Hyundai Robotics aims to be in world’s top 5

Hyundai Robotics, the country’s largest manufacturer of industrial robots, set a goal of making 500 billion won ($444 million) in revenue by 2021 and becoming one of the top five robotics companies in the world during the company’s official launch ceremony in Daegu on Thursday.

Hyundai Robotics was spun off from Hyundai Heavy Industries in April to play the role of holding company for the shipbuilder and its affiliates. In April, the company moved its base from the shipbuilding port city of Ulsan to Daegu, where robot manufacturers like Yaskawa Electric Korea and Kuka Robotics Korea are also based. Hyundai Robotics remodeled an engine-making factory in Daegu previously used by Hyundai Cummins to double its production capacity from an annual 4,800 industrial robots to 8,000.

Hyundai Robotics’ vision for the next four years includes bolstering the competitiveness of its major products, diversifying its lineup and target markets, creating new business models and tackling the Chinese market.

“The industrial robot industry is a fast-growing business with average 10 percent growth expected annually,” said Youn Joong-geun, the company’s president. “We will continue to expand investment in research and development to reap 500 billion won in revenue by 2021 and become one of the top five robot makers in the world.”

Hyundai Robotics began business as the robot-making division of shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries in 1984 and grew to become Korea’s manufacturer of industrial robots, introducing articulated robots with six joints in 1995 and LCD-producing robots in 2007.

With more factories digitizing their production as part of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, demand for smarter and more sophisticated robots has grown, and the company aims to capture that market by ramping up R&D efforts.

Already the company saw 10 percent increase in revenue and operating profit compared to the previous year in the second quarter, the first quarter it faced as an independent corporation after the spin-off in April, the robot maker said in a statement.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]