The Bavarian Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology and Deputy Prime Minister Ilse Aigner also attended the official opening on January 15, 2018.

"Bavaria is an internationally recognized high-tech and production location. We offer an outstanding environment of academia, industry and networks, right in the heart of Europe. This is also demonstrated by the expansion of Yaskawa, one of the world's leading players in the field of industrial robots. The investment is a clear commitment to the location in Allerhausen and Bavaria. I wish the company and its employees a good start in the new state-of-the-art premises," said Aigner. The extension, which cost around 8 million euros, is designed as an energy-efficient building in accordance with the KfW 55 standard. Its features include energy-saving LED lights and a particularly energy-efficient cooling system for the offices. The energy requirements are largely covered by renewable sources such as biogas and the company's own photovoltaic system.

With more than 400,000 installed units, Yaskawa is one of the world's largest players in the field of industrial robots and is also a leading international supplier of drive and automation technology. The company is pursuing an ambitious expansion strategy in Europe: the aim is to become one of the leading manufacturers of industrial robots in strategic focus markets in Europe in the medium term.

"Europe is a leader in many technologies and we want to be even more present for our European customers in order to develop efficient and customized robotics solutions with them," explains Manfred Stern, President and CEO of Yaskawa Europe.

As part of its current expansion, Yaskawa has therefore not only built the new premises in Allershausen, but also laid the foundation stone for the company's first European robot plant in Kocevje, Slovenia, in the fall of 2017. The first Motoman robots from purely European production will be manufactured there from 2018.

"The new production and development capacities will not least enable the shortest delivery times for our mechanical engineering and end customers as well as for our system integrators, with whom we will continue to expand our market share," said Bruno Schnekenburger, President of the Robotics Division of Yaskawa Europe, on the occasion of the recent opening. The Allershausen site will thus play an even more important international role as the European headquarters of the Robotics Division. The Robotics Division employs almost 1,000 people across Europe. There are currently 326 in Allershausen. kp