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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45亿欧元收购德国机器人公司库卡(Kuka)，收购东芝(Toshiba)家电业务，以及与伊莱克斯(Electrolux)成立合资公司之后，中国美的集团(Midea Group)将把重点放在“有机增长”上，力求从世界最大家电制造商转变为工业自动化巨头。
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.
美的董事长方洪波(Paul Fang)告诉英国《金融时报》，他需要时间来整合库卡，使美的能从席卷中国的自动化浪潮中获利。中国已经是世界最大的工业机器人市场。
“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.”
“整个机器人行业一直在迅速发展，但我相信，这种整合趋势在未来将会加快。”方洪波在广州接受采访时说，这里与美的总部所在地佛山相距不远，两个城市同属制造业腹地广东省。“这给了我们和库卡一个很好的机会，因为我们了解中国市场，而库卡有很多经验和技术。”
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.
在汽车制造等一些已经高度自动化的行业，美的力求扩大自身的市场份额，除此以外，美的还在试水消费机器人和医疗等新领域。在医疗领域，美的与国有的广药集团(Guangzhou Pharmaceutical)有一个合作开发医疗机器人和自动化药房的试点项目。
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.
根据行业游说组织——国际机器人联合会(International Federation of Robotics)的数据，去年全球售出价值130亿美元的工业机器人，中国购买了其中的30%。在2011年到2016年间，在廉价劳动力短缺和政府为自动化提供补贴的推动下，中国的工厂机器人数量每年增长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，作为世界最大的制成品出口国，中国的工业自动化水平依然远远落后于全球领先的韩国、新加坡、德国和日本。去年，中国每一万个工厂工人配有68个机器人，相较之下，韩国的这个数字是631，新加坡是488，德国是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.
星展唯高达(DBS Vickers)驻香港的一位分析师Mavis Hui称，在中国机器人需求不断增长的背景下，到2020年，美的应该能够将库卡的全球销售额从今年的26亿至30亿欧元扩大到40亿欧元。
“There will also be profit margin enhancement because of the scale effect,” she said.
“由于规模效应，利润率也会提高，”她说。
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.
尽管机器人销售额在增长，但在美的总营收中，这部分所占的份额仍然相对较小。去年，美的总营收达到1590亿元人民币（240亿美元），2012年还只有1030亿元人民币。
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.
美的的大部分销售额来自家电业务，包括空调、冰箱、洗衣机以及电饭煲等小家电。
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.
根据欧睿咨询(Euromonitor)的数据，美的家电销量比其他任何公司都多，占全球5.6%的市场份额，领先于飞利浦(Philips)、惠而浦(Whirlpool)及其在中国本土的竞争对手海尔(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.
虽然美的在中国本土市场增长强劲，但去年该公司以大约5亿美元的价格收购了东芝的家电事业部，以加快进军海外从亚洲到美洲等市场的步伐。这与海尔的做法如出一辙，后者去年收购了通用电气(General Electric)的家电业务。
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.
方洪波没有排除完成对库卡的整合以后进一步收购的可能，但他表示，任何交易都要符合美的进军新市场、新行业这个着眼点。
The ultimate goal, Mr Fang said, is to make Midea the “largest robotics and industrial automation company in China”.
方洪波称，最终的目标是让美的成为“中国最大的机器人和工业自动化公司”。
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”.
在此过程中，他预料由于发展较快，中国的机器人行业将面临“一些泡沫”。但他补充道，最终，竞争将确保市场是“理性的”。
