美的“有機(jī)增長”力求轉(zhuǎn)型工業(yè)自動(dòng)化巨頭

After buying German robot maker Kuka for €4.5bn, acquiring Toshiba’s home appliance business and launching a joint venture with Electrolux, China’s Midea Group is focusing on organic growth as it seeks to transform itself from the world’s largest maker of home appliances into an industrial automation powerhouse.

在以45億歐元收購德國機(jī)器人公司庫卡(Kuka)，收購東芝(Toshiba)家電業(yè)務(wù)，以及與伊萊克斯(Electrolux)成立合資公司之后，中國美的集團(tuán)(Midea Group)將把重點(diǎn)放在“有機(jī)增長”上，力求從世界最大家電制造商轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)楣I(yè)自動(dòng)化巨頭。

Chairman Paul Fang told the Financial Times that he needs time to consolidate Kuka before Midea can reap the benefits of the wave of automation sweeping across China, the world’s biggest market for industrial robots.

美的董事長方洪波(Paul Fang)告訴英國《金融時(shí)報(bào)》，他需要時(shí)間來整合庫卡，使美的能從席卷中國的自動(dòng)化浪潮中獲利。中國已經(jīng)是世界最大的工業(yè)機(jī)器人市場。

“The whole robotic sector has been developing fast, but I believe in the future this trend of consolidation will speed up,” he said in an interview in Guangzhou, near the company’s headquarters in Foshan in the manufacturing heartland of Guangdong province. “This has given us and Kuka a very good opportunity because we understand the Chinese market, and Kuka has a lot of experience and technology.”

“整個(gè)機(jī)器人行業(yè)一直在迅速發(fā)展，但我相信，這種整合趨勢在未來將會加快。”方洪波在廣州接受采訪時(shí)說，這里與美的總部所在地佛山相距不遠(yuǎn)，兩個(gè)城市同屬制造業(yè)腹地廣東省。“這給了我們和庫卡一個(gè)很好的機(jī)會，因?yàn)槲覀兞私庵袊袌?，而庫卡有很多?jīng)驗(yàn)和技術(shù)。”

As it tries to increase its market share in industries that are already heavily automated such as carmaking, Midea is also testing the waters in new areas including consumer robotics and healthcare, where it has a pilot project with state-owned Guangzhou Pharmaceutical to develop medical robots and automated pharmacies.

在汽車制造等一些已經(jīng)高度自動(dòng)化的行業(yè)，美的力求擴(kuò)大自身的市場份額，除此以外，美的還在試水消費(fèi)機(jī)器人和醫(yī)療等新領(lǐng)域。在醫(yī)療領(lǐng)域，美的與國有的廣藥集團(tuán)(Guangzhou Pharmaceutical)有一個(gè)合作開發(fā)醫(yī)療機(jī)器人和自動(dòng)化藥房的試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目。

China bought 30 per cent of the $13bn worth of industrial robots that were sold last year, according to the International Federation of Robotics, an industry lobby group. The number of factory robots in China increased 31 per cent a year between 2011 and 2016, driven by a shortage of cheap labour and government subsidies for automation.

根據(jù)行業(yè)游說組織——國際機(jī)器人聯(lián)合會(International Federation of Robotics)的數(shù)據(jù)，去年全球售出價(jià)值130億美元的工業(yè)機(jī)器人，中國購買了其中的30%。在2011年到2016年間，在廉價(jià)勞動(dòng)力短缺和政府為自動(dòng)化提供補(bǔ)貼的推動(dòng)下，中國的工廠機(jī)器人數(shù)量每年增長31%。

But the level of industrial automation in China, the world’s biggest exporter of manufactured goods, still lags far behind the global leaders South Korea, Singapore, Germany and Japan. Last year, China had just 68 robots per 10,000 factory workers, compared with 631 in South Korea, 488 in Singapore, 309 in Germany and 303 in Japan.

然而，作為世界最大的制成品出口國，中國的工業(yè)自動(dòng)化水平依然遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于全球領(lǐng)先的韓國、新加坡、德國和日本。去年，中國每一萬個(gè)工廠工人配有68個(gè)機(jī)器人，相較之下，韓國的這個(gè)數(shù)字是631，新加坡是488，德國是309，日本是303。

Mavis Hui, an analyst at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong, said Midea should be able to increase Kuka’s global sales from €2.6bn-€3bn this year to €4bn by 2020 on the back of rising Chinese demand.

星展唯高達(dá)(DBS Vickers)駐香港的一位分析師Mavis Hui稱，在中國機(jī)器人需求不斷增長的背景下，到2020年，美的應(yīng)該能夠?qū)炜ǖ娜蜾N售額從今年的26億至30億歐元擴(kuò)大到40億歐元。

“There will also be profit margin enhancement because of the scale effect,” she said.

“由于規(guī)模效應(yīng)，利潤率也會提高，”她說。

Although growing, robot sales are still a relatively small part of Midea’s revenues, which jumped to Rmb159bn ($24bn) last year from just Rmb103bn in 2012.

盡管機(jī)器人銷售額在增長，但在美的總營收中，這部分所占的份額仍然相對較小。去年，美的總營收達(dá)到1590億元人民幣(240億美元)，2012年還只有1030億元人民幣。

The bulk of its sales come from its home appliances business, which makes air conditioning units, refrigerators, washing machines and small appliances such as rice cookers.

美的的大部分銷售額來自家電業(yè)務(wù)，包括空調(diào)、冰箱、洗衣機(jī)以及電飯煲等小家電。

Midea sells more of such appliances than any other company, according to Euromonitor, with 5.6 per cent global market share, ahead of Philips, Whirlpool and Chinese rival Haier.

根據(jù)歐睿咨詢(Euromonitor)的數(shù)據(jù)，美的家電銷量比其他任何公司都多，占全球5.6%的市場份額，領(lǐng)先于飛利浦(Philips)、惠而浦(Whirlpool)及其在中國本土的競爭對手海爾(Haier)。

While growth has been solid in China, Midea acquired Toshiba’s home appliances division last year for around $500m to accelerate its move into overseas markets from Asia to the Americas. That mirrors the approach taken by Haier, which bought General Electric’s home appliance unit last year.

雖然美的在中國本土市場增長強(qiáng)勁，但去年該公司以大約5億美元的價(jià)格收購了東芝的家電事業(yè)部，以加快進(jìn)軍海外從亞洲到美洲等市場的步伐。這與海爾的做法如出一轍，后者去年收購了通用電氣(General Electric)的家電業(yè)務(wù)。

Mr Fang does not rule out further acquisitions once the consolidation of Kuka is complete, although he says any deals would need to be in line with Midea’s focus on entering new markets and new industries.

方洪波沒有排除完成對庫卡的整合以后進(jìn)一步收購的可能，但他表示，任何交易都要符合美的進(jìn)軍新市場、新行業(yè)這個(gè)著眼點(diǎn)。

The ultimate goal, Mr Fang said, is to make Midea the “largest robotics and industrial automation company in China”.

方洪波稱，最終的目標(biāo)是讓美的成為“中國最大的機(jī)器人和工業(yè)自動(dòng)化公司”。

Along the way, he expects China’s robotics industry to face “some bubbles” because of the breakneck pace of growth. But he added that competition will ultimately ensure that the market is “rational”.

在此過程中，他預(yù)料由于發(fā)展較快，中國的機(jī)器人行業(yè)將面臨“一些泡沫”。但他補(bǔ)充道，最終，競爭將確保市場是“理性的”。

Additional reporting by Nicolle Liu in Hong Kong 譯者/何黎