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Fanuc invests $1.1bn in servodrive and CNC plants, and r&d
Published:  16 February, 2015

Fanuc has announced plans to invest more than $1bn in new factories in Japan to produce servodrives and CNC (computer numerical control) systems, and to expand its central laboratories.

The company is spending around 100bn yen ($845m) to build four factory buildings with a combined floor area of 254,000m2 at the Mibu-hanyuda industrial park in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture. Starting in October 2016, these factories will produce up to 60,000 servomotors, 35,000 servo amplifiers and 10,000 CNC systems every month. The project includes the purchase of 695,000m2 of land.

Fanuc is also spending a further 30 billion yen ($250m) to expand the laboratories at its headquarters site. The investment will cover the construction of four buildings covering a total of 66,000m2 and the acquisition of test equipment to help develop new products. Completion is scheduled for May, 2016.

Fanuc makes extensive use of its servomotors and CNCs for its own robotic systems

According to Chris Sumner, vice-president of Fanuc Europe, one of the main reasons for boosting production capacity is to meet a high demand for the company’s products from Europe. “As factories look to implement more automation technologies within their manufacturing processes, many have realised the cost-saving potential and increased rate of production that this brings to their businesses,” he says. “We've seen this reflected in our orders over the last 12 months. In the UK, in particular, we have seen orders increase across the board by over 50%.”