Citation
(1998), "Japan - will robot market be worth one trillion yen in 2010?", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925aab.003
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited
Japan - will robot market be worth one trillion yen in 2010?
Japan will robot market be worth one trillion yen in 2010?
The robot industry is diverging. Anticipated applications are not widespread and the market seems to have just recently appeared on the scene. High prices and mature technology are the cause. Japan's production structure is undergoing a major transformation, and some industry watchers feel the robot sector is not keeping pace with the changes. But Fanuc chairman S. Inaba feels that product levels are higher than before. Current monthly production is at about 800 units, surpassing the amount produced in the bubble days. And true enough, says the Japan Robot Association, sales of robots in 1997 are on the upward trend. Shipments for the first quarter were up 7.7 per cent over the first quarter of 1996, with a particular export boost from automotive sectors in the West. But price wars are eating into potential profits that would normally follow higher volume sales, says a source at Matsushita Electric Industrial. In all, the big players like Fanuc and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, are doing well. It is the smaller businesses that are having a more difficult time.
(Source: BRA)