Global Base
Hyundai Robotics, the holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, will make China an advanced base for global market development.
According to related industries on July 4, Hyundai Robotics is working on formulating its current mid- to long-term strategy to foster China as a global production base. The company decided to add product R&D and after-sales service functions to its production base in China by 2021. Hyundai Robotics already announced a plan to use China as its global production base in April. The plan aimed to establish a joint production corporation with local Chinese companies by next year.
Hyundai Robotics is planning to elevate its corporation in China to the level of its global headquarters which will be able to engage in product development and production and service work going beyond setting up a simple production corporation by means of a joint venture deal. Hyundai Robotics, which mainly manufactures factory automation equipment and systems such as industrial robots, started as the “Robot Business Team” in 1984 and officially launched forth in April. Its core business is automation robots including multi-joint robots that support people’s work at manufacturing plants, and transportation robots for large LCDs.
Industrial robots and robots for LCDs accounted for 67% and 30% of last year's sales of 254.8 billion won (US$229 million), respectively. The meager construction of its global network forces the company to maintain only 4% to 5% global market shares.
Hyundai Robotics is targeting the Chinese market as a bridgehead to the expansion of its global market share because of its growth potential. According to the International Robot Federation (IFR), the Chinese market recorded sales of about one-quarter of all industrial robots sold in 2015 and is expected to account for 40% in 2019. China is the world's number one country outclassing Germany, Japan, the United States, and Korea. Currently, 75% of the Chinese market is occupied by foreign companies such as ABB of Sweden, FANUC and Yaskawa of Japan and KUKA of Germany.