Overcoming the Commercial Deployment Difficulties of Domestic Robots, Smart Connected Workshop Seeks Angel Round Financing

While China ranks as the world's largest industrial robot market for consecutive years with an annual installation volume of 354,000 units, the other side of the picture is equally clear: a large number of regional manufacturing enterprises are still troubled by the dilemma of "affordable but unusable and unrepairable". Jiangxi Zhilian Workshop Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhilian Workshop") has chosen a slightly "heavy" path, entering the industrial robot track with the integrated model of "OEM guaranteed production + self-owned brand + joint university research institute", covering three mainstream models of general six-axis robots, collaborative robots and SCARA robots, to help regional manufacturing enterprises lower the threshold of intelligent upgrading. At present, Zhilian Workshop is seeking angel round financing.

An "affordable" robot does not equal a "well-used" robot

According to the *2026 World Robotics Report* released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the installation volume of industrial robots in China reached 354,000 units in 2025, accounting for about 59% of the global total installation volume, ranking as the world's largest industrial robot market for two consecutive years; meanwhile, the market share of domestic independent brands has climbed to about 60%, and the industry is evolving from "import substitution" to "domestic rise".

However, the rapid growth of the market scale has not been fully transformed into a sense of gain for end manufacturing enterprises. For a large number of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, industrial robots still face three thresholds: the first is the procurement threshold, where high-end models are priced too high for small and medium-sized enterprises to afford; the second is the application threshold, after the robots are "purchased", there is often a lack of localized technical service support for production line transformation, process adaptation and integration debugging; the third is the service threshold, the after-sales response cycle is long, spare parts supply is slow, and the downtime loss far exceeds the cost of the equipment itself. These pain points are particularly prominent in the manufacturing hinterlands of central and western China — brands can "sell well" but cannot "take root locally".

"OEM guaranteed production + self-owned brand + university research institute": The solution of Zhilian Workshop

In response to the above pain points, the solution proposed by Zhilian Workshop is a trinity model: starting with OEM guaranteed production, opening up regional markets with self-owned brands, and accumulating localized capabilities through university research institutes.

On the manufacturing side, Zhilian Workshop has established OEM cooperation with the leading robot enterprise Luoshi system, relying on the mature supply chain system and process standards to quickly reach the starting point of production capacity and product quality. According to public information, Luoshi Robotics is the only domestic enterprise that mass produces both industrial robots and collaborative robots, with shipments exceeding 10,000 units in 2025. By "leveraging the leading supply chain", Zhilian Workshop can avoid the trial and error cost of building production lines from scratch in the early stage of entrepreneurship, and concentrate resources on regional markets and scenario services.

On the product side, the self-owned brand product line of Zhilian Workshop covers three mainstream models: general six-axis robots (accounting for about 60%), collaborative robots (accounting for about 30%) and SCARA robots (accounting for about 10%), which can meet the automation requirements of different processes in automotive parts, 3C electronics, metal processing and other industries.

On the service side, Zhilian Workshop cooperates with universities to build joint research institutes, building a localized technical service system around application integration, process development and talent training, which not only serves its own customers, but also provides a technical base for the digital upgrading of regional manufacturing industry. In terms of business model, the company operates in three parallel lines: OEM revenue, self-owned brand complete machine sales and technical services, forming a composite revenue structure of "manufacturing + brand + service".

Rooted in Jiangxi, expanding to regions: Progress and financing demands

Zhilian Workshop is headquartered in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. At present, the company has completed registration and formed a core team. The founding team has a background in rail transit equipment manufacturing industry, with deep understanding of manufacturing processes and supply chain management; the OEM cooperation with Luoshi system is advancing, and negotiations with local governments on project landing are underway at the same time.

According to the plan, the project is to be deployed in Nanchang, with a total planned investment of 600 million yuan (invested in two batches), covering an area of about 100 mu. After reaching full production, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of 500 million yuan and an annual tax revenue of 40 million yuan. In terms of financing, the company is seeking angel round financing in this round, and the funds will be used for production line construction, self-owned brand channel expansion and research institute construction; at the same time, it is actively striving for industrial policy support such as equity investment from government platform companies and rent-free plant to reduce early operating costs and accelerate production capacity release.

Against the background that the penetration rate of domestic robots is still far lower than that of developed countries and the demand for regional intelligent manufacturing continues to be released, Zhilian Workshop's combined model of "OEM + brand + research institute" provides a landing path that takes into account quality starting point, market speed and local services. For investors focusing on manufacturing upgrading, this company represents an ongoing answer: enabling more manufacturing enterprises to truly afford and make good use of industrial robots.

Data sources: *2026 World Robotics Report* released by the International Federation of Robotics (cited from Xinhua News Agency report); *Statistical Research and Analysis on China's Industrial Robot Data in the Past Three Years (2023-2025)* released by China Mechatronics Technology Application Association; public reports on Luoshi Robotics from Xinhua News Agency Shandong Channel.