Sepro Group expects record year in 2016

France-based robot manufacturer Sepro Group is having another record year in 2016 – with turnover of at least 100 million euros expected – and has some big plans for 2017.

“Almost every month, sales were up in 2016 compared to the same month in 2015 and so we are quite confident that we will see an increase of possibly 13% when full-year sales are counted,” Sepro Group CEO Jean-Michel Renaudeau told Canadian Plastics magazine during an interview at the K 2016 show in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Sepro exports 85% of its robots outside of France and a third outside Europe, Renaudeau added, and has had record turnover in each of the previous three years.

The company has built a network of ten direct sales organizations around the world, adding offices in Canada and the Austria/Hungary region in 2016. Sepro Canada Inc. is headquartered in Montreal. That global footprint should grow further in 2017, Renaudeau said, with the establishment of Sepro Switzerland, and a 150-square-meter expansion of the Sepro Germany facility in Dietzenbach. In the U.S., meanwhile, Sepro America will begin manufacturing beams and other components locally and begin assembling “Made in USA” robots.

“2017 is also expected to see the first results of collaboration between Sepro and the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,” Renaudeau said. “The project is aimed at developing the next generation of robot and injection-molding machine controls including features like ‘agile’ ergonomics, similar to tablets, the ability to ‘learn by doing,’ 3D simulation to make programming easier, extensive customization, and ‘apps’ to facilitate routine functions like maintenance and troubleshooting.”