Schaeffler COO Sees Humanoid Opportunities in Components, Factories and Services

Schaeffler COO Dr. Jochen Schröder sees humanoid robotics opening opportunities across component supply, factory automation, customer integration and maintenance. In a short video interview published by Gasgoo, he outlines how the technology could reach several parts of the industrial group's business.

Key Takeaways

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• Schröder identifies opportunities in robot components, Schaeffler's own factories, integration for customers and aftermarket services.
• He points to the company's network of more than 100 production plants as a potential setting for productivity improvements.
• The interview sets out a strategic direction without announcing new contracts, deployment targets or quantified productivity gains.

From supplying joints to servicing robots

“We are a motion technology company,” Schröder says, pointing to Schaeffler's expertise in joints, actuators, components and electronics. Humanoids contain many of the high-precision technologies the company already specializes in.

There is also an internal market. Schröder says Schaeffler operates more than 100 production plants worldwide, with thousands of industrial applications. He expects humanoids to help improve productivity and optimize production, although the clip does not put figures on those expected gains.

His comments extend beyond supplying and using the machines. Schaeffler's special-machinery business has developed automated solutions for its own plants and external customers for years. Schröder suggests that experience could support customers seeking to introduce humanoids into their production systems.

He also identifies spare parts, maintenance and aftermarket services as relevant opportunities once robots are deployed. That broadens the potential business from selling components to supporting machines through their working lives.

A strategy already taking shape

The interview follows the opening of Schaeffler's Taicang humanoid-component factory, where the company says six humanoids work across five stations producing parts for other robots. The site combines manufacturing with training and data collection, giving a concrete example of Schaeffler's position as both a supplier and a user.

On the hardware side, we previously covered its formed strain wave gearboxes, targeted for mass production in 2027. Schaeffler says the manufacturing approach can lower costs for precision robot joints.

Its deployment commitments also span multiple developers, including Hexagon's AEON and UK-based Humanoid. Schröder's remarks place those partnerships within a wider ambition that also includes helping other manufacturers integrate and maintain robots.

The short interview offers no new delivery schedule or service-business launch. It does, however, explain why Schaeffler sees humanoids as relevant to several existing operations, from the parts inside a robot to the factory systems around it.