Seiko Epson will increase the production capacity of horizontal articulated robots (SCARA) robots five times in Japan by 2025. Expand manufacturing facilities and promote production automation centered on the Toyoshina Plant (Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture). Demand is expected to grow against the backdrop of electrification of automobiles and increased production of new coronavirus test kits. The company's main production base for Robo is China. By increasing domestic production capacity, it wants to avoid the effects of sanctions tariffs on China when exporting to the United States.

Seiko Epson manufactures robots at its Toyoshina Plant and its factory in Shenzhen, China. In Japan, in addition to increasing production at Toyoshina, we are considering production at other bases. The factory in Shenzhen will also increase its production capacity. The annual production of SCARA robots for the entire company is estimated to be about 15,000 in 20 years, and it is expected to increase to more than 30,000 in FY2013. The total investment is estimated to be about 4 billion yen. Currently, the production ratio between Japan and China is 1: 4, but it is expected to increase to 2: 3 in FY2013.

The aim of raising the domestic production ratio is to minimize the effects of tariffs due to the US-China trade friction. In 2018, the US Trade Representative (USTR) imposed sanctions to impose an additional 25% tariff on high-tech products imported from China. Industrial robots were also included in the measures. Sanctions tariffs are still ongoing.

Currently, we are not considering a new factory, and we will mainly utilize our own robots to increase productivity. The production automation rate of robots is about 10%, but it will be increased to about 90% for the main products of SCARA robots by FY2013.

The company's robots originally developed the robots necessary for watch manufacturing in-house, and their strength is the technology for assembling small parts with high precision. It has the top share in the world for SCARA robots.

Until now, it has been mainly used in the manufacture and assembly of computers, mobile phones, and home appliances, which are said to be in the 3C market. In the future, it can be expected to expand its use in automobile-related fields such as for CASE (connected, autonomous driving, sharing, electrification) compatible devices. Expected to grow in the environmental field such as medical equipment and solar cells. Recently, it is said that the company's Robo was used to increase the production of inspection kits for the new Corona.

Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun February 25, 2022