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.
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.
“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.”