FANUC America Unveils 461,000‑sq‑ft Michigan Robotics Facility

The company celebrated its new 461,000 square-foot North Campus robotics and automation facility in Auburn Hills, MI on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019.

As part of the celebration FANUC, customers, local officials, educators, suppliers, and the media attended the event. Special guests include Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel, and Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett. The official ribbon cutting featured Governor Whitmer and President and CEO of FANUC, Kenji Yamaguchi, visiting from corporate headquarters in Japan.

“We are excited that you are continuing to grow right here in our state [of Michigan],” said Whitmer in her remarks. She also noted FANUC ranked as one of the top places to work in Michigan the past 7 years in a row. The governor also pointed out how important high-tech companies like FANUC were to grow and offer high-tech careers in advanced manufacturing in the state.

Constructed and in full operation just one year after breaking ground, the new facility houses several departments including engineering, product development, manufacturing and warehousing, according to the company. Citing the need to keep pace with the growing demand for robots and automation, FANUC now occupies over one million square feet of building space in Oakland County, Michigan

FANUC showed off an automation tour path that included over 20 robot demonstrations, from its smallest M-1iA delta robot, to the M-2000iA, a robot able to lift 2.3 tons. There were also a variety of hands-on cobot demonstrations that highlighted easy setup and programming.

Other demonstrations included robotic solutions for assembly, material handling, packaging, palletizing, painting and welding. These include a few that will also be shown at FABTECH in Chicago in Nov. 2019. Most of the solutions included FANUC intelligence like integrated iRVision that gives the robots a sense of sight.