A year of successes for Jaka Robotics Italia

A year has now passed since Giacomo Mariotti, Country Manager, told ItaliaImballaggio about Jaka Robotics’s first steps in the Italian market, in which the Chinese producer of collaborative robots with its European headquarters in Germany, is today a recognized and consolidated brand thanks to important strategic partnerships and a constant growth in market share.

Maria Costanza Candi

«The challenge met - Mariotti begins - has been to make an important market like the Italian one aware of the Jaka brand, already well-known abroad and among the tops brands in the world for turnover and variety of collaborative robotic applications. The challenges overcome, are in fact, twofold: establish the brand, and develop an ecosystem of system integrators and service partners that allows us to respond to customer needs».

Strategic partnerships that focus on excellence

One of the challenges won relates to the network, considering the leading names to which brand is today linked and regarding which Mariotti continues: «The photograph of Jaka today is that of a team of partners subdivided by territories and areas of responsibility, such as mobile robotics, welding, machine tending, machine tools. Among these, some companies are also certified service partners, guaranteeing a very deep-rooted coverage close to customers for service and training. There are as many as twenty certified system integrators distributed across the entire country, including the islands, which allow us to serve the south and provide extremely rapid maintenance and after-sales interventions».

Increasingly efficient and certified logistics in Europe.

In a period in which logistics and delivery times are often a critical factor, Jaka’s management approach has further evolved, achieving a service entirely based in Europe, made rapid and widespread by the partner network. «We’ve many new developments from a structural and logistical point of view» Mariotti continues. «The first is linked to the European site in Norimberg, which has been extended and today also has a technical-commercial role with spare parts for the most popular models always available in stock. This allows us to guarantee a more rapid delivery to the market, with only two weeks between order and delivery.

The process is simplified by the absence of importers and distributors because Jaka manages everything directly, combining airfreight from the Chinese production sites to the European logistics network, ensuring delivery of the robot with all the certifications on board. We are, moreover, implementing 5.0 certification, which represents technology eligible for the benefits for which implementing decrees are being issued. It’s a great opportunity for SMEs looking at automation in terms of production and energy efficiency. The insertion of a collaborative robot, allows, therefore, access to fiscal reliefs as a corollary to the advantages of introducing automation into the company ».

A complete offer with an IP68 standard protection line

Jaka’s range is very broad, starting from the mini cobot with 1 kg payload, as far as arriving at the pro line, with certified IP68 protection, the only case in the sector. «The mini cobot is today an appreciated protagonist in the market - Mariotti comments - with installations throughout Italy and in sectors other than catering, which we initially believed was its main target market. The training world has, in fact, appreciated this low-cost solution, easy to manage for dimensions and maintenance, based on Python programming, a very widespread language starting from the desks of technical institutes.

There are also industrial applications and innovative solutions for mobile robotics in the mechanical and agricultural spheres, with the selection and harvesting of fruit at the right level of ripeness or the removal of weeds. Looking at the pro series, it’s a unique range in the world with native IP68 protection, for efficient operation also in the presence of dust and chips, humidity, immersion in liquid and generally dirty environments where the presence of oils and liquids is the norm. It’s a solution that supports activities such as painting, spraying, washing, heavy machine interlocking with the presence of hydraulic vices. The pro range essentially makes it possible to automate processes where it has always been difficult to do so, with certifications that include 5 kg, 12 kg and 16 kg payloads».

New upcoming developments involving flexibility and increasingly shorter returns on investment

New developments don’t end with market presence but also involve new additions to Jaka’s offer. «This is the case of the Jaka Zu range – the manager explains – with payload up to 20 kg and a reach to 1780 mm offered to the market at a very interesting price and on average 40% below competitors. This is important for the accessibility of native integration technology with Profinet and TIA (Totally Integrated Automation) portal, which makes it possible to manage all the robot trajectories directly from the PLC without requiring knowledge of specific programming languages. The work of networking in recent months has enabled us to propagate the Jaka model through a series of loans, thereby playing an important role in testing the technology, achieving success by convincing the market of a solution that has officially entered the horizon of large accounts. We are also on Stellantis’ vendor list and among the suppliers of Sacmi, demonstrating the strength of a brand whose main qualities are flexibility and universality. These qualities also emerge in wireless and multiplatform programming with access from PC or tablet, with clear advantages for the integration of systems. In short, Jaka offers the market intelligent, flexible automation at a price optimized for the needs of Italian companies, to whom great adaptability is offered, not only in the case of new orders or format changes, but also in the presence of evolutions in the factory layout. A cobot, whether mobile or fixed, can, in fact, be relocated on the basis of new needs inside the company and reprogrammed in very quick time with very sharp learning curves that enable a return on investment in around 12 months. ».

A look at the market

An evolving and very “Balkanized” market like the current one requires a dynamic vision, in which cobots are perfectly inserted: «What we are seeing is more awareness of the benefits associated with automation in businesses » Giacomo Mariotti continues. «The competition in the last few years has been very positive because it has allowed companies to understand how innovating affects the daily life of operators, incentivising new applications. I could refer to restaurants and catering, the world of training, agrifood, which are all widening their horizons in terms of collaborative and mobile robotics, both in a logistical and in manufacturing contexts. It has been understood that a cobot is not slow and limited to certain operations, but can represent a real if not “real time” help compared to strenuous, repetitive, low-skilled and dangerous activities. Simplified programming, in self-learning, with dragging functions in space and the use of Python are bringing these devices ever closer to users. Among awaited developments there is, moreover, increasingly closer integration with AI and artificial vision, able to make robots increasingly efficient in pick and place operations, inspection analyses, robot guidance, just to name a few. Finally, a word about the financial part, to say that 5.0 sees human-machine collaboration as one of the main drivers of innovation and which, according to Siri data, will push the market to a growth of around 20 and 25% per year».