OTTO Motors Announces Expansion To Japan

PR82846

TOKYO, Feb. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Partnership with Altech Co. Ltd. serves growing market and demand in Japan

OTTO Motors (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2717352-1&h=3039088383&u=https%3A%2F%2Fottomotors.com%2F&a=OTTO+Motors ),

the industrial division of Clearpath Robotics Inc., today announced its entrance into

the Japanese market. The move marks Ontario-based OTTO's first expansion outside

North America. OTTO Motors produces self-driving vehicles that move materials within

manufacturing and warehousing facilities.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1089026/OTTO_Motors_Logo.jpg

OTTO is partnering with Altech, a specialized trading company that imports

advanced machinery and equipment from Europe and the United States to support

Japanese industrial companies. The companies announced their partnership at

RoboDEX2020, an annual robot development and application expo being held in Tokyo.

"This is a big moment for OTTO Motors," said Richard Baker, OTTO's chief revenue officer.

"Our innovative self-driving vehicles have been helping modernize factories throughout

the United States and Canada since 2015. OTTO Motors entered the Japan market in 2018,

and with several successful deployments completed, we are expanding our efforts in Japan

working alongside Altech."  

Together, OTTO Motors and Altech have already begun to serve customers in the automotive,

logistics, food and industrial equipment industries. One such customer is HIROTEC, a leading

Tier 1 automotive parts supplier to Mazda. HIROTEC installed three OTTO self-driving

vehicles within its Hiroshima plant to deliver Mazda door panels to welding cells as part of

a mission-critical process.

The OTTO materials handling platform allowed HIROTEC to easily reconfigure its

process to improve material movement efficiency and increase throughput. By

installing the three OTTO self-driving vehicles, HIROTEC was able to eliminate

the need for eight legacy Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs).

This is the second deployment of OTTOs within HIROTEC, they were first deployed

at HIROTEC AMERICAS in 2017 to automate spare parts production.   

"Altech has a proud history of providing high-quality technology products and

services to our customers," said Hidehiko Suyama, executive director of Altech.

"Now, we are proud to be the first to bring OTTO Motors products to the

Japanese market, where we know there is great demand across several industries."

OTTO's expansion in Japan and partnership with Altech come at an important time

for the market. While there is a lot of attention on self-driving passenger vehicles,

self-driving industrial vehicles, such as OTTO's fleet of autonomous mobile robots

and carts, are transforming material handling in numerous factories and warehouses.

The global market for mobile robotics is expected to exceed $224 billion by 2030

(https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2717352-1&h=929767604&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abiresearch.com%2Fpress%2Frobotics-industry-set-seismic-change-growth-shifts-fixed-automation-mobile-systems-enterprise%2F&a=exceed+%24224+billion+by+2030 ),

according to global technology market advisory firm ABI Research. Demand in Japan will be

particularly high because of the country's demographic inversion. Having fewer young people

than older people means that there is not enough labor supply to do all the work needed to

power the economy. Japanese manufacturers must rely on self-driving vehicles and other forms

of industrial automation because there simply are not enough humans to do all the work that

needs to be done.

About OTTO Motors

OTTO Motors is the industrial division of Clearpath Robotics. OTTO Motors

provides self-driving technology for material handling inside manufacturing

facilities and warehouses. OTTO is trusted for mission-critical deliveries spanning

the most demanding of industrial environments. Seventy-five percent of

robots deployed by OTTO Motors are located within Fortune 500 companies.

For more information, visit www.ottomotors.com.

About Altech Co. Ltd.

Altech is a specialized trading company that imports the most advanced machinery and

equipment from Europe and the United States to support Japanese manufacturing.

Contributing to society as a value creation company by delivering our customers

satisfaction beyond their expectations, through rigorous investigation of the industries

and constantly taking on challenges in new areas, while taking bonding, i.e. relations of trust,

with customers as the foundation of our business.

https://www.altech.co.jp/en/

SOURCE: OTTO Motors

CONTACT: Lynda Chau, lchau@clearpath.ai, +1-844-733-6886 x 655; Altech,

Shigehiro Tsujimoto, tsujimoto@altech.co.jp, +81-80-3537-5368