Digital Platform for Improving Development Efficiency and Profitability of Robot System Integrators

In Japan, the severe declining birthrate is decreasing the working population, which is strongly recognized as a social problem. Therefore, replacing manual work with automation and robot is unavoidable at manufacturing sites; however, it can be argued that the introduction of this system has not progressed sufficiently. Based on interviews and questionnaires, this study summarizes the characteristics of the problems and countermeasures faced by robot system integrators (SIers), which are responsible for the automation of manufacturing sites using industrial robots. We propose the construction of a strategic digital platform for problem-solving. By utilizing the platform, we expect to solve the following problems: “It is difficult for customers to understand the expertise of the robot SIer and the technology they possess,” and “There are few points of contact between potential customers and the robot SIer.” Specifically, the robot SIer organizes its proprietary technology around the concept design technology in the upstream process and presents it to the customer in an appropriate form. We create a place for dialogue and information extraction, and develop a design process that assumes modularization of subsystems in the robot system, enabling efficient examination and development of the system. Moreover, the platform has a system in which the robot SIers composed of multiple companies can cooperate with each other and allocate SIer operations to appropriate companies through the exchange of technology information using networks. Accordingly, we expect to reduce the problems that occur in matching users with the robot SIers and in the development of robot systems. This study describes the characteristics and operation of the proposed system and platform and establishes the expected effects and business development methods concerning this digital transformation (DX) initiative.