The traditional Chinese lion dance performed by the GSK-developed robots.
In the recent Guangzhou International Robot Exhibition, nearly a hundred robots were displayed. Two RB50 robots from GSK CNC Equipment (GSK) performed the traditional Chinese lion dance, holding the lion’s head in hands and dancing to the rhythm of music, making it so vivid and alive that it received rounds of applause from audience.
“Based on its accumulated technology, GSK is the first to start the robot body manufacturing, and the best too, as the representative of industrial robot manufacturers. Compared to other parts of the country, Guangzhou has prominent advantages in industrial robot production,” said Ren Yutong, Executive Director of Guangdong Robotics Association, the latter being the organizer of the Exhibition.
A large number of manufacturing enterprises in Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta, have strong demand for transformation and upgrading, providing a broad market for local smart equipment companies and resulting in Guangzhou’s flourishing robotics industry in recent years. Statistics in 2016 show that, Guangzhou’s robot production ranked second in China, and the scale of intelligent equipment and robotics industry reached nearly 50 billion yuan (7.3 billion USD). Guangzhou Development District, located in the administrative scope of Huangpu District of Guangzhou, has gathered 75 intelligence equipment and robot enterprises, whose industrial output value, maintaining its 16% compound growth rate for years, reached 11 billion yuan (1.6 billion USD) last year. The District has truly become a hub for Guangzhou to promote the international scientific and technological innovation and the strongest engine of the city, whose “intellectual manufacturing” practice is in line with major national strategies such as the Made in China 2025 initiative and the Internet Plus action plan.
As a representative of Guangzhou’s robotics industry with prominent agglomeration effects, intelligent manufacturing enterprises in Guangzhou Development District, have formed a strong “Robot Enterprise Legion,” led by GSK, Guangzhou Start To Sail Industrial Robot Co., Ltd. (STS), TECH-LONG Packaging Machinery, KDT Machinery, Risong Technology, Mino Automotive Equipment, Herrenknecht Tunnelling Machinery, etc., occupying an important position in China's intelligent robotics industry. At the same time, the global robot giant Fanuc will invest 108 million yuan (15.9 million USD) in building its South China Base in the District. Robotics industrial clusters, domestically advanced and with international standards, have now formed.
“Guangzhou Development District should vigorously develop advanced manufacturing industries like intelligent equipment and robotics, to revitalize the real economy, and create the country's largest and most competitive base for industrial robots and intelligent equipment,” said Zhou Yawei, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Guangzhou Committee, Secretary of CPC Huangpu Committee, Director-general of Guangzhou Development District Management Committee.
To achieve the goal Zhou mentioned, 4 industrial policies (each with 10 terms), were launched early this year in the District, with the financial budget increasing by 2.2 billion yuan (323 million USD), to support the development of advanced manufacturing, modern service industry, headquarters economy and high-tech industry. With “golden policies” and “golden services,” “golden channels” have been built to promote enterprises’ transformation and upgrading, and their march to the forefront of international intelligent manufacturing. For example, an incentive of up to 150 million yuan (22 million USD) can be given to the successfully transformed and upgraded manufacturers, and that for the advanced manufacturers settling down in the District has also been raised to 10 million yuan (1.48 million USD).
On May 12th, another two valuable and attractive policies (each with 10 terms) of talents and intellectual property rights, were launched in the District, demonstrating once again its courage and confidence in carrying out the “global talents recruitment” plan and building an international business environment which is highly marketized and legalized.
The special award, up to 1 billion yuan (1.48 billion USD), for the most significant talent program, is the highest nationwide. In addition to that, the policy of enhancing the application and protection of intellectual property rights is the first of the kind in the country. “To attract more intellectual property service agencies and emerging business forms to gather here, and better serve the scientific and technological innovation, will help find the correct path for the intellectual property reform in Guangzhou, Guangdong and even the whole country,” said Chen Yongpin, Director of Policy Research Center of Guangzhou Development District.
In fact, thanks to the policies, Guangzhou Development District has formed industrial clusters of intelligent equipment and robotics enterprises with core technologies, and some are even internationally advanced, creating an integrated industrial chain from key components, complete machine to application integration. As for the manufacturing of the components and body, the production scale of this District’s industrial robots ranks first in China. Among these enterprises, the scale of products from GSK has been ranking first in the country for years, and has made to top three in the world, being the country’s largest research and manufacturing enterprise for machine tools, and also the leading one in the robotics industry; STS is among the top three in terms of its market share of economical robot body, with its annual production of nearly 5000; these two are both within the top 10 China’s robotics enterprises. As for the integration part, companies such as Risong, Mino, Tech-long, and Songxing, enjoy a widespread reputation. Speaking of the phase of inspection and testing, there is China’s first high-tech inspection and testing service cluster, including international standard setter of the field such as Vkan Certification & Testing (CVC). For the research and design part, there are national institutes such as China National Intelligent Equipment Research Institute, SINOMACH Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd, and the first Sino-Israeli Robotics Institute.
The layout of the industrial parks also helps to support enterprises’ development. The 378.5-acre Huangpu Intelligent Equipment Industrial Park will focus on building three core groups: Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, Yunpu Industrial Park and Huangpu Machinery Park. The main focus is to develop industrial robots with proprietary intellectual property rights, core competitiveness and market prospect, emphasize the support for research and application of key components such as the robot’s body, controller, speed reducer, and servo motor, and develop domestic robots including service robots. By 2020, the output value of intelligent equipment enterprises is expected to reach 20 billion yuan (2.94 billion USD).
Chen Xiaohua, governor of Huangpu District, and executive deputy director of the Guangzhou Development District Management Committee, states that the industrial foundation and advantages in technology, policy, talent and service are the keys that allow Huangpu District, Guangzhou Development District to have a greater say in building the intelligent equipment industry.
Benefiting from the complete robotics industrial chain, large market and the advantage of being at the forefront of reform and opening up, Guangzhou Development District would utilize the robotics industry as the driving force, to enhance the national presence of Guangzhou’s scientific and technological innovation, and support Guangzhou in the global competition of “Robot City.”
