OMRON said its new robotics business with be an essential pillar of its end-to-end automation systems. | Source: OMRON
OMRON Corp. has created a dedicated global robotics organization, effective April 1. It said this strategic step reflects its continued commitment to robotics. The Kyoto, Japan-based company said the new unit will operate alongside its automation business, allowing them to complement and reinforce each other.
Through this new organization, OMRON said it’s further investing in the long-term success of its customers by ensuring quick decision-making and world-class technical support, as well as strengthening its specialized expertise across Europe.
The investment includes the company‘s Automation and Robotics Centers of Excellence in Annecy, France; Barcelona, Spain; Dortmund, Germany; and the newly opened Automation Center in Stuttgart, Germany. It also supports an extensive network of proof-of-concept (POC) labs that support local customer innovation.
The specialized organization in Europe consists of a dedicated team of sales, application, and services engineers. They will operate at both the European and country levels, and work closely with the global robotics organization. The new setup will enhance targeted technical expertise and allow OMRON to respond faster to evolving customer needs, asserted the device maker.
The new organization also strengthens ties with OMRON’s global research and development and robotics teams, alongside the newly established European R&D team. This supports faster innovation and the delivery of solutions that are closely aligned with the specific needs of European customers, it said.
Justin King, vice president of product management, marketing, and business development at OMRON Robotics and Safety Technologies, gave The Robot Report further insight into the company’s decision to establish the new organization.
OMRON discusses new organization’s objectives
Could you share more about the strategic decision behind creating a specialized robotics organization? What gap or opportunity in the market are you addressing?
King: The creation of OMRON’s specialized robotics organization wasn’t driven by a specific market gap, but rather by a desire to enhance how we serve our customers.
This new structure is designed to streamline and specialize our approach by more closely integrating value creation – product development and manufacturing – with value delivery, including sales, application engineering, technical support, and service. By bringing these functions closer together, we aim to provide more tailored, responsive, and high-quality solutions to our robotics customers.
Importantly, this initiative also benefits customers across OMRON’s broader automation portfolio. By enabling our sales and support teams to develop deeper expertise in their respective product lines, we’re elevating service quality and customer satisfaction in our automation offerings as well. The robotics and automation businesses continue to complement each other, creating synergies that enhance the overall value we deliver as one OMRON.
Additionally, the new structure brings us closer to our end users and partners by shortening the distance between customers and the “factory.” This closer connection enables faster response times, deeper engagement, and more agile decision-making, supported by standardized processes that drive consistency, efficiency, and innovation.
What are OMRON’s primary vision and objectives for this dedicated robotics organization? How do you see it driving customer value in the near and long term?
King: The primary vision of OMRON’s dedicated robotics organization is to foster deep specialization and seamless collaboration, enabling us to deliver greater value to customers and partners around the world, both now and in the future.
As mentioned earlier, this organization is designed to sharpen our focus on solving our customers’ most pressing automation challenges. These include addressing labor shortages, improving productivity, enhancing operational efficiency, and ensuring workplace safety.
By aligning our expertise and resources around these core objectives, we’re not only enhancing our ability to respond to immediate customer needs but also laying the foundation for long-term innovation and partnership. This approach ensures that we remain a trusted, forward-thinking automation partner as our customers’ needs evolve.
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Challenges and opportunities for OMRON robotics
What robotics innovations does the organization offer? Are there any new technologies in development?
King: With over 40 years of robotics expertise, OMRON offers a robust portfolio that includes autonomous mobile robots or AMRs, collaborative robots or cobots, and industrial robots.
In the past two years, OMRON has introduced several groundbreaking technologies:
- MD 650/900 Series: A new medium-duty line of mobile robots, augmenting OMRON’s existing LD and HD systems. The MD 650/900 models support loads up to 900 kg with 360-degree safety coverage and ultra-fast charging capabilities.
- OL-450S: OMRON’s first AMR with omni-directional movement and an integrated lift, the OL-450S supports a 450 kg payload, offers seamless deployment with existing carts and trolleys, and comes standard with wireless charging.
All OMRON AMRs are powered by our industry-leading FLOW Core software suite, which enables unified fleet management and optimized operational efficiency.
In the collaborative robotics space, OMRON recently launched the TM25S, a high-performance cobot capable of handling payloads up to 25 kg with a reach of 1.9 meters—ideal for palletizing and other demanding applications across various sectors.
Through these innovations, OMRON continues to deliver practical, scalable robotic solutions that transform operations and drive measurable value for our customers.
Which industries are the key focus for your robots? Are you targeting specific challenges or expanding into new sectors?
King: OMRON’s robotic solutions are primarily focused on five key industries: automotive and e-mobility, digital, medical, food and commodities, and logistics. Within these sectors, we support a wide range of applications, including palletizing and mobile manipulator solutions.
Our goal is not just to develop individual products, but also to deliver end-to-end solutions that address real-world challenges tailored to the specific needs of each industry. In addition to working directly with end users, we collaborate closely with system integrators, OEMs, and channel partners to ensure seamless deployment and integration of our robotics technologies.
OMRON’s outlook for the next five years
Do you have plans for collaborative initiatives or partnerships to ensure tailored solutions?
King: OMRON places a strong emphasis on collaborative initiatives and strategic alliances to deliver customized solutions for our customers. We work closely with end users, system integrators, and OEMs to gain a deep understanding of their unique challenges.
This collaborative approach allows us to develop robotics solutions tailored to their needs. We then seek out strategic alliances as required to enhance our ability to deliver these solutions. Examples include:
- Techman Robot – a long-standing alliance for collaborative robots; OMRON also owns a roughly 10% stake in Techman.
- Lowpad – this alliance is the foundation of the OL-450S, integrating OMRON’s FLOW Core software with Lowpad’s low-profile mobile robots to automate the movement of existing carts and trolleys.
- Neura Robotics – initiated last year, this alliance focuses on the potential for cognitive capabilities in industrial robotics.
Through these collaborations, OMRON remains committed to innovation and delivering specialized, value-driven solutions for our customers.
Over the next five years, where do you envision the robotics division’s growth trajectory will be? Do you have expansion goals in focus areas apart from Europe?
King: We anticipate a solid growth trajectory over the next five years, fueled by global trends such as labor shortages and the demand for higher productivity, operational efficiency, and increased safety standards. These factors continue to drive the adoption of robotics and automation across multiple industries.
To support this growth, we are making strategic organizational enhancements aimed at improving how we serve our customers. While Europe remains a key market, our growth strategy is truly global. We have already implemented similar organizational improvements across the Americas, Japan, and Southeast Asia, with plans to expand these efforts into additional regions.
This global approach ensures we are well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of our customers and to continue delivering advanced robotics solutions worldwide.