[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings has signed an agreement with German robotics maker Kuka with the aim of selling Kuka’s products to large Korean manufacturing firms, the company said May 7.

The agreement was signed on the same day by Kuka chief Till Reuter and Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings’ management support division head Chung Ki-seon in Germany. 

Under the deal, the two firms plan to sell around 6,000 industrial robot products of Kuka by 2021, mainly to large electronics companies in Korea by using Hyundai’s sales network here.

They also plan to jointly research and develop industrial robots and to produce Kuka’s robot products in Korea.

“Through the partnership with factory automation leader Kuka, we hope to expand our sales and technologies into small robots that are not currently produced,” said a spokesperson of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings’ robot business division has the largest market share in Korea’s industrial robot market, including robots for automobile manufacturing. 

By Shin Ji-hye/The Korea Herald (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)