I am farming in the real world

Chapter 219: The Last Fig Leaf of Japanese Manufacturing

The first day of the World Robot Conference saw a surge of exhibitors and purchasers from all over the world.

Since it was a weekend, many families came to visit and see the cutting-edge technology, parents brought their children to see the intelligent robots, and there were also many school groups.

The opening ceremony of the conference was also very quick, mostly with leaders and guests giving speeches and going through the motions.

When the crowd dispersed, the originally empty conference venue became lively.

There was a surge of people in front of each booth, some going to see the combat robot dogs carrying guns that had recently become popular online, and others going to check out Tesla's newly launched Optimus.

Each exhibitor also did their best to bring out their latest products.

The robots involved covered more than 600 varieties, and the functional categories involved industrial, home intelligence, bionic, nano-medical robots, and so on.

However, the practicality of most of these robots is questionable, especially home robots like Optimus, which are mostly in the research and development optimization stage.

There are also those small robots that often appear in short video clips dancing, which are somewhat useful as children's toys and sweeping robots, but there is still a considerable gap from true mass production and deployment.

So ordinary people come to this kind of conference to see the excitement, to get a sense of novelty, and to broaden their horizons.

Or spend a little money to let their children experience VR and other functions, just like spending half a day shopping at the mall.

And the real transactions at the conference are mostly in the category of industrial robots.

Because China's manufacturing industry is undergoing a vigorous upgrade and transformation, the density of industrial robots has increased from just entering the top ten in 2019 to doubling in just four years to rank third in the world, with an average of 470 robots per 10,000 employees.

The two ahead of it are South Korea with 1012 units/10,000 people and Singapore with 770 units/10,000 people.

The higher this data, the more advanced the automation of industrial production.

It is conceivable how excited purchasers from all over the country would be when this World Robot Conference was held in the capital.

Because the industrial chain involved behind it is as large as trillions, and in previous conferences, basically hundreds of billions of RMB in orders could be signed.

…

FANUC's orange-yellow booth welcomed a large number of purchasers after the opening ceremony, and the entire booth was surrounded.

After all, it is the industry's recognized NO.1 in the world of industrial robots.

When the two orange-yellow robotic arms at the entrance stood there and began to meticulously knit sweaters in front of the entire venue.

That kind of crushing show of skill not only made the ordinary people participating in the exhibition feel awed.

Even the heads of several major brands nearby were dumbfounded.

As the saying goes, the layman watches the excitement, and the expert watches the doorway.

Also manufacturing industrial robotic arms, their booths at most demonstrated the functions of their products in traditional operating environments such as welding, cutting, grabbing, and lifting.

Although it is a bit old-fashioned, it is suitable for the working environment of most factories.

But compared with FANUC's two robotic arms that can meticulously knit sweaters, the heads of the major brands in the same industry were ashamed of themselves: "Alas! It seems that this year's big order will be snatched away by FANUC again."

"Skills are not as good as others! There's no way!"

Including several Japanese friendly merchants who also came to the conference, they also sent people to visit and exchange business, while seeing if they could get a small order of scraps from FANUC.

"Congratulations, President Yamaguchi! This sweater knitting promotion can be described as unique and technically superior! It seems that FANUC will once again be the industry leader in winning the sales crown at this robot conference." Fujita Hiroshi, the head of KAWASAKI Robotics, stepped forward to compliment him.

Kenji Yamaguchi, President and CEO of FANUC Corporation, nodded with a smile on his face with his arms folded: "President Fujita is too kind. I see that your company's palletizing robots have also been selling well in China in the past two years. We, the last guardians of Ni Hong Industry, should cooperate with each other and communicate more."

In the entire Japanese robot brand, if FANUC occupies a dominant position, it can be regarded as the boss in the industry.

Then the brands ranked after it, such as Yaskawa, Siasun, Kawasaki, and NACHI, are the kings in the subdivided fields.

This is also the classic 'one big leading many small' strategy of Japanese manufacturing's external output, firmly occupying the dominant position in the industry.

However, in recent years, due to the transformation and rise of Chinese manufacturing, various industries in Japan have been greatly impacted.

From white goods such as washing machines and refrigerators, to black goods such as televisions and computers, as well as the era of smart phones, Japanese brands that were once proud of, such as Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc., have been defeated by domestic brands such as Haier and Hisense in their respective fields.

Either split up the business or be acquired by domestic brands, it can be said that they were completely defeated.

Recently, even the most proud Japanese cars have reached a critical moment of decline.

Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other leading Japanese car companies have announced a significant decline in profits in their financial reports for the first three quarters of 2024, including sales which are also plummeting at a rate visible to the naked eye.

On the other hand, Chinese automobile brands have been advancing all the way, with exports reaching more than 20 million units in 2023, conquering cities and territories everywhere in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia.

Every additional new energy vehicle made in China sold is equivalent to one less Japanese car sold.

When the automobile industry, which can best boost the image of the national brand, begins to decline, then the last fig leaf left for Japanese manufacturing is only FANUC, Kawasaki and other joint-stock companies involved in cutting-edge robots that are struggling to support the front desk.

"President Yamaguchi is indeed very insightful! We should cooperate to prevent the invasion of this black ship of Chinese brands." Fujita Hiroshi nodded.

While chatting with Yamaguchi Kenji, they also began to visit the booths of nearby Chinese brands together.

As the saying goes, strategically despise the opponent, and tactically value the opponent.

Chinese manufacturing is best at industrial clusters, and the practice of turning cutting-edge technology into cabbage prices, although it has not yet let go in the field of industrial robots.

However, the endless stream of new robot brands still made the two company presidents feel the pressure.

Especially when they saw that Chinese manufacturers exhibiting at the conference had 190,000 robot patents, which accounted for about two-thirds of the global total, the two were even more worried.

Temporary leadership does not mean permanent leadership.

Just like Chinese cars, which were previously ridiculed by Japanese car brands, they will be overtaken by a curve if they are not careful.

No, just after browsing the exhibitors of several Chinese brands, the two commented on Chinese-made industrial robots, saying that brands such as Estun, New Era, and Topstar were either 'clumsy imitators' or 'three generations behind us'.

A FANUC staff member ran over in a hurry: "President... President! You must go back to the booth and take a look, there's... there's been an accident!"

Yamaguchi Kenji frowned: "An accident?"

Immediately, he and the head of Kawasaki strode towards the core area of the main venue.

But when they came to FANUC's booth, the two were dumbfounded!

The FANUC booth, which had been surrounded by water 10 minutes ago and had been signing orders until their hands were soft, was now sparsely populated.

Including the two sweater-knitting robotic arms standing at the entrance of the booth, they were now like wilted eggplants, and did not attract many tourists to stop.

On the other hand, the Chinese brand booth opposite FANUC's booth, with the silver-gray metal Rubik's Cube LOGO, was now crowded with three layers inside and three layers outside, and there were people and raised mobile phone cameras everywhere.

"How could this happen?"

Yamaguchi Kenji and Fujita Hiroshi looked at each other, and without saying a word, they squeezed into the crowd.

When the two of them reluctantly squeezed to the front row regardless of their image, what caught their eyes were two silver-gray industrial robotic arms with exquisite craftsmanship.

I saw that these two robotic arms did not make the fine show-off movements of 'knitting sweaters' like FANUC robots, but instead demonstrated wearing a silver metal boxing glove on the end of each of their hands.

As a burst of motor sound rang out, the two Rubik's Cube arms were like professional boxers in a boxing match ring.

"Bang~" With a sound, he slammed a punch at the other's arm body!

The deafening sound of metal boxing gloves hitting, and the sparks splashing visible to the naked eye, not only made the purchasers watching the scene couldn't help but say "Woohoo~", but were obviously also frightened by the shocking scene.

Some nosy melon-eating people even booed in the crowd: "One more punch!"

"Hit it back!"

"Don't stop! I'm already live streaming!"

Such a shocking scene even made Kenji Yamaguchi and Fujita Hiroshi, two professionals in the field of industrial robots, feel their scalps tingle.

"No... impossible!"

"How can the robotic arm withstand such impact!"

"At most two punches... No! Three punches will scrap the entire machine!"