“Interact Analysis expects the industrial robot market here to see steady growth over the next five years, driven by reshoring initiatives and policies like tariffs, which are forcing robot makers to rethink their manufacturing strategies.

“FANUC isn’t alone in this shift. Just last year, Yaskawa attracted attention by announcing plans for US-based production for robots and motion control components. As the largest robot supplier in the U.S. by market share, FANUC’s push toward local production aligns naturally with its market leadership and customer proximity strategy.

“That said, questions remain about the depth of localisation. It is possible that the new facility will primarily support assembly instead of full-scale manufacturing. Given that FANUC produces its core motion control components in Japan, and with limited domestic supply of key parts such as precision gearboxes in the U.S., it is likely that critical components will continue to be imported, with final robot assembly conducted locally.”

Targeted for completion in late 2027, this strategic project is expected to add 225 jobs. This expands FANUC America’s engineering capacity and advanced manufacturing capabilities to support growing demand for automation solutions across North America, including physical AI, virtual commissioning and digital-twin technologies.

“This investment builds on FANUC America’s Michigan manufacturing footprint, which has included producing robots for paint application domestically for more than four decades,” said Mike Cicco, President and CEO, FANUC America. “By expanding its U.S. presence, FANUC America will strengthen domestic manufacturing, improve responsiveness to customer needs, and support industries that rely on automation to stay competitive.”

With this announcement, FANUC America will have invested nearly $300 million in multiple new facilities, increased the company’s footprint to 3 million sq. ft. and created more than 700 jobs in the United States since 2019.

“FANUC America is committed to supporting U.S. reindustrialisation by delivering state-of-the-art automation technologies to customers and broadening access to advanced manufacturing workplace training services,” Cicco said. “The newly expanded FANUC Academy – opening in Auburn Hills, MI, later this year – will become the largest robotics and automation skills-development centre in the United States, helping address the national manufacturing skills gap, rising demand for automation talent, the shift toward AI-enabled robotics and the country’s overall competitiveness.”

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The FANUC robots are specifically engineered to meet stringent food processing requirements, incorporating specialised seals, food-grade materials, and high levels of protection against heat, moisture, and cleaning processes. The robots are guided by a proprietary AI driven control logic capable of intelligently sequencing workflows even when multiple orders are received simultaneously.

These automated and flexible production processes ensure high-quality, customised food supply for hospitals, universities, or corporate facilities while maintaining consistent output – regardless of staffing levels or order complexity. Given the ongoing shortage of skilled labour in the food service industry, GoodBytz anticipates rapidly growing market demand for this system.

The award was presented by Dr. Jochen Kockler, CEO of Deutsche Messe: “The award-winning solution from GoodBytz impressively demonstrates how robotics technologies originating in traditional industry are successfully expanding into new sectors, such as gastronomy and food supply. This opens up entirely new fields of application, and contributes significantly toward ensuring quality, efficiency, and supply reliability across diverse areas of daily life.”

The prize includes a comprehensive, premium package comprising exhibition space in the Application Park at HANNOVER MESSE, together with a speaking slot on the Spotlight Stage.

The centrepiece of the FANUC UK stand at this year’s MACH exhibition is a robotic drilling system built by Airbus with the support of FANUC. The cell employs an M-800iA/60 six-axis robot, as well as a drilling effector controlled by a FANUC CNC and a mobile platform, both designed and built by Airbus.

Designed for aerospace components, it has improved drilling accuracy and increased productivity for Airbus, while freeing up human employees to work on more creative and value-added tasks.

“There are numerous benefits to aerospace manufacturers of automating their drilling applications with the M800iA/60, including improved accuracy and repeatability, increased output and better use of personnel,” states Oliver Selby, FANUC UK’s Head of Sales.

“The success of the Airbus drilling system demonstrates how important it is to collaborate with a robotics partner that will provide the right experience, knowledge, training and technology to support companies to achieve their commercial aims. We look forward to demonstrating the benefits of this system to MACH visitors.”

Superior control to aid innovation

Alongside the Airbus drilling cell, the FANUC stand will also showcase the next level of numerical control. The new generation FS500-A CNC is more powerful and faster than any other control system, and is poised to play a major role in automating complex manufacturing processes. Thanks to its very high computing power and new architecture, it enables increasingly complex movements to be controlled with ultra-precision and perfect synchronisation, while also supporting seamless AI integration.

In-house robot system expertise

Finally, the experienced FANUC team will be on hand to outline the importance of working with the right partner when it comes to futureproofing your manufacturing business. As well as collaborating with machine builders, system integrators and other solution providers, FANUC UK also supports end-users directly, through its flagship automation headquarters in Coventry. The company is well equipped to offer manufacturers the entire range of automation support to support the transition to digitalisation – from initial feasibility studies and cell design, through to system building, testing and full commissioning.

“As our history of collaboration proves, the right automation partner can take your manufacturing business to the next level in terms of increasing production output, improving accuracy, ensuring quality and mitigating labour challenges. We are excited to showcase to MACH visitors the range of system building services and level of expertise we have on offer to support them.”

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Clarivate recognises and ranks the top 100 most innovative corporations and institutions in the world based on proprietary patent data. With AI technology rapidly gaining importance, this year’s listed companies represent 16% of all high-intensity AI-related inventions.

As evidenced by its recent partnership with artificial intelligence leader NVIDIA, FANUC is focusing on AI technology to drive innovation within manufacturing. With industrial automation as a priority, it is actively investing in the research and development of advanced AI technologies, filing AI-related patents across a wide range of fields, such as numerical control devices and robot control.

The company is also enhancing its corporate value by building a globally competitive intellectual property portfolio – according to a survey conducted last year by the Japan Patent Office, FANUC ranked 18th in Japan’s patent filings for AI-related inventions.

More widely, FANUC aims to continue strengthening the competitiveness of its business, targeting sustainable growth and propelling intellectual property activities to support changes in the global business environment. By protecting and using intellectual property through technological innovation, FANUC hopes to solve social and environmental issues to contribute towards a more sustainable society.

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The use of robots boosts productivity, improves worker welfare and enables manufacturers to swiftly respond to changing customer demand. Accurate, reliable and fast, robots are ideal for repetitive, dull or laborious tasks where people add little value, such as packing, picking, placing and palletising – leaving the valuable human workforce to concentrate on the parts of production where they can make a real difference.

Increasing capacity through automation

One company reaping the benefits of automation is Gü Indulgent Foods. Since its first chocolate soufflé pots hit the shelves in 2003, the firm has been on a strong upward trajectory. As demand soared, Gü needed to expand its packing hall at its production facility in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. It turned to FANUC partner Tekpak Automation, based in Wexford, for an automated answer to its productivity problem.

“Gü requested a second packing line that needed to fit into a very compact area,” explains Darragh Sinnott, Technical Director for Tekpak Automation. “They also wanted greater cartoning and palletising flexibility. This new line needed to handle Gü’s new quad-packs – the quad-pack x4 – as well as the existing variety of case formats: twin-packs x6 and twin-packs x4.”

Simulation software and programming prowess

Tekpak set about designing a system that could meet these exacting demands. With the help of FANUC’s virtual programming software, ROBOGUIDE, it determined the exact robot models – paying attention to requirements for payload, speed and reach – that would alleviate Gü’s production capacity constraints.

“The end-to-end packaging line we installed begins at the depalletising stage,” explains Darragh. “Gü’s filled glass ramekins are skimmed off two pallets, one layer at a time, onto a pair of receiving conveyors. One FANUC R-2000iC/165F six-axis robot handles this job, and also removes the layer card that separates each layer. The pallets are supported and indexed up by two industrial-grade scissor lifts fitted with FANUC servo motors that feed the depalletising robot, ensuring a seamless depalletising process.”

Palletising flexibility

The Tekpak system then collates the ramekins, loads them into cartons with integrated laser printing, and case packs with subsequent case labelling, before the final palletising process begins. Again, a FANUC R-2000iC/165F six-axis industrial robot is employed here.

“With FANUC’s help, we created the required matrix of different twin and quad-pack case formats to give Gü greater palletising flexibility,” says Darragh. “And as the FANUC palletising robot is equipped with automatic size change, there’s no requirement to change the end-of-arm tooling when switching from one pattern format to another.”

For Tekpak, having FANUC as their partner on this project proved invaluable. “FANUC robots are known for their reliability, plus their support to assist with complex and time critical projects like this is second to none,” says Darragh. “The team of FANUC engineers that our team collaborate with are a fantastic asset. They helped us set up complex applications and trained our in-house software team so we can support the customer going forward. This is a huge part of what made FANUC the perfect robotics partner for this project.”

Andrzej Rosa is Head of Engineering for Gü Indulgent Foods. He adds: “The new packing line has given us greater flexibility and increased our production capacity. The FANUC robots are quick, robust and reliable and are a proving a valuable addition to our operation.”

Dale Farm Foods: Palletising cheese with ease

Based in Co. Kildare, Power Food Technology is a specialist system integrator providing cooling and freezing solutions to the food industry. When it received a request from the UK and Ireland’s largest cheddar cheese producer, Dale Farm Foods, to install a new cooling and palletising line at its cheddar processing facility in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, it knew that FANUC robots would need to be at the heart of the solution.

“The weight of the cheese blocks was the biggest issue for us,” explains John Power, Managing Director of Power Food Technology. “The cheese arrives in 20kg blocks. Each layer comprises 10 blocks, and the pallets are five layers high. So we’re talking 1,000kg of cheese per pallet. That’s a lot of cheddar!”

Speed, payload and reach demands

Other than weight, the new palletising cell would also need to manage two product types at one time. “Two different recipes – for example, low-fat, mild, mature or extra mature cheddar – are fed through a common cooling system into the cell, so it was also essential that the solution had full traceability,” says John. “Not only that, but the client wanted to increase palletising capability at the site from 9.5 tonnes per hour to 15.5.”

The FANUC M-410iC/185 high payload, high-speed, 4-axis palletising robot with a 3m reach was the perfect choice for this demanding application. Equipped with a hollow wrist to minimise cable snagging and reduce maintenance, it has been fitted with a custom mechanical gripper made by Power Food Technology to handle lifting the heavy cheese blocks with ease. This has solved one of the customer’s biggest health and safety headaches.

Prioritising people

“The issue with palletising cheese blocks traditionally is that they’re heavy, and it’s very repetitive work,” outlines John. “Lifting and dropping down from height is a problem for manual employees. It’s difficult for food producers to find labour for this kind of task, and retention is just as big a problem. If that person ends up becoming injured due to the heavy, repetitive nature of the work, it’s just compounding it further.”

John continues: “Cheese is a product that really lends itself to automation, as automation is consistently reliable, offers full traceability and is highly efficient. This particular cell runs for 20hrs/day, followed by a cleaning cycle, for 355 days/year. By leaving the robot to do the repetitive, heavy, potentially dangerous jobs such as palletising, food producers such as Dale Farm Foods can divert their employees to carry out more value-added tasks.”

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Speaking on the first day of ‘The Future of Precision Engineering’ event – held at FANUC’s Coventry headquarters on 27-29 January 2026 to showcase the latest advances in injection moulding, robotics and CNC manufacturing – Andy stated: “In the plastics sector, we are seeing a shift towards the use of bio-based and recyclable materials, and a focus on sustainable manufacturing solutions. It’s no longer just ‘good to be green’ – it’s now a business necessity.

“Against a backdrop of rising operational costs, regulatory changes, supply chain challenges and an ongoing skills shortage, every penny counts. The use of automation and AI to effect cost-saving measures such as energy efficiency, increased productivity and better use of human employees is essential if UK manufacturers are to remain competitive in both the domestic and global markets.”

AI and connectivity, plus European ROBOSHOT premiere

FANUC UK’s three-day Open House event brought together leading figures in the worlds of automation, plastics and wider manufacturing to discuss the biggest topics affecting companies right now. While Day 1 focused on sustainability, Day 2 is addressed AI and connectivity, with Day 3 shining a light on education and training. Morning presentations and lively panel debates were followed each day by the opening of a packed exhibition area featuring over 30 of FANUC’s partners (including Hi-Tec, Piovan, Mold Masters, Ultrapolymers and Solinatra), delivering live automation demo cells and exciting exhibitor presentations.

The event also showcased the best of FANUC’s own robotic and automation solutions, including 6-axis robots, automated drilling machines and injection moulding machines. The highlight is the European debut of FANUC’s newest addition to the ROBOSHOT range – the 350-tonne S350C all-electric machine, bringing faster mould times and AI-assisted energy-saving functions.

BPF survey results revealed

Following Andy’s Armstrong’s keynote presentation on Day 1, the British Plastics Federation’s Member Services Director, Stephen Hunt, took to the floor to deliver the main findings from the January 2026 Business Conditions Survey. Hot off the press, Stephen revealed an improving picture for the plastics industry compared to the previous three surveys, stating: “The decline we’ve seen over the last 18 months is definitely slowing.”

Stephen also revealed that sustainability is becoming increasingly important to BPF member companies. A total of 64% of respondents confirmed that they have an ESG policy in place, with a further 21% actively working on one; while 36% already have a net zero strategy, and 31% are actively creating one.

Stephen was followed by an enlightening panel discussion featuring Jamie Riley from Robinson PLC, FANUC’s Sam Carr, Tom Reardon of Bloom-in-Box, and Solinatra’s Stephen Rundle. Sharing practical tips for incorporating sustainability into every part of the manufacturing process, and revealing the energy and cost-saving benefits that smart automation solutions can bring, they engaged in lively interactions with many attendees who were keen to share their own experiences and challenges.

Andy Armstrong adds: “Whether you’re looking to reduce cycle times, cut your energy consumption, increase your supply chain resilience, upskill your workforce or utilise AI and automation to increase your productivity, it will all be on offer this week at FANUC. We’re excited to share our technology, insights and experience with you to help drive a strong, smarter and more sustainable future for UK manufacturing.”

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AI-driven robotics

Artificial intelligence is making robots smarter, safer and faster to deploy. Through voice-controlled operation, adaptive motion control, safety-aware human-robot collaboration, and virtual commissioning via digital twins, AI is transforming industrial automation.

One of the most significant benefits of AI is its ability to accelerate deployment. By assisting with code generation, AI makes it easier and quicker for companies to implement robotic systems. Non-specialists can use natural language to programme robots to perform tasks, reducing the engineering burden on manufacturers and delivering a faster return on investment. AI-enabled robots will also allow existing production lines to be retrofitted without extensive modifications, further speeding up the rollout of automation.

AI also expands opportunities for collaborative applications. With AI-driven voice control, robots can interpret spoken instructions and autonomously generate the code needed to execute tasks. This will enable robots to work more flexibly alongside human operators, adapting in real time to changing requirements.

In addition, AI will enhance robot safety and enable closer human-robot collaboration. For example, integrated vision systems allow robots to detect obstacles in their environment. AI can then instantly recalculate motion paths in three-dimensional space, ensuring safe and efficient operation around people and equipment.

Smart and scalable automation

Automation is becoming increasingly adaptable. Smart, scalable robotic solutions that can evolve alongside changing business needs are enabling manufacturers to de-risk automation investments without compromising on quality or reliability.

Smaller, more agile automated systems are also helping manufacturers address labour challenges, particularly for low-skill or repetitive tasks such as picking, placing and palletising. At the same time, suppliers are prioritising ease of deployment through simplified teaching methods, AI-enabled voice control and intelligent technologies such as vision and force sensing. As a result, the path to automation is now faster and more accessible than ever before.

Alongside these technological advances, end-users’ attitudes towards return on investment are shifting. Rather than focusing solely on upfront purchase price, manufacturers are increasingly considering total cost of ownership (TCO), factoring in long-term considerations such as maintenance, downtime and energy consumption when making a purchasing decision.

As a result, automation solutions are becoming more flexible, affordable and user-friendly than ever. These smart and scalable systems are set to help more manufacturers overcome labour shortages, enhance product quality and consistency, and drive meaningful gains in productivity.

Open ecosystems and partnerships

The future of industrial automation is collaborative. Open platforms and partnerships between hardware and software providers are enabling more flexible, integrated solutions that accelerate innovation and adoption.

FANUC is actively collaborating with leading technology partners bringing AI solutions to market, including NVIDIA, helping to unlock the potential of physical AI. A key step in this journey is FANUC’s support for the open-source robotics platform ROS 2, which enables programming via Python. By lowering the barrier to entry, this allows developers, researchers and companies to build AI-driven robotics applications on FANUC’s proven industrial hardware.

One important benefit of this openness is a smoother transition from education into industry. ROS 2 and Python are widely taught in colleges and universities, and making these tools available on industrial equipment will allow more young engineers to apply familiar skills directly in real-world manufacturing and automation environments.

More broadly, open platforms such as ROS 2 and Python will help to stimulate a new wave of innovation, enabling companies to build, customise and scale AI-augmented robotics solutions while leveraging their own software expertise on top of FANUC’s hardware and NVIDIA’s advanced simulation infrastructure.

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Under the agreement, FANUC robots will be integrated with NVIDIA’s advanced AI computing stack, including on-robot systems like NVIDIA Jetson and simulation platforms such as NVIDIA Isaac Sim. FANUC has also released support for the open-source robotics platform ROS 2 which allows programming via Python, lowering the barrier for developers, researchers and companies to build AI-driven robotics applications on top of FANUC’s robust industrial hardware.

In addition, the partnership will enable the creation of high-fidelity digital twins: virtual replicas of factories and robot fleets, where simulation can be used for training, testing and optimisation before committing to any physical robot investment. With NVIDIA’s simulation and physics-aware AI frameworks, these virtual environments can closely mirror real-world behaviour, enabling safer, more efficient and more accurate rollout of factory automation.

The benefits to manufacturers

Traditional factory automation has previously relied on robots pre-programmed for rigid, repetitive tasks; changing production lines has often meant manual reprogramming, causing unwanted downtime. The FANUC/NVIDIA collaboration promises to change that. By embedding AI, perception and real-time reasoning – components of physical AI – robots can interpret voice commands, respond to dynamic environments and work safely alongside human operators.

For the UK manufacturing sector, the implications are significant. As supply chains and production demands shift, today’s factories need flexibility. AI-enabled robots will allow existing lines to be retrofitted without major overhauls, as well as switch quickly between different product variants. Moreover, the use of open platforms such as ROS 2 and Python could stimulate a wave of innovation, enabling firms to build or customise AI-augmented robotics solutions, and leverage their own software expertise on top of FANUC’s hardware and NVIDIA’s simulation infrastructure.

A collaborative future

FANUC is set to showcase physical-AI equipped robots at key global trade shows in the near future, demonstrating real world use-cases such as voice-controlled robot operation, adaptive motion control, safety-aware human-robot collaboration, and virtual commissioning in digital twins.

For UK automation industry stakeholders – integrators, system designers, manufacturers and policy makers – the FANUC/NVIDIA partnership marks the beginning of a new era of physical AI, potentially delivering not just faster machines, but more intelligent, flexible, adaptable and human-friendly automation systems.

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Going back a few decades, PC-based vision was the norm. PCs were in control of the camera, meaning that the processing power was in the computer, not the camera itself. This evolved into the development of robots with in-built vision technology, employing solutions such as FANUC’s IR vision – a fully-integrated 2D and 3D visual detection system that enables FANUC robots to see.

More recently, however, there has been shift towards smart cameras and, in more complex scenarios, industrial PCs combined with AI. For simple applications, smart cameras are proving highly effective for enabling robots to locate parts, complete measurements, or carry out basic quality checks.

For more sophisticated tasks, the high processing requirements of high speed or very high accuracy vision systems require an industrial PC. When it comes to high-speed robotic vision applications, such as recognition of different products and different materials at speeds that can match the robot’s capabilities, it is becoming increasingly common for AI technology to be employed.

One such example is London-based recycling tech company, Recycleye. It uses proprietary AI vision technology in conjunction with FANUC 6-axis LR Mate robots to automate the detection and sorting of mixed recyclables. Previously a mostly manual process, Recycleye is generating impressive results including an increase in sorting accuracy of up to 12% and improved line output of up to 10%. Not only is this helping waste operators to boost their bottom line, it’s also providing a solution to the ongoing labour shortages in the waste management industry.

As Recycleye is proving, vision cameras are making robotic deployment in difficult tasks more reliable than ever before, validating and verifying location, product quality and part placement. Not only that, but costs have come down significantly in recent years, so much so that industrial vision is now at a price point that compares with smart sensors. As a result, inbuilt vision technology is now a standard feature of most robot systems, rather than an additional add-on at extra cost.

Latest advances in camera technology also means that today’s robotic vision systems operate more robustly and reliably in 2D and 3D applications and in environments that traditionally have been difficult for cameras to operate in. For example, in the past, vision technology used only visible light and relied on pattern matching or model matching as a means to locate or identify a part. Modern vision technology can now use different wavelengths, or stereovision to improve reliability, filtering out the challenges caused by sunlight or other environmental effects, as well as process interferences such as welding sparks.

As for the next big trend, I believe there will be a shift towards the use of industrial camera solutions for safety rather than traditional solutions such as light guards, in order to better manage robotic safety around humans in collaborative applications. Although this technology has been available for a while, it hasn’t been utilised at scale because it was prohibitively expensive for most applications. This is now changing, and affordable industrial camera solutions from companies such as SICK are set to revolutionise robot safety as we know it.

In addition, we can expect to see more and more smart camera systems as standard features on established robot models. For example, Mech-Mind’s 3D smart camera technology is already being integrated with FANUC robots, enabling end users to benefit from its ability to see even dark and reflective objects, and locate transparent parts.

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