Fanuc invited customers, local officials, educators, suppliers, and the media to an official program, ribbon cutting ceremony, and facility tour. Special guests included Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel, and Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett.
Constructed and in full operation just one year after breaking ground, the new facility houses several departments including engineering, product development, manufacturing, and warehousing. Now, to keep pace with the growing demand for robots and automation, Fanuc occupies over one million sq ft of building space in Oakland County, Michigan.
Fanuc had an automation tour path that included over 20 robot demonstrations, from its smallest M-1iA delta robot, to the M-2000iA, the world’s strongest robot able to lift 2.3 tons. There was also a variety of hands-on cobot demonstrations that highlighted easy setup and programming. Additional demonstrations included real-world robotic solutions for assembly, material handling, packaging, palletizing, painting, and welding. Most of the solutions include Fanuc intelligence like integrated iRVision that gives the robots a sense of sight.
A key tour stop during the grand opening featured two Fanuc CR-15iA collaborative robots packing bags of weekend nutrition for a local Michigan chapter of Blessings in a Backpack, a non-profit organization that provides children living in food-insecure households with bags of food for the weekend.
