(Yicai Global) June 15 -- China's homegrown robot industry is growing rapidly with the shift to automation accelerating among small and medium-sized manufacturing firms, according to an industry insider.

Manufacturers are speeding up the introduction of robots to tackle rising labor costs and improve product quality, while Chinese robotics firms are gaining a larger market share, the person said in an interview with Yicai Global.

China had 168,400 industrial robots in use in 2020, up from less than 100,000 before 2016, according to information provider Wind. Meanwhile, the country's output of industrial robots jumped to 366,000 last year from 72,400 in 2016. It made 44,000 robots this March alone, hitting a monthly record.

Many small and mid-sized manufacturers are buying more industrial robots, Gao Qiang, business manager at Jiangsu province-based Hagong Intelligent Robot, told Yicai Global, as companies are forming a better understanding of their ability to boost efficiency and quality, he added.

Unlike larger manufacturers, who care more about brand name and the capability and reliability of the robot, SMEs pay more attention to after-sales service and prices when choosing robots, which creates opportunities for China-made products, the Hagong manager said.

This is because many SMEs do not run assembly lines around the clock like carmakers, they also do not require the high precision and reliability that big manufacturers do, according to Gao. So shipments of China-made robots have surpassed those of foreign brands where medium and low-end technical capability is enough to do the job, he added.

With more and more SMEs turning to automation, the number and variety of sectors using industrial robot is also increasing.

“The percentage of robots used in the auto industry has dropped from 70 percent in early days to less than 50 percent now as more robots are used in other fields,” Gao said, adding that their use is also increasing in China’s less developed central and west regions as production shifts westward in the country.

According to a white paper on the development of China's robotics industry, the vehicle and auto parts industries are still using almost 35 percent of all robots, while the electronics sector uses nearly 24 percent, and that of the metal products industry is almost 13 percent, while the food and beverages industry is below 6 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi