Who is the Largest Robot Manufacturer?
In recent years the landscape of manufacturing has seen a dramatic shift from manual production processes to automation with industrial robots. Many are calling this shift to robotic automation the fourth industrial revolution. Industrial robots have been involved in manufacturing for several decades, getting their start with the automotive industry. As robots have advanced more industries and companies have adopted them. They are more involved in manufacturing than ever before with some manufacturers opting for fully automated factories with robots.
With the high demand for industrial robots you may be wondering which company is the largest robotic manufacturer. There are several robotic manufacturers, but when comes to the largest there are two companies that stand out, FANUC and Yaskawa Motoman.
FANUC is often considered the top industrial robot manufacturer with an installation base of over 500,000 robots around the world. They are known for their incredibly strong six-axis robots. The FANUC R-2000i series is world-renowned, featuring several multipurpose heavy lifting robots. The FANUC R-2000ia/165F is one of the original articulated robots from the series and is still quite active along production floors.
One of the reasons FANUC is considered to be amongst the top two for the largest robotic manufacturer is because they have one of the biggest product lines. FANUC manufactures over one hundred different robot models from small robots to large robots. They manufacture articulated, delta, gantry, and collaborative robot types. With a wide selection of industrial robots there is a FANUC robot for just about any application. The FANUC Arcmate 120ic is one of FANUC’s most popular robots for arc welding automation.
FANUC robots are incredibly well-built with many of their older models lasting several decades. The M-16ib is one of FANUC’s popular robot models that is still widely used for material handling automation despite no longer being in production. FANUC always continues to innovate and improve their robots. This past year FANUC released several new versions of their past models. The M-10id/12 is one of the latest robots to be released by FANUC.
Yaskawa Motoman is not far behind FANUC in the competition for the top robotic manufacturer with over 450,000 robots installed across numerous industries. Yaskawa Motoman first gained recognition for their high-quality welding robots. In fact, when it comes to welding automation, Yaskawa Motoman is considered to be the top manufacturer. They produce more welding robots than any other robot brand. They have several robot lines dedicated to welding including the MA, VA, and EA series. The Motoman MA1400 is one of their “Master Arc” arc welding specialists. While the EA1400N is part of their “Expert Arc” series.
Yaskawa Motoman has more to offer than just welding robots. They have several other robot lines designed for tasks such as robotic palletizing, material handling, and automated material removal. The Yaskawa MH165 is one of Yaskawa Motoman’s heavy payload robots that is ideal for automating high payload material handling applications.
FANUC and Yaskawa Motoman are leading the way when it comes to advancing robotic technologies and producing industrial robots. As the use of industrial robots continues to grow, we are likely to see more of their robots along production floors since they are the two largest robot manufacturers in the world.