Daihen Varstroj, a Japanese-owned manufacturer of high-tech welding gear and provider of robotics solutions, has completed a €2.5 million expansion of production capacity that provides the Lendava-based company with the ability to make large-size robotic cells and with additional space for the storage of robotic components.

In recent years, Daihen Varstroj, which secured all the funding for the investment from its own resources, has specialised as a solutions provider in the industrial sector.

CEO Matjaž Vnuk said the new investment takes the company to a new level, where it will be able to manufacture robotic cells of the biggest type. The new warehouse for robotic components will meanwhile ensure a reliable supply to the regional market and improve internal logistics in the production process.

"The changes will help increase the company's efficiency and competitiveness and improve the quality of our products and services," Vnuk said as the investment was unveiled on 15 March.

The investment will increase production capacities by more than 20% to a total of 11,000 m2. Daihen Varstroj, which presently has a 150-strong workforce, plans further growth as part of the investment and expects a rising need for ever more skilled workforce profiles.

The company, whose beginnings date back to 1964, branched out into robotisation in 2000, which also marked the start of cooperation with the Japanese corporation Daihen. Varstroj was fully integrated into Daihen in 2014.

"Today, Daihen Varstroj is a fully integrated member of the Daihen Corporation, which entrusts the Slovenian subsidiary with all major production and development tasks," the company said.

Together with other Daihen subsidiaries in Europe, OTC Daihen Europe, LasoTech and Femitec, the Slovenian company specializes in the development, production and sales of welding machines, the development and making of robotic cell components, and is a leading provider of solutions for customers in the fields of manual welding, robotisation and thermal metal cutting.

Daihen Varstroj is not the only Japanese-Slovenian venture in the robotics sector. Yaskawa has two subsidiaries in Slovenia. In 2022 one of them, Yaskawa Europe Robotics, developed its own robot after it had been producing only robots developed in Japan. Yaskawa has been present in Slovenia since 1990.