Over the past decade, the mobile robot industry has experienced a "roller coaster" ride. At its peak, capital chased opportunities, companies clustered together, and new machines could be seen everywhere in factory workshops; but when the tide receded, price wars and delivery challenges in fragmented scenarios followed one after another.
Huaxiao Precision Industry (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huaxiao") is also in the midst of this. It has experienced both the clamor of expansion and the test of contraction. But unlike some peers, Huaxiao has maintained a rare composure amid industry fluctuations.Qin Ye, General Manager of Huaxiao, summarized: "Huaxiao aims to be a healthy and sustainable, industry-leading, product-centric intelligent solution provider."This statement is not only a positioning, but also a commitment.
In a constantly changing environment, Huaxiao has been able to find the right direction in "change" and maintain composure in "constancy". This interweaving of "change" and "constancy" has forged Huaxiao's two core capabilities:continuous evolution starting from small details, and holistic systematization with a big-picture perspective. These two capabilities complement each other and have become the key to Huaxiao's standing out in a complex market environment.
Continuous Evolution Starting from Small Details
Huaxiao's transformation began with a reshaping of product thinking. As the industry moved from rapid expansion to steady adjustment, with fierce price competition and diverse customer needs, many companies fell into growth bottlenecks. Huaxiao chose to refocus on the most core aspect---products.
In terms of product matrix, Huaxiao develops around four major series: traction type, lifting type, heavy-duty type, and forklift type, emphasizing standardized and modular design.The company is committed to creating production line-level AGVs that are safe, stable, efficient, and highly compatible. Through R&D accumulation, more than 80% of its products now support non-standard customization and can meet application scenarios with maximum loads exceeding 200 tons.To address complex requirements such as space, load, and carriers encountered in flexible production, Huaxiao has continuously expanded its product line in recent years.For example, the Omni omnidirectional laser heavy-duty latent vehicle maintains a compact size while having a 3-ton load capacity, achieving SLAM autonomous navigation, omnidirectional operation, precise obstacle avoidance, and standardized modular design, allowing customers to easily achieve "plug-and-play, quick replacement".
Behind product innovation is technological iteration.Huaxiao continues to invest in SLAM navigation, motion control, heavy-duty loading and transportation, cluster scheduling, and other areas, gradually forming leading capabilities in multi-machine coordination, hundred-ton heavy-duty transportation, and more. Unlike some market-oriented concept hype,Huaxiaofocuses more on understanding processes, applying technology, and innovating scenarios.
This technology-based evolution is not only reflected in product line expansion and technological iteration, but also extends to niche scenario innovation and deep understanding of customer needs.In scenarios such as dock loading and unloading, where efficiency pressure is high and the working environment is complex and variable, Huaxiao's self-developed laser forklift has been mass-produced, further expanding its layout in the full process, full scenario, and full product line of factory logistics.
Huaxiao's deep insight into customer needs stems from its industry accumulation.As Qin Ye emphasized: "We started from the automotive industry, so our understanding of process flows, efficiency bottlenecks, project management, and even customer cost structures far exceeds that of ordinary solution providers, enabling us to promptly identify unmet customer needs and innovative applications." Based on this, Huaxiao's product design not only focuses on the equipment itself, but also takes into account software integration with peripheral equipment, helping customers improve efficiency from a system level.
The flexible main line project for automotive final assembly workshops is a typical practice. Traditional production lines face problems such as high investment costs, long cycles, and difficulty in production changeover. Huaxiao, from a system perspective, has developed multiple main lineAGVs, modularizing the production line layout, achieving overall production line coordination and real-time adjustment; improving overall production line efficiency, ensuring safe and stable operation of the production line, while the "low site investment, batch introduction mode" effectively alleviates customer financial pressure.
The outside world often notices that Huaxiao's customizable product rate is as high as 80%, and it is easy to conclude that this company seems to invest most of its energy in "non-standard products".In fact, this is also where Huaxiao differs from most peers. What it sells has never been a single device, but a complete set of systematic solutions for the future.
Qin Ye explained: "We have always put quotation marks around the so-called 'non-standard customization' because it is not customization in the pure sense. In fact,we are committed to transforming the capability of non-standard customization into flexible building blocks, similar to 'LEGO-style customization'." Specifically,Huaxiao uses chassis and modular components as the foundation, breaking down customers' personalized needs into multiple flexibly connectable "building block units". This approach, on the one hand, ensures the standardization of the underlying architecture, and on the other hand, retains sufficient flexibility. What is ultimately presented to customers is not high-cost one-time customization, but a complete solution that is both efficient and has a balanced return.
This "building block combination" logic allows Huaxiao to navigate complex scenarios with ease, and also allows its product capabilities to continuously evolve. Continuous refinement of small details ultimately converges into long-term competitiveness.
Big-Picture Systematization
If products are Huaxiao's "internal skills," then business thinking is its big-picture perspective.From organizational structure to agile delivery, to global layout, these factors are more like Huaxiao's "external skills,"they are constantly reconstructing and adjusting Huaxiao's holistic strategy.
Mobile robot projects often suffer from schedule delays and cost overruns due to changing customer needs and inefficient departmental communication. Huaxiao has created an industry-recognized "delivery iron army" throughorganizational mechanism reform,iterating the project full lifecycle management model, through full process+flattening+agile delivery,breaking down collaboration barriers, improving response speed, from solution design to on-site production, the entire cycle averages60-90 days, absolutely leading in the industry; in cost control, it responds to cost changes brought about by changing needs with refined management, creating value for customers.
This holistic thinking is also reflected in Huaxiao's production capacity and global layout.In 2024, it began construction of a headquarters base in Longquan, Zhejiang, with an annual production capacity of 25,000 AGVs. This not only means capacity expansion, but also another upgrade in organizational efficiency: large-scale production has reduced costs, improved delivery resilience, and also driven the digital transformation of upstream and downstream industries.To date, Huaxiao's cumulative shipments have exceeded 40,000 units.
In overseas expansion, Huaxiao has chosen a prudent yet flexible path.As early as 2016, it completed large-scale deliveries in Europe, making it one of the earliest domestic companies to go overseas. But it did not rashly establish branches on a large scale, but insteadfollowed leading customers overseas,with"out-of-the-box"as the goal for overseas projects, creating a"white goods"product model. At the same time, Huaxiao applies for overseas visas for its team in advance and carries out product standard certification to ensure rapid response when projects are launched. This "work in advance" approach has also become the key to winning customer trust. To date, Huaxiao's business has covered more than 20 countries and regions worldwide, serving more than 300 leading brand customers in the industry.
Beyond global layout, Huaxiaostarts from customer needs and scenarios,usingbottom-up reverse thinking,to advance the exploration of embodied intelligence.Unlike some companies that rely on concept hype,Huaxiao choosesto start from industrial segments where efficiency pain points are most prominent, such as sorting and assembly, focusing onthe generalization capabilities of AI large models.Qin Ye candidly stated: "We don't pursue slogans, but truly solve the efficiency and cost issues that customers care about." Because of this, Huaxiao's embodied intelligence strategy, though rarely publicized, is steadily advancing. Currently, Huaxiao has joined forces with key domestic universities, leading customers, and AI industrial large model companies to jointly develop embodied intelligent robot products for difficult industrial scenarios, which are expected to be officially released soon. This will become another fulcrum in its systematic layout.
Looking ahead, Huaxiao will continue to focus on the strategic framework of "three major industries + N scenarios + productization + ultimate delivery", and actively seek breakthroughs from customers' unmet pain points. Insufficient flexible manufacturing, poor system compatibility, high operation and maintenance costs, weak overseas adaptability, difficult AI implementation... these are precisely the industry opportunities that Huaxiao is targeting.
