In 2024, the mobile robot market will gradually mature and become more competitive. Meanwhile, due to the cyclical changes of some downstream sub-industries, the demand will be reduced to varying degrees compared with 2023, and the growth rate of the whole industry will begin to slow down.
“In the context of generally low investment enthusiasm in China, enterprises should not blindly pursue the expansion of market scale, otherwise they may eventually fall into a bitter battle for survival,” said Wang Wei yi, chairman of Zhejiang Guozi Robot Technology Co., LTD.
In 2024, based on a thorough analysis of market trends and demand, Guozi Robotics focused on cost optimization while adhering to technological innovation to reduce costs and improve efficiency. On the other hand, it adopted a market-focused strategy, refraining from expanding its scale at the expense of project selection. Additionally, the company optimized its internal structure, making it more detailed and clear, thereby enhancing overall service efficiency.
“Through a series of strategies, the annual per capita output value increased significantly last year, and the company successfully turned a loss into a profit and entered a new stage of steady development,” Wang said
Adhere to technological innovation
In 2017, Guozi Robotics pioneered the material handling robot picking AGV, bringing a new approach to material handling in the industry; in 2019, SLIM redefined unmanned forklifts; in 2020, the SLIM family expanded again, with the new product line —— heavy-duty AGV beginning development… Over the years, on the path of innovation, Guozi Robotics has never stopped moving forward.
In 2024, we will focus on deepening innovation in our existing products. Wang Wei Yi introduced that “in terms of hardware, by optimizing the product structure, we have reduced costs by about 20%; in software, we have improved the control platform and iteratively upgraded the operating system to make it more user-friendly; additionally, Guozi Robotics has enhanced its picking comprehensive solution to better meet market demands.”
In Wang Wei Yis view, combining scenarios to perfect the product is essential for securing a competitive edge in the fierce market competition. “When the industry enters a period of slowing growth, theres no need to focus excessively on developing new products; instead, efforts should be concentrated on improving existing ones. Its crucial to truly understand customer pain points and deepen innovation based on current products to comprehensively enhance customer satisfaction.”
Wang weiyi revealed that in the future, Guozi will focus on continuous inspection and logistics scenarios, actively introduce embodied intelligence and other technologies, and carry out research and development of humanoid robots.
Be cautious in industry selection
As a “veteran” of mobile robots with 14 years of history, Guozi Robotics has participated in many major national engineering projects. Its products are widely used in power grid, power generation, rail transit, petroleum and petrochemical industry, new energy, construction machinery and other industries, and has achieved large-scale application overseas, with rich application experience.
In the face of the periodic “low tide” in some industries, in 2024, Guozi Robot made a strategic adjustment in the business direction, focusing on inspection and logistics as two major sectors, and further integrating existing advantages and product features to tilt resources towards energy storage and other high-growth industries.
The demand changes in the energy storage industry are more prominently reflected in the shift from light to heavy loads, which places higher demands on the hardware performance of mobile robots. Wang Wei Yi introduced that based on the indoor and outdoor heavy-duty AGV solutions of Guozi Robotics, and with the support of core component R&D capabilities, Guozi Robotics has tailored its approach to the characteristics of the energy storage industry. By integrating deeply into the production process of energy storage equipment, they provide customers with highly targeted intelligent material management systems.
In 2024, through this series of measures, Guozi Robot will gradually extend its advantages in the photovoltaic industry to the energy storage industry, deepening its layout in the energy storage industry. At the same time, relying on its strong technical strength and project implementation experience, Guozi Robot also maintains a steady development trend in industries such as construction machinery and wind power in the new energy sector.
“We will not blindly pursue the maximum scale, but stick to the bottom line of corporate profits and social revenue generation, select high-quality projects and stable customers, and constantly improve brand influence and reputation.”
We will continue to develop overseas markets
In 2024, while achieving a turnaround in overall performance, the overseas market vitality of Guozi robots will continue to burst forth.
“Since 2016, overseas markets have been a very important sector for Guozi Robotics,” Wang said. “The profits of overseas projects are considerable, and the customers generally have good credibility. This has not only brought us a relatively rich economic return, but also established a good reputation for the brand.”
It is reported that in 2024, Guozi Robot has set up sales and service teams in the United States, Europe and other countries and regions to continuously improve the overseas service structure. In terms of products, it will gradually expand its business from the current warehousing logistics to industrial logistics, further enriching the overseas sales product line.
Based on the distinctive layout of overseas markets, in 2024, Guozis overseas performance saw stable growth compared to 2023, further expanding its international influence. Since embarking on overseas expansion in 2016, Guozis heavy-duty series robots have helped multiple “lighthouse factories” both domestically and internationally achieve unmanned intelligent production lines. The product line has been scaled up in regions such as Southeast Asia and Europe, accumulating rich experience in overseas project implementation. Notably, the company partnered with U.S.-based SABIC twice, in 2016 and 2021, becoming SABICs sole supplier during these periods. To date, over 2,000 Picking material handling robots have been deployed.
Facing the New Year, Guozi Robotics has not set a definite business volume target, but hopes to continue the operating tone in 2024, continue to improve and iterate existing products, and promote steady development of the enterprise with continuous profits.
