Specialist
C-level Executive at Kuka Robotics GmbH and former Divisional Executive at ABB Ltd
Agenda
- Robotics demand recovery expectations and catalysts
- Technology drivers across industries and major players' competitive positioning
- Growth technologies and segments, including peripheral equipment, sensors and grippers
- Major players' acquisition strategies
Questions
1.
What would you identify as the key drivers behind the order book declines from both Kuka and Fanuc?
2.
When do you expect recovery, what would catalyse it, and how significant do you think it will be?
3.
Teradyne’s results show Universal Robots flat and MIR [Mobile Industrial Robots] has grown by 47%. Have you observed that cobots [collaborative robots] produced by Universal Robots and others are taking market share from traditional robots produced by players such as Kuka and Fanuc?
4.
When would you expect the big four robotics players to come out with similar platforms that can compete with Universal Robotics’ cobots?
5.
How long would it take for a customer to consider the big four’s competing products as either equal to or better than Universal Robots’ product?
6.
To what extent does MIR give Teradyne a full value chain proposition with the intra-warehouse logistics that will give it better access to clients or preferential treatment in tenders?
7.
To what extent do you think the big four could enter this logistics and e-commerce market, either through acquisition or organic development?
8.
What valuation would you expect ABB to pay to enter the logistics market through an acquisition?
9.
How do you think the total proportion that OEMs spend on automotive robot spend would change during a downturn?
10.
How high is the penetration of robotics within autos, and to what extent can robotics demand grow without new autos demand?
11.
What happens to the old robots when a new product line is released? You mentioned there was an attempt to recycle all robots but that typically doesn’t happen.
12.
How big is the final assembly CAPEX in proportion to the total CAPEX for a new line?
13.
What would it take to enter into the completion automation portion? Do you expect PE to enter with new products?
14.
Who do you think is best-positioned to execute on these new applications?
15.
Following a recovery in demand, how would you compare the CAPEX on robots between an EV line and an ICE [internal combustion engine] line?
16.
You mentioned on an EV line, the welding done by the robots can be reduced by 10-15%. What proportion of the total robotic CAPEX is spent on the welding robots?
17.
Are the welding robots different from the battery assembly robots?
18.
How do you view robotics CAPEX spend in the industrials over the next one, two or three years?
19.
How long before you think the penetration on automation could run out?
20.
How does the CAPEX spend on robotics change through the cycle? Considering their growth comes through increased penetration, does it matter if there is growth in the end market or not?
21.
How do you view the growth of the hardware element vs the software element?
22.
Which of the big four do you think are doing particularly well with software, if it seems they have fairly similar hardware offerings?
23.
How do the software capabilities of the big four read through into customers’ decision-making or the ability to upsell additional software updates?
24.
How significant do you think Kuka’s market share drop will be in the next CAPEX cycle as a result of previous software bugs, and what proportion of customers do you think would be willing to switch?
25.
Kuka’s loss of up to 10% market share seems quite significant. Is there anything that would lead you to believe the market share loss wouldn’t happen?
26.
What makes you think that players in the German market might have shifted their historical loyalties to each other?
27.
How do you expect the proportion of revenue robotics companies spend on R&D to change in the mid-to- long term?
28.
Where do you expect these R&D budgets to be allocated?
29.
How would you describe the breadth of R&D performed by the big four?
30.
How would you rank research areas by ROI?
31.
Who would you say is winning in the peripheral equipment segment and why?
32.
Do you think these smaller peripheral equipment businesses are likely to be acquired by the big four, or do you think they are a good area for private equity?
33.
How would you gauge the ideal time for the big four to acquire? Is it when growth slows down or when they hit a certain size?
34.
To what extent are the blue chip issues mitigated when the gripper company is owned by a large PE fund?
35.
How would you describe the acquisition strategies of the big four?
36.
Do you think there is anything that would lead ABB to be slightly cautious of an acquisition, or would it consider any strong-performing company favourably?
37.
Given that only ABB is really available to make acquisitions in the logistics segment, do you think that will allow ABB to get better pricing or is there a way to structure a competitive bidding process?
38.
Why do you think Kuka’s restructuring is needed and what might it entail?
39.
What are the risks associated with a restructuring for Kuka? You mentioned the loss of market share within the automotive market and the key mitigating argument being the loyalty of German companies to each other. To what extent could moving production out of Germany cause even more market share losses?
40.
How much of an opportunity do you think Kuka’s talent loss could be for some of the PE players or the remaining big three?
41.
Do you think Kuka’s lost talent would prefer to go to one of the big three or to work for a smaller, possibly slightly more exciting growth company?
42.
How would you assess the joint venture of Kuka-Midea in China, given that it seemed to be a point of contention last year for the former CEO?
43.
What would you expect Kuka-Midea’s market share to be in China?
44.
What is the biggest opportunity for Kuka to drive growth, market share gains and improvements to results?
