On May 30th, Kuka China held a production ceremony in Shunde, Foshan, announcing the full completion and operation of the Midea Kuka Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park. Zheng Ke, Secretary of the Foshan Municipal Party Committee, Bai Tao, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of the Foshan Municipal Party Committee, Liu Zhiyong, Member of the Standing Committee of the Foshan Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Shunde District Party Committee, Zhou Zixiao, Deputy Mayor of Foshan, Qu Zhuming, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of the Shunde District Party Committee, Tang Leijing, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shunde District Party Committee, Minister of the United Front Work Department, and Secretary of the Beijiao Town Party Committee, Wu Kaizhao, Member of the Shunde District Party Committee, Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, and Wang Jinliang, Vice President of Midea Group, Liu Qianjin, Director of Midea Group’s Blue Orange Laboratory, and Xu Guiyou, General Manager of Kuka China, attended the ceremony.

Midea Kuka Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park covers an area of 433 acres and is currently the largest robot body production base in South China. The first phase of the park started construction in 2018 and was put into use in 2019, with a construction area of approximately 50000 square meters. The second phase of the park project was launched in 2021, with an investment of 800 million yuan, and the construction of six factories covering approximately 200000 square meters was completed. At present, there are about 1000 permanent residents in the park, with over 50% of scientific and technological personnel. As of the end of April this year, the park has produced and delivered over 57000 industrial robots to customers, with a cumulative output value of nearly 10 billion yuan.

At the launch ceremony, Xu Guiyou, general manager of Kuka China, said in a speech: “The full launch of Midea Kuka Intelligent Manufacturing Science Park is another important milestone for Kuka’s development. With the full launch of the park, the future planned robot capacity will be 80000-100000 units/year, which will comprehensively promote the localization of robot supply and support the automation, intelligence and Digital transformation of the manufacturing industry.”

In addition to the demand for Kuka’s own use, the park also actively introduces upstream suppliers in the industrial chain and improves the layout of the industrial chain, creating a robot industry cluster to assist in the development of the robot industry. At present, a total of 9 upstream and downstream enterprises have settled in the industrial chain, covering multiple core components of robots. It is expected that the supply chain supporting facilities in the park will reach over 85%.

The robot industry cluster is accelerating its rise in Shunde, and Shunde’s strong industrial foundation and comprehensive industrial chain advantages provide strong support for the development of Kuka. Xu Guiyou stated that relying on Midea Kuka Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park, Kuka will continue to improve the level of robot research and application in the future, consolidate its leading technological advantages in the industry, and provide customers with more efficient and comprehensive products and solutions as well as comprehensive services. Kuka attaches great importance to collaboration between industry, academia, and research, and continuously deepens cooperation with enterprises, universities, and research institutions in the upstream and downstream of the domestic industrial chain to build an ecological cluster for the entire robot industry chain to support the development and upgrading of the domestic intelligent manufacturing industry.