What opened, and where
FANUC America has opened a new training academy in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on its West Campus. The company said the three-storey building is the largest corporate robotics and industrial automation training centre in the United States, and a substantial expansion on its previous workforce education facility.
The building covers 132,000 square feet, of which 56,300 square feet is given over to training space for technicians, engineers, educators, students and manufacturing professionals.
The numbers behind it
The project represents an investment of more than $18 million, according to the company's announcement. It replaces the previous training facility inside FANUC America's Rochester Hills headquarters and lifts the number of classrooms from 13 to 28.
The academy sits within a training network that includes eight other regional facilities. That network now has capacity for about 17,500 participants a year and holds more than 160 robots and over 40 CNC simulators.
What the company says it is for
Mike Cicco, FANUC America's president and chief executive, said manufacturers across North America are putting money into robotics, automation and AI-enabled technologies while skilled labour remains scarce. He said the academy is meant to narrow that gap through hands-on training.
Rich Meyer, general manager of the company's customer service group, said the site gives students, educators and manufacturing professionals access to the technologies used in current factories.
Related spending and construction
The $18 million academy complements a $90 million Michigan manufacturing expansion FANUC announced in March. U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling, in a statement provided by the company, described the two as a $108 million investment in Michigan operations.
Frank Rewold & Sons led construction under what the company described as a Michigan-first approach supported by Michigan-based subcontractors. The site includes a cafeteria, 200 additional parking spaces and space reserved for a customer support call centre scheduled for completion in 2027.