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Rise of the cobots: Universal Robots, Denmark's largest robot manufacturer, delivers 91% growth in revenue

It created quite a stir when American Teradyne paid more than $285 million (USD) for all the shares in the Danish company Universal Robots in the spring of 2015.

The price of the 150-employee company in Odense reflected the expectations of significant growth rates in the robot industry -- particularly in the new market for an innovative type of robots called collaborative robots or "cobots." These are low-cost, easy-to-deploy, and simple-to-program robots that work side by side with production workers to improve quality and increase manufacturing efficiency. Universal Robots is behind the invention of the world's first cobots.

The first cobot was sold in December 2008, and in 2015 the market was estimated at $100 million (USD). The cobot market is now estimated by some analysts to reach over $3 billion (USD) by 2020. So, the Danish frontrunner has secured its owner, Teradyne, an extremely strong position in this high-growth segment.

Universal Robots' revenue of 418 million DKK (about $61.8 million USD) in 2015 corresponds to a 91 percent increase compared with 2014, and a 223 percent increase compared to 2013. Profit before tax totaling 65.4 million DKK is a 122 percent increase compared with 2014. This means that the robot manufacturer has both increased revenue and reduced costs per robot -- and has been even more efficient in 2015 with profit increase exceeding revenue growth.

Since 2012, Universal Robots' annual sales have increased an average of approximately 75 percent. All production of robotic arms takes place in Odense, Denmark, and the robots are sold through 200 distributors, with 45 percent of sales in Europe, 30 percent in the Americas, and 25 percent in Asia in 2015.

Video: Universal Robots' 5 unique selling points.

The Danish company's financially strong owner is also prepared to invest ambitiously in maintaining Universal Robots' lead in collaborative robots. With the employment of additional robot developers in 2015, the staff at Universal Robots' development division in Denmark has almost doubled.

"In the coming years, we expect the market for collaborative robots to grow by at least 50 percent annually, not least due to the short payback period, often less than 12 months," said Universal Robots' CEO, Enrico Krog Iversen. "We are the clear market leader and have considerably increased investments in engineering, sales, and customer support to expand that lead. Although I will be moving from CEO to a consultant capacity at Universal Robots later this year, I'm confident that Universal Robots will continue to thrive using our crystal-clear strategy based on three key principles: focus, simplicity, and uncompromising execution."

Source: Universal Robots

Published March 2016

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