Insider Brief
- Yaskawa opened a new distribution center and robotic-systems production facility in Kočevje, Slovenia, as it consolidates more of its European robotics operations at the site.
- Yaskawa said the European Robotics Distribution Center will centralize logistics, shorten delivery lead times, lower logistics costs and help process at least 80% of orders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa by the end of its 2027 financial year.
- The expanded site includes about 10,000 square meters each for the ERDC and Yaskawa Ristro, with the roughly $31 million investment raising manipulator production capacity to 850 units.
Yaskawa has opened a new distribution center and robotic-systems production facility in Kočevje, Slovenia, as the Japanese industrial robotics company consolidates more of its European operations at the site.
According to Yaskawa, the expansion is intended to strengthen its robotics business in Europe by centralizing logistics and shortening delivery lead times. The company said the European Robotics Distribution Center, or ERDC, is designed to lower logistics costs and improve inventory management, while the relocation of Yaskawa Ristro from Ribnica to Kočevje brings development, production and system-factory functions onto the same site.
“Given the current global economic conditions, customers in Europe and beyond benefit greatly from short supply chains,” Yaskawa Europe president Par Tornemo said in the announcement. “At the robotics plant in Kočevje, we can now offer them primarily large and very large robotic welding systems.”
Yaskawa indicated the expanded Kočevje site includes about 10,000 square meters for the ERDC and about 10,000 square meters for Yaskawa Ristro. The investment totaled about USD $31 million, and the expansion raises manipulator production capacity to 850 units while allowing Yaskawa’s robot-systems business to serve more industries, including construction and agricultural machinery as well as automotive customers.
By the end of Yaskawa’s 2027 financial year, at least 80% of orders from those markets are expected to be processed in Kočevje.
The new production facility will take over robot production from Yaskawa’s other Slovenian location in Ribnica, consolidating the company’s Slovenian operations at one site. The Slovenian government said the move will make the Kočevje complex Yaskawa’s largest facility in Europe.
The Slovenian government said Yaskawa also cited the Kočevje site’s location near the port of Koper, support from the local environment and available space as advantages.
Economy Minister Anže Logar said Slovenia would continue to support investments tied to high added value, innovation and advanced technologies, and encouraged Yaskawa to promote Slovenia as a location for regional centers.
“In Slovenia, we’re not afraid of robots,” Logar said. “Our task is not to defeat them but to create the conditions that will attract other high tech companies to Slovenia.”
Yaskawa received state support equal to 25% of the investment value when building the Kočevje factory in 2017, according to the Slovenian government. Yaskawa Slovenija President Hubert Kosler said the company did not apply for that type of funding this time because the investment would have needed to create new jobs. The company received €800,000 through an open call from SPIRIT Slovenia.
Founded in 1915, Yaskawa provides robotics, drives and control systems. The company has annual sales of about €3.6 billion and employs 215 workers in Kočevje, according to the Slovenian government.
Image credit: Yaskawa