The performance in the first quarter generally did not meet expectations, and how the subsequent market evolved needs to be further observed and verified.
Wen | Ye Xi
The AGV/AMR data in 2021 is extremely beautiful, not only allowing the industry to break through the 10 billion yuan mark for the first time, reaching 12.6 billion yuan, and for the first time to increase the growth rate to 64%, the development exceeds expectations, which in the Chinese market under the epidemic, undoubtedly has become a strong agent in the hearts of many practitioners, however, can this high growth be continued in 2022, and is there a new breakthrough change in the competition between enterprises?
Pretty 2021 data answer sheet
On the one hand, the overall market promotion is obvious. According to the "2021-2022 China Industrial Application Mobile Robot (AGV/AMR) Industry Development Research Report" jointly released by the China Mobile Robot (AGV/AMR) Industry Alliance and the New Strategic Mobile Robot Industry Research Institute, in 2021, the overall sales of industrial application mobile robots (AGV/AMR) by Enterprises in the Chinese market were 72,000 units, an increase of 75.61% over 2020, and the market sales reached 12.6 billion yuan (overseas sales of 2.5 billion yuan). Year-on-year increase of 64%. Among them, the number of enterprises with revenue of more than 100 million yuan reached 36, an increase of 50% year-on-year.
Chart: Overall market performance of AGV/AMR in China in 2021
From the overall data point of view, 2021 is not only the most important beginning of the second five-year period of the industry after 2016 (2016-2020 is the first 5 years), but also the beginning of the most rapid development and the most eye-catching performance, and also boosts the confidence and morale of industry enterprises.
On the other hand, subdivisions are developing rapidly. From the perspective of industrial application mobile robot product sales in different product categories in 2021, handling robots (including forklift AGV/AMR, roller table, latent, jacking, etc., 10-ton heavy-duty AGV, parking robots) occupy more than 50% of the market share, reaching 51.22%, followed by sorting (including sorting, bin) robots, accounting for 33.32%, which also shows that industrial mobile robots (AGV/ AMR) has expanded from warehousing and sorting to a wider range of manufacturing and production line logistics, which is also in line with the trend of industry development and is also the key to future market growth.
Secondly, in the sub-categories, AMR products (including laser SLAM and visual SLAM), the market sales in 2021 accounted for about 27.7%, an increase of about 11.2% compared with 2020, the scope of application continues to expand, becoming the most popular category, it is expected that the market share in the next two to three years will be the same as other navigation methods.
Fork-type mobile robots have risen from about 5,000 units in 2020 to 8,000 units in 2021, which has become the focus of the industry as always; heavy-duty AGVs of 10 tons and more than 10 tons have also achieved great strides in development, including the application of outdoor heavy-duty mobile robots and trackless navigation, which have produced new changes, and the application of aerospace, construction machinery, port terminals, aerospace, rail transit, chemicals, military and special industries has become more and more extensive.
Industrial inspection and composite mobile robots, box storage robots are also increasing the proportion, more application space to be developed.
Chart: Sales share of various types of industrial mobile robots in 2021 (by product type)
Highly differentiated corporate characteristics
Although the overall market and product segments in 2021 have performed well and the development of enterprises has been further improved, the boundaries between strength and weakness are clearer when refined into individual enterprises. In 2021, 80% of the sales performance of enterprises has improved, which is the overall performance of the industry window period, but the sales gap between enterprises has further widened, especially the over 100 million yuan enterprises occupy nearly 80% of the market share, not only the enterprise players have new changes, and the new forces are rising strongly, and emerging enterprises with the help of the power of capital, sales have doubled or even multiplied.
Chart: Sales scale and enterprise concentration of AGV/AMR enterprises in 2021
Correspondingly, many small and medium-sized enterprises are facing the risk of internal and external troubles, product, technology and market competition are highly squeezed, talent diversion is also the survival of the fittest, the concentration of enterprises has further emerged, the past two years are also an important period of industry structure adjustment, and the market driven by capital is surging on the one hand, and the sand is on the other hand.
Can the high-target 2022 be sustained?
From the national policy and the improvement of industrial heat, down to the capital boom, the whole industry is publicized, in 2022, the company's goal is obviously doubled than in 2021, can the industry expectations continue?
In fact, in 2022, what people did not expect was the repeated intensive and large-scale outbreaks of the epidemic in China, the strengthening of uncertainties in the market economy, the new procurement methods of the popular track, the cost increase of the core supply chain and even the control of the delivery period, resulting in the profit margin of the entire industry becoming more and more narrow, and the track competition of the head enterprises was relatively hot.
At present, the performance in the first quarter generally did not meet expectations, how the follow-up market should evolve, and whether the overall market growth trend in 2022 can be reversed, needs to be further observed and verified.
What needs to be clearly recognized is that the next few years are still a favorable period for the industry, how to seize opportunities and avoid risks at the same time, just like a narrow road to meet, thousands of troops are ready to go.