Japanese brand market share is still high, domestic servo market import substitution space is large


—— Foreign brand occupies half of the country


In recent years, the market share of domestic brands is rising rapidly, but Japanese brands still firmly occupy nearly half of the domestic servo market. Like most high-precision products, foreign brands have occupied the majority of the domestic servo system market for a long time, with a market share of 77%.


Among them, Japanese and Korean brands account for 45%, mainly Japanese brands, including Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric Machinery, Anchuan, Sanyo, Fuji and so on. These are the old Japanese manufacturers of industrial automation equipment. They are technically comprehensive, and their products are characterized by high level of technology and performance, which are more in line with the needs of Chinese users. The price is also higher.


Secondly, European and American brands accounted for 22%, among which Rockwell, Danaher, Parguang and other well-known American brands, while Germany has Siemens, Bosch Rexroth, Lenz, Schneider and other brands. European and American brands mainly encounter large servo systems, so they are facing the risk of market shrinkage. By 2015, European and American market share will be reduced by 10% to 22%.


Chart 1: The change of market pattern of domestic servo system industry (unit:%)

In the domestic market, Taiwanese brands have gradually grown into an important force. They represent Taida and Dongyuan. They are similar to Japanese brands in technology. Their technology level and price level are among the middle-end imported products and mainland brands. Their market share has been steadily improved. However, they will face fierce competition from local brands in the future. In the future, domestic brands can gradually acquire the market.


Domestic brands started from the low end, and gained a firm foothold by price advantage. In 2008, only about 10% of domestic brands took part. Since then, companies represented by Huichuan have grown up, replacing foreign brands in the low-end market and gradually moving towards the high end. In 2015, the market share of domestic brands has reached 22%.


—— Panasonic and Anchuan are in the first echelon


Prospective Industry Research Institute's "China Servo System Industry Market Prospect and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report 2018-2023" data show that, in terms of brand, market share, the servo system market presents a distinct hierarchical structure.


The Japanese brands represented by Panasonic and Anchuan have a market share of about 17%, which is in the first echelon, and they are obviously behind other brands. Matsushita and Anchuan servo systems are widely used in high-end equipment, and some equipment manufacturers are assembled at the request of downstream customers. Delta and Mitsubishi are in the second echelon with a market share of 10-11%. Huichuan and Siemens are in the third echelon with a market share of 5-6%. Sanyo, Schneider, Rockwell and Bosch Rexroth are in the fourth echelon with a market share of about 3%. In addition to Huichuan, there are dozens of large-scale enterprises, but most of them are small-scale, with a market share of less than 1%, and mainly concentrated in small and medium-sized servo products in low-end areas, with fierce competition and poor profitability.


Figure 2: Market share of domestic servo system sub-brands (unit:%)

The downstream market is strongly driven by growth, and the domestic servo system market has huge growth space.


Servo system is an automatic motion control device, which is mainly used to accurately control the position, orientation and state of mechanical components. It determines the accuracy, control speed and stability of automation machinery, so it is the core of industrial automation equipment.


From the product line level of industrial automation components, industrial control products are divided into control layer, drive layer and execution layer. Servo system belongs to drive layer and execution layer, including servo drive and servo motor. The control layer is the brain of automation equipment, which is responsible for issuing instructions, including controllers, integrated computers, etc. The drive layer is the central nervous system of automation equipment, responsible for the upload and delivery of instructions, amplifying, transforming and modulating the pulse signal of control layer into the signal of control motor, including frequency converter, servo driver, etc. Execution layer is the musculoskeletal of automation equipment, responsible for executing instructions, products include all kinds of motors.


With the development of social economy, science and technology, as well as the decline of population dividend in China, the demand for automation equipment in factories will continue to increase. In addition, servo systems will also play an important role in high-end medical devices, new energy, robots and other fields. The rapid development of intelligent manufacturing will still strongly pull the development of servo system. Take the development of industrial robots as an example.


China has become the world's largest demand country for industrial robots, with stable market development. Automobile and its parts manufacturing is still the main application area of industrial robots. With the deepening of industrial restructuring and upgrading and the transfer of international manufacturing centers to China, China's industrial robots market will further increase. The speed of market expansion will also be further improved. In addition, compared with 478 industrial robots per 10,000 workers in Korea and 314 in Japan, the density of industrial robots in China is still small, and the market space of industrial robots is still large.

According to the International Federation of Robots (IFR), the sales of industrial robots in China increased by 27% in 2016 compared with 2015. According to the International Federation of Robots (IFR), the sales of industrial robots in China will achieve a leap-forward growth in the next three years, with an annual growth rate of more than 20%. In 2020, China's robot market will account for 40% of the global industrial robots market. The International Federation of Robots predicts that in 2018-2020, the domestic sales of robots will be 160,000, 195,000 and 238,000, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 22% in the next three years. In 2020, it is estimated that annual sales will exceed 210,000 units, accounting for 40% of the global industrial robot market.


In 2017, the output of industrial robots in China reached 13 179 units, an increase of 81% over the same period last year. 130,000 units, accounting for about one third of global production.


On the whole, the market demand for robots has only increased but not decreased. Induced by many factors, the industrial robotics industry will speed up again, enter the second boom period in history, or will be more intense than the first wave.


Table 4: Changes in China's Industrial Robot Sales from 2005 to 2020 (Unit: 10,000 sets,%)

Figure 5: Changes in the output of industrial robots in China from 2012 to 2017 (unit: platform,%)