KUKA is a German manufacturer of industrial robots and systems for factory automation. It has been predominantly owned by the Chinese company Midea Group since 2016. The KUKA Robotics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries, mostly sales and service subsidiaries, in the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Russia and in various European countries. The company name, KUKA, is an acronym for . KUKA Systems GmbH, a division of KUKA, is a supplier of engineering services and automated manufacturing systems, with around 3,900 employees in twelve countries globally. KUKA Systems’ plants/equipments are being used by automotive manufacturers, such as BMW, GM, Chrysler, Ford, Volvo, Volkswagen, Daimler AG and Valmet Automotive, and by manufacturers from other industrial sectors, such as Airbus, Astrium and Siemens. The range includes products and services for task automation in the industrial processing of metallic and non-metallic materials for various industries including automotive, energy, aerospace, rail vehicles, and agricultural machinery. History The company was founded in 1898 in Augsburg, Germany, by Johann Josef Keller and Jacob Knappich. The acetylene factory Augsburg was founded in 1898 by Johann Josef Keller and Jakob Knappich for the production of low-cost domestic and municipal lighting, household appliances and automobile headlights. In 1905, the production was extended to the innovative autonomous welding equipment. After the First World War, Keller and Knappich resumed production of safety-, manual- and power-winches and began the manufacturing of large containers. As a result, the Bayerische Kesselwagen GmbH was formed in 1922. The new company was responsible for the development and production of superstructures for municipal vehicles (street cleaning machines, sewage trucks, garbage trucks). In 1927, this business division presented the first large garbage truck. The name KUKA came into being in the same year through the company's name at that time "Keller und Knappich Augsburg". In Hungary, the name - being prominently displayed on the first closed container garbage trucks - eventually became a generic trademark, and ultimately a synonym for trash cans. Keller & Knappich GmbH merged with part of Industrie-Werke Karlsruhe AG to become Industrie-Werke Karlsruhe Augsburg Aktiengesellschaft, eventually KUKA (Keller und Knappich Augsburg) for short. The development and manufacture of spot welding equipment began in 1936. Three years later, KUKA already had more than 1,000 employees. After the major destruction of the company during the Second World War in 1945, KUKA started manufacturing welding machines and other small appliances again.