Sepro Group, a producer of robots for plastic injection moulding machines, has set new records in robot sales for the fifth consecutive year.
In 2017, Sepro equipped more than 3,200 injection-moulding machines with robots, a 20 per cent increase that boosted its yearly turnover by 21 per cent to a record €126.2 million (approx. £110m GBP).
The company says the results were boosted by exceptionally strong sales in Europe, with sales from Germany rising by more than 25 per cent to exceed 500 units and in France sales rose 30 per cent to over 450 units.
Sale results were also strong in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland, where Sepro established new daughter companies in 2016 and in 2017.
“Our strong results for 2017 are built on a solid foundation, the launch of new products and services and expansion of our strategic partnerships,” said Jean-Michel Renaudeau, Sepro CEO.
“In the last 12 months, with the help of our partner Yaskawa-Motoman, we introduced a new line of small to mid-size general-purpose 6-axis robots. We launched two new smaller Cartesian robots, the 3-axis, general purpose Success 5 and the S5 Picker. We also developed two new ‘Open 4.0’ apps, including OptiCycle to automate robot-cycle optimisation, and LiveSupport to simplify remote access for service.”
Renaudeau adds that Sepro’s share of 3-axis robot sales continues to grow, while niche sales of 5- and 6-axis robots, developed in cooperation with Yaskawa and Stäubli, increased significantly.
Partners such as Sumitomo Demag increased their adoption of Sepro technology adding to its own OEM equipment packages, offering new robot options to customers.
All Sepro robots use a single control platform that can support multiple levels of integration with most IMM controls.
Sepro has grown its workforce by 16 per cent during 2017, adding 95 employees worldwide and opening a new daughter company in Sepro Switzerland.
The company has also invested €11 million (approx.. £9.6m GBP) on a global expansion programme, creating additional manufacturing resources in France, building a new global training centre, and improving new robot assembly, engineering, and automation capabilities at its North American hub in Warrendale, Pennsylvania.