Universal Robots, the Danish manufacturer of industrial robots, celebrates the opening of its new company headquarters in Odense, Denmark. Moving into new facilities will extend production capacity considerably, hereby underlining the ambitious growth plans of the company: A turnover of one billion Danish kroner in 2017 ($185M/€133M), a tenfold increase compared to the Universal Robot’s 2013 turnover.
Totaling 12,000 square meters, the new headquarters will be seven times bigger than the former Universal Robot domicile. The move underscores Universal Robots’ ambitious goal, allowing the Danish manufacturer of lightweight robots to keep expanding at a rapid pace the years to come. Ever since the first UR robot hit the market in 2008, the production has doubled annually, reaching the limits of the company’s old production facilities.
"Our new premises allow us to increase daily production to more than 150 robots. This expansion of production capacity is urgently needed, as we plan to sell 2,000 robots in 2014. Furthermore, we plan to double our sales every year from 2014 to 2017," said Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of Universal Robots, outlining the growth ambitions of the company.
Opportunities for the region
The success story of the Danish manufacturer of lightweight robots began in 2008, based on a university research project starting out with 5 employees, a number which has now grown to a staff of more than 110., Aside from production facilities and sales offices, the new headquarters also contains the Universal Robots Advanced Training Center:
"Denmark is and always will be our robot-stronghold. With the planned increase in production, we will be able to create approximately 200 new jobs at Universal Robots. This will lead to further growth at the suppliers and dealers we collaborate with, so that our expansion might lead to indirectly creating another 300 new jobs in the Odense region," said Enrico Krog Iversen, explaining the consequences for the local job market.
The festive opening April 11 was attended by government officials, investors, and business representatives as well as Universal Robots staff and partners.
We believe that collaborative robotic technology can be used to benefit all aspects of task-based businesses – no matter what their size.
We believe that the latest collaborative robot technology should be available to all businesses. The nominal investment cost is quickly recovered as our robotic arms have an average payback period of just six months.