Automation in the automotive industry has long been a mainstay of the manufacturing industry. Half of Yaskawa’s industrial robots are destined for automotive applications and are used in all processes, including welding, assembly, and painting and so on. For example, a wide variety of models are used for various processes such as an arc welding robot for the underside of a body, a muffler, a seat frame, a spot welding robot for joining the sides of the body and ceiling, a painting robot for parts and body painting, and a handling robot for mounting a seat and window.

In recent years, the automotive industry has undergone significant changes, including a shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous driving technologies. In the production facilities for lithium-ion batteries, which are increasing with the shift to EVs, Yaskawa’s robots, as well as AC servos and AC Drives / Inverters, play an active role.

Semiconductors are at the heart of all precision machinery. Manufacturing processes require precise operation and a clean environment. Yaskawa’s servomotors are used in most semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, and clean robots are used to transport semiconductor wafers.

Moreover, in the fields of smartphone manufacturing, 5G base stations, autonomous driving, data centers, and other fields that have made remarkable progress in recent years, servo motors are used for “machine tools” and “metal processing machines” that produce the precision components used in these fields, whereas Yaskawa’s products, such as robots, contribute to the Flat Panel Display (FPD) transport process used in personal computers, smartphones, flat-screen TVs, and other products at various manufacturing sites.

In the food manufacturing sector, the demand for automation is increasing against the backdrop of labor shortages. In food factories, besides the process of producing food, there are various other processes, such as the loading of ingredients, packaging and labeling, and packing and stacking of boxes into cardboard boxes for shipping.

Suitable robots are used in each process. In the process of directly touching food materials, hygiene needs to be considered. We have a lineup of robots that ensure hygiene using special surface treatments and lubricants for food machines. Recently, with the expansion of the ready-to-eat food market, this technology has been applied to operations such as filling and closing lunch boxes and delicatessens at convenience stores and supermarkets, and collaborative robots that can work side-by-side with workers without safety fences * have been installed.

In the field of agriculture, our robot technology is also used to demonstrate operations such as cucumber leaf-picking and strawberry sorting, whereas our group company FAMS sells a plant factory system that automates the entire process from sowing to harvesting leafy vegetables.
* These safety features make it possible to build systems without safety fences; however, risk assessments and risk reduction measures must be implemented in all cases.

Yaskawa’s AC Drives / Inverters are used in various factories, as well as in large air conditioners, escalators, elevators, cranes, fans, pumps, and other areas of daily life. An AC Drive or Inverter controls the rotational speed of the motor. This enables advanced motor control and contributes significantly to energy savings. Additionally, in the fields of steel, water treatment plants, large cranes, and electric power production systems, including fiber, paper, rubber, aluminum, and film lines, Yaskawa offers high-quality, high-efficiency, and stable operation with the system engineering technology that we have developed over the years, supporting safe and secure living in a general social infrastructure.

The realization of a decarbonized society on a global scale is an urgent issue. Through its motors and power conversion technologies and products, Yaskawa contributes to the reduction of CO₂ emissions by significantly improving energy conservation as well as improving the productivity of customers’ equipment. For example, Yaskawa’s AC Drives / Inverters are widely used in factories that manufacture essential materials for our lives, such as air-conditioning equipment, elevators, escalators, trains, cranes, fans, pumps, printing, textile machines, and rubber production machines. The AC Drive / Inverter can be controlled to efficiently rotate the motor, thereby saving energy for the entire device. We also manufactured equipment that efficiently uses natural energy, such as power conditioners for solar power generation.

The development of drugs for various diseases, quality testing, and other drug adjustments and experimental work carried out in laboratories and pharmaceutical fields has been difficult to automate because of the complicated process that requires expert skills. To this end, we developed robots for biomedical applications that can move with high precision under sanitary conditions and are expanding the range of automation in areas such as preprocessing of experiments and analyses, preparation of anticancer drugs, and testing for various species. Quality is stabilized by eliminating manual variation and safety is ensured by avoiding contact with drugs, such as anticancer drugs.

Therefore, Yaskawa developed a robot for biomedical applications that can move with high precision under hygienic conditions and is expanding its range of automation in areas such as pre-processing of experiments and analyses, preparation of anticancer drugs, and testing for various species. Quality stabilization is achieved by eliminating manual variations in quality, whereas safety is ensured by avoiding contact with powerful drugs such as anticancer drugs. In recent years, the use of iPS cells in culture, preprocessing for genome analysis, drug discovery, and testing for the presence of microorganisms has been expanding.