Germany-headquartered KUKA, a multinational corporation that is a leading manufacturer of industrial robots and automation systems, not only met, but exceeded its ambitious sales targets for 2023, eclipsing the four-billion-euro mark for the first time.

At a press conference held earlier this month at the company’s headquarters in Augsburg, KUKA Group CEO Peter Mohnen said: "Automation and robotics have developed from a megatrend to a cornerstone of industrial production — indispensable especially in high-wage countries. Accordingly, the automation market has become extremely competitive, but KUKA is holding its own very well in this highly competitive environment and is growing internationally.”

Years of market knowledge, combined with innovative strength and a strong local presence in important markets such as North America and China, are convincing customers to choose KUKA. The USA, for example, is the company’s largest single market with sales of almost one billion euros alone.

In addition, KUKA’s expertise is helping more and more industries to remain competitive in the long term, especially in the challenging recruitment environment. Global uncertainties, a pessimistic mood and a weak economy are currently weighing on the economy, both in Germany and around the world. This is also having an impact on KUKA and customer demand. KUKA has started 2024 with a decline in incoming orders.

Mr Mohnen continued: "Despite the slow start, we are cautiously optimistic about this year and expect slight growth. In the medium term, we want to grow comprehensively.”

Despite economic cycles, the automation industry is developing strongly – this is backed up by statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) — the number of industrial robots in use world-wide reached a new record of 3.9 million in 2022.

Mr Mohnen added: “In this strong future market, it is crucial to be close to customers and markets. Our top priority is to focus on constant change and agility instead of the status quo. This is the only way we can remain competitive. As a global group, we must support in shaping change and recog-
nise trends early on. This ranges from artficial intelligence-based robot programming to flexibly deployable robots that can grip unknown components better thanks to AI to mobile autonomous assistants.”

The development of autonomous mobile robotics (AMR) is currently being driven by a shortage of skilled workers in the logistics sector. Here, KUKA is strategically expanding its AMR portfolio for the transportation of goods in production. Reinhold Groß, CEO of KUKA Robotics, concluded: "Customer interest is high. Our goal is to be one of the top five manufacturers of autonomous mobile robots by 2027.”