Fanuc marks 35 years of manufacturing robots in the U.S.

Mar. 31, 2017 – Fanuc America is celebrating the 35th anniversary of manufacturing its line of painting robots at the company’s Rochester Hills, Mich., headquarters.

In 1982, Fanuc America produced its first NC Painter, a hydraulic paint robot using key components from parent company Fanuc Corp. in Japan. Fast forward 35 years, Fanuc America is globally responsible for all paint robots and door openers of the Fanuc robot lineup, which are suitable for a range of industries including automotive, aerospace, agricultural products, furniture, appliance, and medical devices.

“We have dedicated ourselves to 35 years of product innovation and manufacturing efficiencies to provide our customers with the highest quality paint robots that we design, assemble, and integrate here in the U.S. and export to customers around the world,” said Mike Cicco, company president. “Throughout 2017, we will be taking a look at where we started, what we have achieved, and what our plans are for the future.”

Fanuc America says all its paint robots are ZDT-ready, meaning they can monitor various functions including paint canisters, spray applicators, drive health and paint process regulators. In addition, ZDT provides maintenance reminders to notify customers to inspect or replace worn items. Currently, there are more than 800 paint robots now using ZDT analytics with additional robots connected to the Cloud each month, explains the company.

“Having an extensive group of local experts to provide software, product design, assembly and integration of our paint robots allows us to react quickly to customer needs,” said Jon Karr, Fanuc America vice-president of Paint Shop Automation. “These customers want to improve quality and throughput while minimizing their assembly workers’ exposure to hazardous environments, similar to what automakers looked to do back in 1982.”