2018_4q_omron_e

24/45 Enhancing Total Solution Capabilities (Robotics)

Through the acquisition of industrial robotics player Adept, OMRON not only acquired a strong new customer base, but is now able to offer new value to its customers. OMRON’s target in the robotics field is not in the area of large-scale industrial robots, such as those that are being used in welding and painting applications for the auto industry. Instead OMRON is focused on the parts of the manufacturing process that had relied on human workers to date. We aim to use robotics to make it easy to automate such processes, as well as to develop new fields for robot use, with robots working to assist humans in production lines. Labor shortages have become increasingly acute and a major social issue. This is particularly the case for manufacturing processes that have historically been labor intensive and where automation has lagged. OMRON aims to solve this issue. OMRON can provide total solutions that incorporate not only robots, but leverage its broad array of products such as PLCs and sensors. OMRON solutions are easy to adopt and provide superior productivity while also granting high degree of flexibility in manufacturing. For example, a pick-and-place process requires proper positioning of target objects at high speeds. In the food processing industry, gripping objects that are different shapes or colors and have different degrees of hardness requires a high level of expertise in control technologies. OMRON is providing its customers with total solutions that combine a wide variety of sensors with a sophisticated PLC and proprietary software, to simultaneously control both robots and production lines. As a result of such activities, we were able to grow sales in our robotic business by 40% Y/Y in FY2017. The increase in solutions package sales has also allowed us to increase sales of sensors, controllers and other devices around the sales of robots. Such synergies have contributed to sales growth in a broad range of products. For FY2018, we expect to outpace the sales growth we saw in FY2017.