Demand for Cobots Increases

Increased demand for their collaborative robot (cobot) arms propelled Universal Robots A/S (Odense, Denmark) to revenue of $170 million in 2017, a 72 percent increase over the previous year. Their operating profit more than doubled, from 9 percent in 2016 to 19 percent in 2017. “Looking ahead at 2018, we expect further revenue growth of at least 50 percent,” said Jürgen von Hollen, the president of Universal Robots. “The cobot market is expected to continue to be one of the key growth drivers in the automation market in the coming years. My expectation is that we will continue to leverage our position as a cobot market leader and grow at the same or above the collaborative robot market growth rate for 2018. This, however, can only be done by focusing on our goals of staying ahead technologically, expanding our Universal Robots+ platform and further globalizing our regional sales and service footprint and reach.”

To support this effort, the company recently opened not one, but two repair centers – the first of their kind outside Denmark – in the United States and China to be closer to their users. “Our customers cannot afford any loss in productivity, so we want to avoid downtime at all costs. Our aim is that a cobot from us should never be sitting idle, waiting for repair or spare parts,” stated von Hollen. The company also recently opened a new facility in Boston, MA, which is the first step of expanding global functions departments outside Denmark. “This new setup in Boston will help us get access to more resources and highly skilled employees. Scaling the organization, especially within research and development and the commercial sales and service organization, will be key for us in 2018,” explained von Hollen. “With two commercial and R&D sites, we will be able to scale faster and get more velocity when looking for and attracting the best talent and skills. We are also opening sales offices in Italy and Turkey, and will be establishing an office in Mexico and a third office in China.”

The company will also continue their focus on expanding the Universal Robots+ ecosystem as well as the online Universal Robots Academy, which recently hit 20,000 users worldwide. Universal Robots now has 470+ employees across 22 offices in 15 countries, with headquarters in Denmark and regional offices in the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, China, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico. They also maintain a strong distribution channel, with a network of around 300 partners worldwide.

www.universal-robots.com