Since its 2015 founding, Doosan Robotics has not escaped the red, and it is stepping up its push into the North American market. It is moving to expand share in a core market by putting forward ONExia, a subsidiary specializing in collaborative robot automation solutions acquired last year. North America, in particular, is considered a promising market because demand for robot adoption is relatively high.
On the 23rd, industry sources said Doosan Robotics set a plan to develop its U.S. business with a focus on ONExia, a subsidiary specializing in collaborative robot automation solutions that completed a merger with its U.S. entity in December last year.
ONExia is set to serve as Doosan Robotics' de facto U.S. entity. Based in Pennsylvania, one of America's key industrial regions, ONExia has been in the related business for 25 years, and the company aims to use it to expand market share in North America.
Unlike industrial robots, which are physically separated from human workspaces, collaborative robots are designed to operate in the same workplace while interacting with humans. As a result, safety standards are higher, and adopting corporations must comply with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) safety standards. Arm (robot arm) forms are common, and they are widely used for assembly processes in manufacturing plants such as autos, and for sorting and packaging in logistics.
With a shortage of manufacturing labor, North America, where demand for factory automation is high, could be a breakthrough for Doosan Robotics, which has remained in the red. According to POSCO Research Institute, of roughly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs projected to be short of workers by the end of 2025 in the United States, about 2 million are expected to remain unfilled. Sixty-five percent of U.S. manufacturers also cited attracting and retaining talent as a key business task.
High wages also make adopting robots at manufacturing plants a more rational option. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average wage for U.S. workers is $82,933 (about 119 million won), 1.6 times Korea's $50,947 (about 73 million won).
For manufacturing plants located on the outskirts away from city centers, demand can be even greater. Because housing and commuting issues make it harder to secure labor, introducing collaborative robots is needed, industry officials said. Even when manufacturing employment in urban areas showed signs of recovery after the end of the pandemic, manufacturing employment in rural and other outlying areas actually declined.
Doosan Robotics aims to use ONExia, its U.S. base, to expand direct sales and sales channels in North America. As of 2024, North America accounted for 39% of revenue by region, higher than Korea (38%) and Europe (18%), but sales channels numbered 34, fewer than Korea (42) and Europe (39).
Doosan Robotics posted 33 billion won in revenue and an operating loss of 59.5 billion won last year. Compared with the previous year, revenue fell 29.6%, and the operating loss widened 44.3%. Over the same period, the net loss also increased 51.8% to 55.4 billion won. While the global economic slowdown and uncertainty over tariff policy weighed heavily, weak domestic manufacturing conditions also played a role. Delivering results in North America is urgent.
Doosan Robotics also plans to use the U.S. dealer network of Doosan Bobcat, a construction equipment subsidiary of Doosan Enerbility, to expand channels. For Doosan Bobcat's mainstay small construction equipment, many customers also operate logistics businesses. They could become potential customers for Doosan Robotics solutions such as palletizing (stacking) products.
The global market for collaborative robots is continuing to grow. According to global market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the collaborative robot market, which stood at $600 million (about 866.2 billion won) in 2019, grew to $2.2 billion (about 3.1783 trillion won) last year.
From 2023, it is expected to grow 35.1% annually and expand to $9.9 billion (about 14.3025 trillion won) by 2030. The share of collaborative robots in the manufacturing robot market (4% in 2019 → 28% in 2030) is also projected to keep rising.
ONExia has been boosting expectations for revenue growth by increasing its order backlog, including landing a large order in September last year. The order backlog, which was $3.8 million (about 5.4 billion won) at the end of 2024, grew sharply to $9.3 million (13.4 billion won) as of the third quarter last year. Doosan acquired 89.59% equity in ONExia for 35.6 billion won in July last year.