea industrial robot Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yaskawa Midea), established in September 2015, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan and a paid in capital of 40 million yuan, of which Yaskawa motor and Midea Group hold 51% and 49% respectively.
Figure 1: Industrial and commercial registration information of Guangdong Anchuan Midea industrial robot Co., Ltd. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
According to the cancellation announcement of Yaskawa beauty, the reason for the cancellation is the resolution to dissolve. The filing date of liquidation is June 29, and the person in charge of liquidation is Kentaro Oshima.
Figure 2: cancellation filing announcement of Yaskawa Midea. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
In fact, in addition to the industrial robot company, Midea Group and Yaskawa electric also jointly established a service robot company, whose main business is to develop and promote service robots in the field of medical rehabilitation and helping the elderly and the disabled. The registered capital of the joint venture is also 100 million yuan and the paid in capital is 40 million yuan. The difference is that the controlling shareholder of the joint venture is Midea Group, with a shareholding ratio of 60.1%. The company is still operating. However, some media reports said that the company also stopped operating.
Figure 3: Industrial and commercial information of Guangdong Midea Anchuan service robot Co., Ltd. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
Reasons for breaking up
According to the information on the official website of Yaskawa China, Yaskawa Midea was founded in September 2015 and its actual operation was in March 2016. At that time, the plan was to let Yaskawa Midea go deep into the field of household appliance production in China and carry out the R & D, manufacturing and sales of industrial robot systems for 3C and other general industries.
In the following years, according to the needs of Mideas home appliance automation transformation, Yaskawa Midea also developed dozens of robot innovative applications, including remote control assembly, die-casting parts, machine tool handling, and robot dispensing system.
It seems that the cooperation started smoothly. The two sides praised each other on different occasions and were optimistic about the prospect of the joint venture. However, in fact, Midea Group spent 178 million yuan to acquire 17.8% of the shares of domestic industrial robot manufacturer evert in November 2015 before the honeymoon period after it established a joint venture with Yaskawa electric; In 2016, it invested 3.7 billion euros and acquired 94.55% shares of KUKA, Germany, becoming its absolute controlling party.
Moreover, in March 2018, Midea Group and KUKA announced to invest 10 billion yuan to build a new robot factory in Shunde, Guangdong, where the headquarters of Yaskawa Midea is located. The new factory is planned to have a production capacity of 75000 units / year by 2024. The closer the relationship between Midea Group and KUKA, the farther the relationship with Yaskawa Electric will go.
Although Yaskawa Electric said that although the robot joint venture with Midea Group will be cancelled, the two sides will continue to cooperate in the production line automation of Yaskawa electric products. Its just that this statement may be more like a polite declaration.
Three ways for the development of industrial robots in China
Industrial robots have attracted more and more attention in the front line of manufacturing industry. In the field of industrial robots in the world, abb of Switzerland, FANUC and Yaskawa electric of Japan, and KUKA of Germany acquired by Midea Group of China are considered to be among the top 4 in the world. Their industrial robot products account for more than 70% of the Chinese market.
At present, what Chinese manufacturers lack is the technology and experience of core parts, such as precision reducer, one of the core parts. Japans hamenaco has maintained a leading position in this field for a long time. According to the companys calculation, about 40% of the precision reducers for Chinese industrial robot manufacturers are provided by it.
Therefore, domestic industrial robot enterprises have started different development paths, such as establishing joint ventures with advanced industrial robot enterprises, acquiring overseas industrial robot companies, and independent research and development.
In fact, in the industrial robot industry, Chinese enterprises have been active in acquisition activities since 2015. According to statistics, in the past four years, domestic enterprises have acquired and funded at least 13 overseas enterprises. Many domestic enterprises hope to acquire new and innovative technologies through acquisition.
For example, since 2016, Easton automation has successively acquired five overseas enterprises, including Euclid, cuiou, Barrett, Mai and clos.
Figure 4: Statistics of overseas industrial robot enterprises acquired and funded by Chinese enterprises in the past four years. (electronic enthusiast network tabulation)
Frequent acquisitions may obtain some innovative technologies and rapidly increase the scale of revenue, but there are also post merger integration risks and a large number of accumulated goodwill impairment risks. For example, everts frequent acquisitions have brought it a huge goodwill of 423 million yuan. If the performance of the subject matter of the merger is not ideal, it will face a large risk of goodwill impairment. For example, evolut, an Italian enterprise it acquired, has accrued 46.8975 million yuan of goodwill impairment reserves for four years; WFC acquired has accrued for 2003Provision for goodwill impairment of 9900 yuan.
When some enterprises buy, others choose to take their own R & D path. For example, Gree cooperates with abb and independently develops industrial robot products. According to Dong Mingzhus self media introduction, Gree has now completed the industrialization layout from industrial robots to core parts and CNC machine tools, and achieved complete independent research and development and its own intellectual property rights, becoming an important force of independent innovation in Chinas high-end equipment industry.
Conclusion
China is the largest market for industrial robots in the world, and domestic industrial robot enterprises are also struggling to catch up, slowly catching up with European, American and Japanese enterprises. As for whether to adhere to independent research and development and engage in joint ventures, or to catch up by skipping the arduous research and development stage through acquisition and investment, this mainly depends on the choice of the enterprise, which is suitable for its own strategic direction. As for success or failure, it still needs the test of the market.
The joint venture is Guangdong Yaskawa Midea industrial robot Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yaskawa Midea), established in September 2015, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan and a paid in capital of 40 million yuan, of which Yaskawa motor and Midea Group hold 51% and 49% respectively.
Figure 1: Industrial and commercial registration information of Guangdong Anchuan Midea industrial robot Co., Ltd. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
According to the cancellation announcement of Yaskawa beauty, the reason for the cancellation is the resolution to dissolve. The filing date of liquidation is June 29, and the person in charge of liquidation is Kentaro Oshima.
Figure 2: cancellation filing announcement of Yaskawa Midea. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
In fact, in addition to the industrial robot company, Midea Group and Yaskawa electric also jointly established a service robot company, whose main business is to develop and promote service robots in the field of medical rehabilitation and helping the elderly and the disabled. The registered capital of the joint venture is also 100 million yuan and the paid in capital is 40 million yuan. The difference is that the controlling shareholder of the joint venture is Midea Group, with a shareholding ratio of 60.1%. The company is still operating. However, some media reports said that the company also stopped operating.
Figure 3: Industrial and commercial information of Guangdong Midea Anchuan service robot Co., Ltd. (data source: National Enterprise Information System)
Reasons for breaking up
According to the information on the official website of Yaskawa China, Yaskawa Midea was founded in September 2015 and its actual operation was in March 2016. At that time, the plan was to let Yaskawa Midea go deep into the field of household appliance production in China and carry out the R & D, manufacturing and sales of industrial robot systems for 3C and other general industries.
In the following years, according to the needs of Mideas home appliance automation transformation, Yaskawa Midea also developed dozens of robot innovative applications, including remote control assembly, die-casting parts, machine tool handling, and robot dispensing system.
It seems that the cooperation started smoothly. The two sides praised each other on different occasions and were optimistic about the prospect of the joint venture. However, in fact, Midea Group spent 178 million yuan to acquire 17.8% of the shares of domestic industrial robot manufacturer evert in November 2015 before the honeymoon period after it established a joint venture with Yaskawa electric; In 2016, it invested 3.7 billion euros and acquired 94.55% shares of KUKA, Germany, becoming its absolute controlling party.
Moreover, in March 2018, Midea Group and KUKA announced to invest 10 billion yuan to build a new robot factory in Shunde, Guangdong, where the headquarters of Yaskawa Midea is located. The new factory is planned to have a production capacity of 75000 units / year by 2024. The closer the relationship between Midea Group and KUKA, the farther the relationship with Yaskawa Electric will go.
Although Yaskawa Electric said that although the robot joint venture with Midea Group will be cancelled, the two sides will continue to cooperate in the production line automation of Yaskawa electric products. Its just that this statement may be more like a polite declaration.
Three ways for the development of industrial robots in China
Industrial robots have attracted more and more attention in the front line of manufacturing industry. In the field of industrial robots in the world, abb of Switzerland, FANUC and Yaskawa electric of Japan, and KUKA of Germany acquired by Midea Group of China are considered to be among the top 4 in the world. Their industrial robot products account for more than 70% of the Chinese market.
At present, what Chinese manufacturers lack is the technology and experience of core parts, such as precision reducer, one of the core parts. Japans hamenaco has maintained a leading position in this field for a long time. According to the companys calculation, about 40% of the precision reducers for Chinese industrial robot manufacturers are provided by it.
Therefore, domestic industrial robot enterprises have started different development paths, such as establishing joint ventures with advanced industrial robot enterprises, acquiring overseas industrial robot companies, and independent research and development.
In fact, in the industrial robot industry, Chinese enterprises have been active in acquisition activities since 2015. According to statistics, in the past four years, domestic enterprises have acquired and funded at least 13 overseas enterprises. Many domestic enterprises hope to acquire new and innovative technologies through acquisition.
For example, since 2016, Easton automation has successively acquired five overseas enterprises, including Euclid, cuiou, Barrett, Mai and clos.
Figure 4: Statistics of overseas industrial robot enterprises acquired and funded by Chinese enterprises in the past four years. (electronic enthusiast network tabulation)
Frequent acquisitions may obtain some innovative technologies and rapidly increase the scale of revenue, but there are also post merger integration risks and a large number of accumulated goodwill impairment risks. For example, everts frequent acquisitions have brought it a huge goodwill of 423 million yuan. If the performance of the subject matter of the merger is not ideal, it will face a large risk of goodwill impairment. For example, evolut, an Italian enterprise it acquired, has accrued 46.8975 million yuan of goodwill impairment reserves for four years; WFC acquired has accrued for 2003Provision for goodwill impairment of 9900 yuan.
When some enterprises buy, others choose to take their own R & D path. For example, Gree cooperates with abb and independently develops industrial robot products. According to Dong Mingzhus self media introduction, Gree has now completed the industrialization layout from industrial robots to core parts and CNC machine tools, and achieved complete independent research and development and its own intellectual property rights, becoming an important force of independent innovation in Chinas high-end equipment industry.
Conclusion
China is the largest market for industrial robots in the world, and domestic industrial robot enterprises are also struggling to catch up, slowly catching up with European, American and Japanese enterprises. As for whether to adhere to independent research and development and engage in joint ventures, or to catch up by skipping the arduous research and development stage through acquisition and investment, this mainly depends on the choice of the enterprise, which is suitable for its own strategic direction. As for success or failure, it still needs the test of the market.
