Text/Yang Jianyong
Manufacturing is the cornerstone of the development of the real economy, with the acceleration of the pace of digitalization of the real industry, the application of intelligent technology in all fields and links of the manufacturing industry, in order to improve production efficiency at the same time, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and lay the foundation for the sustainable development of enterprises. Benefiting from the development of intelligent manufacturing, the demand for automation will continue to increase, and manufacturers who are deeply engaged in the intelligent manufacturing market will open up space for performance growth.
The performance maintained high growth, and the overseas business doubled
As one of the leading companies in process automation, ZKTeco has seized the golden period of the development of the digital economy and advanced manufacturing industry, and has shown a strong growth trend in the past few years. The compound annual growth rate of revenue from 2021 to 2023 is as high as 39.7%, which is rare in the A-share market.
In 2023, the revenue will be 8.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.13%, and the net profit will be 1.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.08%. The rapid growth of performance is mainly due to the company's deep cultivation of the process industry, grasping the development trend of automation, digitalization and intelligence in the industry, creating a new architecture of 1+2+N intelligent factory in the process industry, further strengthening its competitiveness, continuously expanding its market share, and steadily growing its operating performance.
In terms of new business, the Group continued to increase the development of non-traditional advantageous businesses and emerging businesses, and achieved rapid growth in overseas business, oil and gas business, PLC business, battery business and robot business. Among them, with its leading digital and intelligent service capabilities and solution technologies, it has achieved breakthroughs in overseas markets, signed new overseas contracts of nearly 1 billion yuan, and doubled its overseas business.
It is worth noting that the revenue of industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing solutions was 4.956 billion yuan, accounting for 57.86% of the revenue, which is its main source of income. In addition, the S2B business performed the best, achieving revenue of 1.897 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 117%. S2B business is a new business model created by ZKTeco, which builds an industry ecosystem and promotes third-party products through the S2B platform.
As a provider of overall solutions for intelligent manufacturing in the process industry, ZKTeco has created a new model of "1+2+N" smart factory construction in the process industry based on the core needs and pain points of current process industry enterprises, driving traditional factories to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of future smart factories.
Specifically, the "1+2+N" smart factory model of ZPCON refers to 1 factory operating system + 2 automation (PA production process automation + BA enterprise operation automation) + N industrial APP, providing a clear implementation path for the construction of future smart factories.
Production process automation (PA) refers to the integration and innovation of advanced technology, equipment, operation, information, automation and other technologies for the whole production process from raw materials to products in the factory. Enterprise Operations Automation (BA) refers to the use of advanced technologies such as AI, big data, and digital twins and management innovation to achieve digital, intelligent, high-quality, and sustainable operational excellence for enterprise operations.
According to reports, the new model of 1+2+N smart factory construction has been successfully applied in 4,100 sets of new intelligent manufacturing models. In a large-scale coal chemical intelligent factory project, through the application of the new model of 1+2+N smart factory construction, the construction results of the integration of production control and the full life cycle management of equipment were realized, and the key goals of reducing energy and material consumption by 2% and manufacturing cost by 3% were achieved.
Intelligent manufacturing has become the main theme of industrial upgrading, and with the advancement of new quality productivity, it will further drive the process of industrial automation, and the demand for intelligent manufacturing by industrial enterprises is increasing. ZKTeco is deeply involved in the process industry and grasps the development trend of automation, digitalization and intelligence in the industry, thereby driving the steady growth of business performance and the continuous expansion of market share.
According to the statistics of Rui Industry, in 2023, the domestic market share of the distributed control system (DCS), the core product of ZKTeco, will reach 37.8%, ranking first in the domestic DCS market share for 13 consecutive years. According to the statistics of China Industrial Control Network, the domestic market share of Advanced Control and Process Optimization Software (APC) of ZKTeco is 28.2%, ranking first in the domestic market share for five consecutive years, and the domestic market share of Manufacturing Execution System (MES) is 20.7%, ranking first in the domestic process industry market share for two consecutive years.
A major breakthrough was made in the layout of "AI + robot" and the first humanoid robot was released
In 2023, ZPCON will actively develop the robot business and successfully obtain orders from global high-end users such as CNOOC, Huayi Group, and Saudi Aramco. At present, we are making every effort to deepen the investment layout in the field of "AI + robots", actively incubate the humanoid robot industry, and are committed to reshaping the production mode and promoting the intelligent development of the industry through AI technology innovation.
At the same time, we will make every effort to increase the investment layout in the field of "AI + robots", especially in the strategic layout direction of humanoid robots, and have recently invested in Zhejiang Humanoid Robot Innovation Center to conduct in-depth research on AI technology, combine the needs of industrial scenarios, realize the industrialization of humanoid robots and their derivative intelligent robots, and core key components, cultivate new businesses and technologies in the direction of humanoid robots in the whole industry scenario, and help the process industry to build a new future of "PA+BA architecture unmanned factory".
A few days ago, the first humanoid robot of "Navigator 1" was released, with a height of 1.5 meters and a weight of 50 kilograms, and the hardware end includes a new planetary reducer, a lightweight humanoid robotic arm and a multi-degree of freedom dexterous hand, of which the multi-degree of freedom dexterous hand has 15 finger joints, 6 active degrees of freedom, fingertip force of 10N, one-handed weight of 600g, and joint speed of 150 degrees / second. ZPCON said that it has been applied in leading enterprises and has been commercially recognized, which has important prospects and significance for promoting the construction of humanoid robot industry ecology.
According to reports, compared with the traditional humanoid robot emphasizing the series connection between parts and the whole machine, the cooperation between the central control technology and the innovation center is more important to achieve a breakthrough in the "brain" of artificial intelligence and application scenarios. Robotics in the era of industrial AI not only needs to stay at the operational level, but also needs to tap its capabilities at the planning and scheduling level to truly release the value beyond the human brain. Secondly, the implementation of scenarios and industrialization determines the success and development space of the field of humanoid robots in the future, and the docking of technology and industrial needs will bring new value and empowerment to the industrial pattern.
As the crystallization of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, humanoid robots can be widely used in industry, ports, aerospace, special and other fields, and have broad market prospects. Cui Shan, chairman and president of ZKTeco, said that for ZKTeco, the development and exploration of the application of humanoid robots in industrial scenarios is of great value for the subversive development of the industry, and it can replace human operation in various dangerous operation fields in the future, making the industrial production process safer and more efficient.
IDC believes that in the field of industrial manufacturing, humanoid robots will be the first to carry out automated operations in structured manufacturing links such as precision assembly and material handling.
At last
Manufacturing enterprises are characterized by digitalization and intelligence to promote the upgrading of intelligent manufacturing, and the production efficiency has been greatly improved. In the context of manufacturing upgrading, as the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry continues to deepen, the demand for industrial automation and industrial robots has increased significantly. By 2025, China plans to achieve 68%, 80% and 85% of the numerical control rate of key processes, the penetration rate of digital operation and management, and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools in industrial enterprises across the country.
In terms of market space, according to CIC, the market size of process industry software in mainland China will reach 206.6 billion yuan in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.8%. In the context of manufacturing upgrading, manufacturers around the intelligent manufacturing market are expected to continue to open up space for performance growth. For ZKTeco, taking advantage of the data, models, and technologies accumulated in the field of process industry, emerging technologies such as AI and big data are deeply applied to the process industry, continuously developing new products in the field of intelligent manufacturing, and constantly forging ahead in terms of customers, industries, and products, leading the process industry into the era of Industry 4.0.
Yang Jianyong, a writer for Forbes China, expresses his views on an individual basis. It is committed to in-depth interpretation of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud services, artificial intelligence and smart home.