When discussing industrial robots worldwide, one cannot bypass the “Big Four” represented by FANUC, KUKA, ABB, and Yaskawa Electric. In the Asian market, they are equally influential, accounting for more than 70% of the Chinese robot industry’s market share.
What are the unique features and strengths and weaknesses of the products of the Big Four?
Each has its own strengths in various technical fields: ABB in control systems, KUKA in system integration applications and robot manufacturing, FANUC in numerical control systems, and Yaskawa in servo motors and motion control areas.
- Swiss ABB ABB is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Its business covers five major areas: power products, discrete automation, motion control, process automation, and low-voltage products, with a particular focus on electrical and automation technologies. ABB emphasizes the integrity of the robot itself, and while the speed of a single axis on its six-axis robots is not the fastest, the precision when all six axes work together is very high.
Core Area ABB’s core technology lies in motion control systems, which is also the biggest challenge for robots themselves. With motion control technology, ABB can easily achieve performance such as path precision, motion speed, cycle time, and programmability, greatly improving production quality, efficiency, and reliability.
Technology: Best algorithms, but slightly expensive ABB started with frequency converters and most power stations and frequency stations in China are built by ABB. For robots themselves, the biggest challenge lies in motion control systems, and ABB’s core advantage is in motion control. It can be said that ABB’s robot algorithms are the best among the four main brands, not only offering comprehensive motion control solutions but also providing professional and detailed technical documentation.
It is reported that ABB’s control cabinets come with Robot Studio software, which allows for 3D operation simulation and online functionality. The connection with external devices supports various common industrial bus interfaces and can also communicate with various brands of welding power, cutting power, PLC, etc., through standard input and output interfaces. In addition, ABB’s control cabinets can freely set parameters such as current, voltage, speed, and oscillation in the arc initiation, heating, welding, and arc collection sections, allowing for the setting of various complex oscillation trajectories.
ABB also focuses on the overall characteristics of robots, emphasizing quality and design. However, it is well known that ABB robots equipped with high-standard control systems are expensive. Moreover, many companies have reported that among the four main brands, ABB has the longest delivery time.
Domestic Market Analysis ABB adopts a high-profile strategy in China, focusing on cooperation with major Chinese customers. Huawei, Changhong, and Tuas are leaders in the 3C home appliance industry and integrators, playing a role as industry benchmarks, indicating ABB’s high regard for the 3C industry. Its future products will integrate more advanced technologies such as intelligence, interconnectivity, and big data. The robot entity companies are starting to move towards the application end, and their relationship with system integrators will become closer; at the same time, the entity companies themselves are also starting to focus on the development of integrated applications.
- German KUKA KUKA was established in Augsburg, Germany, in 1898, initially focusing on indoor and urban lighting, and soon began to enter other fields. KUKA’s main customers come from the automotive manufacturing sector, and the company is also committed to providing advanced automation solutions for industrial production processes, even extending into brain surgery and radiography in hospitals.
Core Area KUKA robots can be used for material handling, processing, spot welding, and arc welding, involving automation, metalworking, food, and plastics industries.
Technology: Easy to operate, but with a higher failure rate The acquisition of KUKA by Midea has made KUKA quite popular. If ABB is the Mercedes-Benz of cars, then KUKA is the BMW, both being high-end cars, but BMW has a higher repair rate than Mercedes-Benz.
It is reported that compared to ABB and FANUC robots, KUKA robots have a higher failure rate. Some insiders have reported that they have used KUKA robots, and almost every day there is a robot malfunctioning.
KUKA’s advantage in domestic sales lies in its good secondary development, allowing even those with no technical foundation to operate within a day; in terms of human-machine interface, to cater to Chinese habits, KUKA has made it very simple, as easy to use as playing a video game. In comparison, Japanese brand robots have many control system keys, and operation is somewhat more complicated.
It is worth mentioning that KUKA performs well in the field of heavy-load robots. Among robots over 120KG, KUKA and ABB have the largest market share, and in heavy-load robots of 400KG and 600KG, KUKA has the highest sales volume.
Domestic Market Analysis KUKA is currently accelerating the layout of localized services in the Chinese market and exploring new territories in the southwest. It will continue to focus on the automotive equipment field in the future. The acquisition of KUKA by Midea has been recorded in history, having a significant impact on the influence and market response of both brands. The joint effect of Midea+KUKA in the future is also worth looking forward to.
- Japanese FANUC FANUC was established in 1956, and three years later, it launched its first electro-hydraulic stepping motor. Entering the 1970s, thanks to the rapid development of microelectronics technology, power electronics technology, and especially computing technology, FANUC resolutely abandoned its electro-hydraulic stepping motor numerical control products and began to transform. In 1976, FANUC successfully developed a numerical control system and later jointly developed a high-level numerical control system with Siemens, gradually becoming one of the world’s strongest enterprises in numerical control systems, design, and manufacturing capabilities.
Core Area FANUC is a global professional numerical control system manufacturer. Compared with other enterprises, the unique features of FANUC industrial robots are: more convenient process control, smaller base size for the same type of robot, and unique arm design.
Technology: Extremely high precision, but not good at overloading FANUC’s research on numerical control systems dates back to 1956. Japanese technology experts with foresight anticipated the arrival of the 3C era and established a research team. By applying the advantages of numerical control systems to robots, FANUC’s industrial robots also have high precision. It is reported that the repeat positioning precision of FANUC’s multifunctional six-axis small robot can reach ±0.02mm.
In addition, compared with other enterprises, the unique features of FANUC industrial robots are: more convenient process control, smaller base size for the same type of robot, and unique arm design.
It is worth mentioning that FANUC has applied the blade compensation function of precision machining of numerical control machines to robots, embedding the blade compensation function in the algorithm. This allows robots to cut in circles during precision cutting, while Yaskawa’s robot bodies do not have this function and can only achieve this function through secondary development for functional compensation, which is also a place where some customers that Yaskawa robots are not very convenient.
However, FANUC is not the best in robot stability. During full-load operation, when the speed reaches 80%, FANUC robots will issue an alarm, indicating that FANUC robots’ overload capacity is not very good. Therefore, FANUC’s advantage lies in light-load, high-precision applications, which is also the reason why FANUC’s small robots (under 24KG) are best-selling.
Domestic Market Analysis FANUC’s strategy is slightly different from others, focusing on finding and entering markets with large demand and aiming at the Chinese market with huge growth potential. In the Chinese market, 55% of FANUC’s industrial robot sales are applied to general manufacturing, with the top three being home appliances, logistics, and electrical and electronics industries. FANUC is currently the robot brand with the largest market sales volume and does not rely on the sales of major customers, adopting an open market strategy.
- Yaskawa Electric (YASKAWA) Founded in 1915, it is the largest industrial robot company in Japan, headquartered in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. In 1977, Yaskawa Electric developed Japan’s first fully electric industrial robot using its own motion control technology. Since then, it has successively developed various automated robots for welding, assembly, painting, handling, and has been leading the global industrial robot market.
Core Area Yaskawa Electric mainly produces servo and motion controllers, which are key parts for manufacturing robots. It has successively developed various automated robots for welding, assembly, painting, and handling. Its core industrial robot products include: spot welding and arc welding robots, painting and processing robots, LCD glass plate transfer robots, and semiconductor chip transfer robots, making it one of the earliest manufacturers to apply industrial robots to semiconductor production.
Technology: Good stability, but slightly lower precision With nearly a century of electrical motor technology heritage, Yaskawa’s AC servo and inverter market share ranks first in the world. As early as 1977, Yaskawa developed Japan’s first fully electric industrial robot.
Yaskawa Electric started with electric motors, which allows it to maximize the inertia of the motors. Therefore, the biggest characteristic of Yaskawa’s robots is their high load capacity and stability. They do not trigger alarms when operating at full load and full speed, and can even operate under overload conditions. As a result, Yaskawa has a relatively large market share in heavy-load robot application fields, such as the automotive industry.
Compared to FANUC robots, Yaskawa robots do not have the same level of precision. On the basis of equal pricing, if customers require high precision, they tend to choose FANUC robots. However, Yaskawa robots have a clear price advantage and can be considered the lowest-priced among the four major brands with a high cost-performance ratio. Yaskawa’s welding robots, including the welding package, are quoted at only 130,000/140,000 yuan, and compared with Panasonic’s welding robots, Yaskawa follows a path of mass production.
Domestic Market Analysis In recent years, Yaskawa has made significant moves in the domestic market: establishing new robot centers, increasing factory investments, and setting up joint ventures with Midea, all aimed at accelerating the realization of localized services. China is a market with high demand, and Midea, as a major home appliance company, has a huge demand for robots, which can help Yaskawa increase sales volume. Yaskawa has been researching service robots, especially in the field of medical robots, but has not made smooth progress in the Japanese market. The service robot market in China may bring new growth points. Currently, major robot companies tend to seek cooperation with larger application companies, and as market competition becomes increasingly fierce, such strategic cooperation will become more frequent in the future.
Conclusion The best industrial robot bodies belong to European products, with KUKA being the most top-tier. After the Big Four entered the Asian market, the quality of ABB robots has declined in domestic production, while Japan’s Yaskawa and FANUC have a higher cost-performance value compared to European and American products, more in line with the needs of Chinese customers.
Nowadays, robot manufacturers prefer to cooperate and bind with well-known car manufacturers, such as Volkswagen only using KUKA, General Motors mainly using FANUC, and European brands favoring ABB, which is closely related to the strategic adjustments of the Big Four.
The Big Four all started with businesses related to the robot industry chain, such as ABB and Yaskawa Electric in the power equipment and motor business, FANUC in numerical control systems, and KUKA initially in welding equipment. Ultimately, their ability to become the world’s leading integrated industrial automation enterprises is due to mastering the technology of robot bodies and core parts, and their dedication to research, achieving integrated development.
Whether due to historical reasons or cultural concepts, from the products of these four major robot companies, we can see the different development paths chosen by companies in response to market changes, and who can go further will ultimately be decided by the market.
