Source: Securities Times · eCompany | Exclusive interview with You Wei, Chairman and General Manager of Efort
Whilst the sector is booming, profitability remains elusive; the industrial robotics industry has been swept up in a spiral of price wars, and a wave of industry consolidation is already upon us. Faced with this internal competition and pressure on profitability, as a leading representative of China’s “pragmatic school” in robotics, Efort has consistently maintained a clear-headed approach: internally, it has resolutely focused on its core business of complete robot systems, carving out a breakthrough by replacing lower-end products with high-end alternatives; externally, it has proactively laid the groundwork for a general-purpose technology foundation, aiming to create the “HarmonyOS” of the robotics world.
Amid new opportunities presented by AI-empowered industries, Efort is reshaping the ecosystem of China’s robotics industry through its “Great Tree” model: sinking deep “roots” into the foundation of general-purpose technology, strengthening the “trunk” of industrial robots, and helping ecosystem partners bear “fruit” in specific application scenarios.
Recently, Dr.You Wei, Chairman and General Manager of Efort, granted an exclusive interview to a reporter from the Securities Times, in which he provided a detailed breakdown of the company’s development path, strategic trade-offs and planning logic, whilst also analyzing the root causes of industry-wide stagnation and exploring ways for China’s robotics industry to navigate economic cycles and achieve high-quality development.
01. Facing internal competition: taking the initiative to “cut yourarm” to move forward less loaded
- Analyzing the root causes of industry-wide stagnation: the lack of uniform performance evaluation standards leads to price competition
- Efort’s strategic realignment: from 2022, it will phase out its systems integration business to focus on its core business of manufacturing complete units
- Industry outlook: The phase of intense competition is drawing to a close, the ‘winner-takes-all’ effect is becoming increasingly pronounced, and the sector is about to enter a ‘survival of the fittest’ phase
02. Targeting the High-End Market: Mergers and acquisitions to fill gaps in the supply chain and break through the stalemate
- Increased investment in research and development: R&D expenditure in 2024 and 2025 amounted to 132 million yuan and 194 million yuan respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 45.21 per cent and 47.42 per cent.
- Benefits of technological innovation: Pioneering the mass delivery of domestically manufactured robots to automotive welding workshops; painting robots covering processes such as painting and air-blowing, thereby filling the gap in the mass application of domestically manufactured robots in automotive paint shops.
- Expanding operations to fill and strengthen the value chain: The acquisition of Shengpu Shares has addressed shortcomings in the coating process, enabling high-precision coating operations in complex scenarios.
03. Building a solid foundation: becoming the ‘HarmonyOS’ of the robotics industry
Openmind was established to build a foundational platform for general-purpose technology and provide open interfaces, enabling industry process experts to rapidly customize robotics applications on this basis—much like developing mobile apps—thereby empowering various end-user scenarios and significantly reducing development costs.
A thriving ecosystem: Efort has signed cooperation agreements with nearly 30 leading enterprises and research institutes across the robotics industry’s upstream and downstream sectors, standardizing relevant underlying data interfaces and application development specifications for robotics. Once the ecosystem reaches a certain level of prosperity, this general-purpose technology foundation will become the “HarmonyOS” of the robotics sector.
The “Great Tree” Model: The roots represent the general-purpose technology foundation, with all resources prioritized for investment in the roots; the trunk comprises core industrial robot products; the branches represent specific application scenarios across various industries; and the fruits borne on the branches are integrated solutions for niche sectors, to be ‘harvested’ by ecosystem partners.
For humanoid robots, ‘practical implementation’ is the highest principle: the company will prioritize the introduction of humanoid robot products into the B2B industrial manufacturing sector, followed by the B2B service sector, and only then will they enter the B2C home environment.
