Mikhail Zotov, "DS-Robotics": "The need for robotization is growing in all segments of the industry"

Mikhail Zotov: The processes of robotization all over the world went on constantly, without interruption. They began in our country in the 70s of the last century, then there was a failure, when there was practically no industry. So now we are going up from scratch.

Mikhail Zotov: Despite the difficulties, the industrial robotization market in Russia is developing. In 2008, when we started working on robots , the integrator's sale of even one robot per year was normal. In 2020, more than a thousand robots were installed across the country, so the market showed good growth. At the same time, a thousand robots for the entire Russian market is not that many. The volumes are not yet what we would like to see, but the dynamics are positive.

Mikhail Zotov: First, the sharp rise in the dollar exchange rate. We count the economy in rubles , and robots come in foreign currency. Secondly, the lack of economic stability. In these conditions, investors rarely run the risk of investing "in the long term." For European countries, the normal payback period for a project is up to 10 years; in our country, few people look beyond three. Projects with a payback within a year or two are perceived as normal. And the third limiting factor: the lack of specialization of integrators and, as a result, proven, ready-made "box" solutions. The customer is often not willing to take risks.

Mikhail Zotov: Russian integrators do everything at the same time — palletizing, welding, milling, cutting and other operations. This is understandable: the market is not that big, so you have to deal with everything. Solutions, as a rule, are developed for each customer from scratch, and this is a big business risk. At the start of an individual project, it is impossible to accurately assess all the risks. Somewhere everything goes smoothly, and the equipment eventually starts up, but sometimes during the project it is necessary to make changes, due to which delays occur and the cost of the solution increases.

Europe and the whole world have long stepped further: if an integrator company is engaged in welding robotic complexes, it will not implement palletizing projects. In addition to specialization in technological operations, there is also an industry one — for example, there are companies that develop robotic systems for the ceramic industry or solutions for shipbuilding. This approach gives the end customer a high quality solution and confidence that the project will be guaranteed on time and without overlaps. This is a plus for integrators as well, since they increase their competence in their field, solutions are better tested, and the cost of development and implementation is reduced.

Mikhail Zotov: Depends on the enterprise. Somewhere there are very competent specialists who understand what they want, but someone thought about it for the first time, and robotization is a completely new business for him. But in general, the overall level is growing every year.

Mikhail Zotov: As you know, robots are replacing people in production. And there were not enough people in production even before the pandemic, because few people wanted to go to the shop, do hard work. In a pandemic, when the borders were closed, there were even fewer people willing, and this factor became even more pronounced. Enterprises began to look with interest towards robotization, even in areas where we had not previously seen demand. The number of requests has increased. True, not all of them are being implemented: someone realizes that they are not yet ready for robotization, someone makes a fundamental decision and starts long-term financial planning. But the situation with the pandemic is far from over, and the state actively supports the introduction of digital technologies, which include robotization. So the multiple growth in the adoption of robots is a matter of time.

Mikhail Zotov: Demand is growing in all segments, but most clearly we are seeing growth in demand in the food and furniture industries, consumer goods and agricultural machinery.

Mikhail Zotov: Of course, there is interest, but due to the general recession, many projects were paused in 2020. Heavy industry is much less dynamic than light industry; everything starts slower there. But here, too, we expect positive dynamics.

Mikhail Zotov: Of course. After all, robotization has historically emerged from the needs of the automotive industry. Enterprises have been largely robotic and well-established for a long time. From the side of the automotive industry, first of all, there are requests for planned replacements, modernization, equipping lines for new models. Here, the demand for robotization is primarily determined by the demand for cars .

Mikhail Zotov: The market is immature, it is in the stage of formation. But at the same time, it is saturated, because there are installed robotic cells, the information is in the public domain and it seems that it is easy to try to copy them. Difficulties appear already at launch, and knowing how to level out all the subtleties and nuances is already a matter of experience and professionalism, so many new players constantly appear on the market. True, after a year or two, few of them remain, but this contributes to the overall confusion on the market. For a customer who does not have a professional team capable of assessing the technical level of the offer and the competence of the integrator, it is difficult to make the right choice, and again it turns out to be a leapfrog. The decision is often made at random, and in the absence of other criteria, solely on the price.

Mikhail Zotov: The vast majority of robots and components for robotic systems come from abroad. Among the leading countries of production are Sweden , Germany , Japan . Russian manufacturers import components and make complete solutions based on them. In addition, robots are supplied from abroad as part of production lines and robotic complexes (RTC). The same auto industry, which we talked about above, brings ready-made assembly lines from there. Today, there is a tendency to move the production of RTK to our side. At the same time, complex systems are still supplied from the West, and those that are smaller and simpler are made by Russian integrators.

Mikhail Zotov: It is important to clarify here that when robotizing any process, an industrial robot is always part of a general solution: a robotic complex or a line into which the robot is integrated. In turnkey robotization, which DS-Robotics specializes in, the production cycle includes the development of a solution, agreement with the customer, performance calculations, tests to confirm the technology (if necessary), design, production, programming , assembly and debugging at the production site integrator, installation and commissioning, service support. As you can see, this is a complete production process typical of any industrial equipment.

Mikhail Zotov: There is a great lack of economic stability, stable, without fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, to launch projects with a payback period of more than 3 years. More massive state support will help to level this moment. But now it works mainly on large projects, in other cases it is difficult to get it. The second problem: not everyone knows about the wide capabilities of modern industrial robots. And the third, which we have already mentioned twice above, is that we need reliable, serial, proven standard solutions at an affordable price.

Mikhail Zotov: The Russian market, although small, already has a base for the formation of standard solutions, worked out on several customers and covering many issues. Such solutions will suit customers more in terms of reliability and cost. It is necessary to convince enterprises of this through negotiations, presentations. And for integrators-manufacturers of such solutions, think over measures of state support, similar to those already existing for priority industries.

Mikhail Zotov: For welding — the most massive segment — we have proven standard solutions. We completely assemble and test them at our production site and then install them to the customer.

Mikhail Zotov: Three layouts have already been worked out. The most versatile layout includes a robot that performs welding, a three-axis rotator for correct orientation of the workpiece during welding, welding equipment, fencing of the welding area, security system, lighting, a common frame. We bring the cell on a wagon, unload it, install it, connect it to the network and you can use it. The whole process takes several hours.

Mikhail Zotov: A robotic complex for palletizing of our own design: a robotic palletizer and a pallet store are installed on a common frame. The robot can stack bags, boxes, buckets, that is, there are various grippers for specific products that are stacked on pallets. And this is also a quickly deployable design. The palletizer can be supplemented with a robotic box-forming unit, wrapper or wrapper. With the help of such a "constructor" the customer can completely eliminate manual labor in the packing and palletizing area. Now this is a very demanded task.

Mikhail Zotov: The project starts with a production audit, then a solution is developed, equipment is manufactured, commissioned and subsequent service. With regard to disposal, there is no such request from customers, since the robots work for a very long time. For example, ABB , a world-famous robot manufacturer, has a video showing that their first robot, created back in the 70s of the last century, is still in production. Our process is different: after the first successful implementation, customers buy the second, third, and there is a precedent — the fourth robotic cell.

Mikhail Zotov: We look more at medium-sized businesses. An important criterion: the owners are still interested in their business, they did not step aside, leaving everything to the management.

Mikhail Zotov: The owner is interested in the modernization of his production. Management sees it all differently. A person who took risks creating a production is ready to continue looking for the best, reliable solution for himself, and the management is only ready to repeat the solution that works for his neighbor.

Mikhail Zotov: The most interesting projects are connected not with boxed solutions, but with individual development. We made both a universal complex for adaptive welding — for piece and small-scale products, and maintenance of molding machines with a collaborative robot in bakery production — the only project of this kind in Russia, there is an analogue only in Canada . Another interesting implementation was implemented at a refractory plant in the Sverdlovsk region . There we built robots into an existing production line, introducing a unified control and monitoring system for the entire cycle: from the exit of products from the press at the molding section to the automatic dispensing of assembled transport carts for feeding into the furnace. Thanks to robotization, the customer was able to do without the serious capital investment that would have been required in the event of a new line being built.

Another project: a robotic module for assembling and soldering printed circuit boards — the first such solution for the production of electronics in Russia . Robotization allowed the customer, NPO Starline , to promptly launch the production of this product: instead of a large room for 28 workstations equipped with expensive equipment — a cell with two robots on an area of 4 sq. m., capable of working 24x7 with high quality and performance.

Mikhail Zotov: The implementation cycle, from contract signing and development to commissioning, took 90 days. The equipment has been in operation for three years.

Mikhail Zotov: Each project has its own special tasks, but there are also typical problems. For example, welding production is characterized by a weak procurement base for customers. After all, when a person is engaged in welding, he sees that he is welding, and the robot, if technical vision is not used, cooks blindly and the quality of the workpieces is important here. For palletizing, stacking stability is important.

Mikhail Zotov: Growth, development of competencies in related areas, expansion of the line of ready-made solutions. The main task for the future: to convince the market that using a ready-made solution is right. It is necessary to come to mass production, then you can offer high-quality equipment at good prices.