No. 15: Fanuc doubles the production capacity of multijoint welding robots (December 22, 2011)

Fanuc started the operation of its new plant in Yamanashi Prefecture on December 20. With the new plant, the company doubled its production capacity of multijoint welding robots for vehicles production to 5,000 units per month. Thanks to the expansion, it can satisfy more than 40% of worldwide demand for multijoint welding robots. As a company policy, it does not plan to build a plant in a foreign country even in the current high yen period.

The president proudly proclaimed the ability of his company to overcome the current high yen period by enhancing the automation of production process. In fact, Fanuc has characteristically a higher in-house production ration than its competitors. The constant efforts to reduce production cost allow it to stay in Japan. The proximity between the R&D division and the production site is also a big factor because it increased the speed of product development. And the concentrated production also affects its results favorably. Fanuc recorded the highest consolidated net profit in its history for the half-year period between April and September 2011, besides maintaining the operating profit of higher than 40%.

Its rival, Yasukawa Electric, made an announcement to consider the production in China and other Asian countries as the first company to reveal the plan of overseas production. The world market of industrial robot is expected to increase 20% from about 140,000 units in 2011 to about 170,000 units because of the demand increase in China. As the market grows, the competition will intensify and the strategy on production site will become critical.