According to French media, China's industrial robotics is at the core of the grand plan of "Made in China 2025", and Beijing hopes to use this plan to transform China from a world factory into an industrial power.

According to a report by French "Echos" on December 18, in the Jingdong R&D laboratory in southern Beijing, forklifts run automatically, manipulators lift boxes, and hoists reach target goods on shelves. China's second-largest e-commerce company JD.com has continuously invested in warehousing automation and tried to use small robots and drones to deliver express delivery.

In September, JD.com opened its first fully automated warehouse near Shanghai, allowing machines and robots to manage small cargo unloaded from trucks. In early November, the head of JD’s logistics strategy stated that as China’s e-commerce continues to grow, “we have to build millions of square meters of warehouses every year, but it has become particularly difficult to recruit movers and delivery men”.

According to the report, although JD.com regards automation as a major task of industrial tools, the proportion of robots in China is still very low, with only 49 industrial robots per 10,000 workers. But China is speeding up and has just broken through a major barrier that marks industrial modernization. On the 18th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China pointed out that the output of industrial robots this year will exceed 100,000 for the first time. China has already broken through this mark in the first ten months of this year, and the annual output may reach 120,000. In 2016, China's industrial robot output was 72,000.

According to the report, China's industrial robotics is at the core of the grand plan of "Made in China 2025", and Beijing hopes to use this plan to transform China from a world factory into an industrial power. Among the many goals set by China is to increase the number of robots per 10,000 workers to 150. The International Federation of Robotics pointed out that although this is still far from South Korea's world-leading level (531), it is already close to the United States (176). In this regard, China is the largest market, and China's industrial robot demand accounts for about one-third of the world.

In 2015, two-thirds of China's demand was met by overseas manufacturers. However, as large domestic companies have become important players in the industry, this proportion has shown a downward trend. Jingdong and Midea are the representatives. Midea's acquisition of German robot manufacturing company KUKA in 2016 caused a sensation.

According to the report, China is facing a decline in employment and a rapid increase in labor costs. Even if you want to rely on robots to ensure competitiveness, it will take time to achieve automation.