Robot layout: Beautiful Yang Guan Road and Gree Dumu Bridge

At the Guangdong (Tanzhou) International Conference and Exhibition Center in Foshan, the second session of the Pearl River Bank advanced equipment manufacturing trade fair (hereinafter referred to as “Qianghui”) was opened. This conference brought together many famous enterprises, and the two major home appliances giants in the United States Gree has participated in this exhibition.

Last year, Gree displayed a high-profile demonstration of its achievements in automation technology. At the same time, Midea announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Japan's Yaskawa Electric, an outstanding company in the field of robotics, and entered the field of robotics. Since then, the two home appliance giants have begun a new tortoise and hare race in the robotics field.

The turning point of home appliance giants

Talking about the two robots, we must first say that this turning point in 2015. In 2015, the downward pressure on the domestic economy increased. The performance of the real estate industry was the most prominent, and the household appliance industry was also affected. The capacity growth of the entire home appliance market was also almost stagnant.

First of all, from the perspective of Midea, Midea realized its operating income of 138.441 billion yuan in 2015, a year-on-year decrease of 2.28%. The decline of competitors Gree was even more serious. In 2015, Gree achieved operating revenue of 97.745 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 29.04%. Gree’s decline was even more serious because its air-conditioning business revenue accounted for 85.65% of its overall operating income, and Midea’s business was relatively more diversified and less affected.

In such a macroeconomic environment, home appliance giants are seeking new business growth points. Midea and Gree are home appliance companies that have taken the lead in the field of robotics.

According to Li Guolin, vice president of the Home Air Conditioning Division of Midea Group, Midea began to introduce robots in 2011, and in 2012 it established an automated design and manufacturing team responsible for the independent R&D, manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and maintenance of robots of the entire group. Gree publicized its strategy of “independently researching and developing robots” from 2012, and successively established departments such as Automation Office, Institute of Automation Technology, and Automation Equipment Manufacturing Department. However, both officially announced their entry into the robotics industry after August 2015.