With a strong start to the year, FANUC is demonstrating a strong commitment to its growing Irish customer base, supporting the government’s aim to place the country at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by 2025.
There have been plans for an Irish subsidiary of FANUC Europe for a while; the impact of Covid-19 and the restrictions on international travel accelerated them. “Previously, our Irish customers would have had to travel to Coventry in England, but we can now offer organised, in-house training for our larger customers and scheduled courses catering for smaller groups, from our dedicated Irish facility here in Maynooth,” explains Conor O’Kelly, one of two Ireland-based Sales Managers. “In addition, the showroom at our new headquarters will be stocked with robots for demonstration, evaluation and test purposes.”
Most of the island is reachable from Maynooth in about three hours, and many of FANUC’s customers and partners are within 90 minutes’ drive of the new facility. Its launch could not be timelier, coinciding with the implementation of the Irish Government’s wider industrial strategy.
FANUC believes that it is ideally placed to help Irish businesses close the gap and profit from the new opportunities, supported by its network of expert integrator partners. “We manufacture and supply robot arms, whether floor-mounted or bench-mounted, along with other peripherals like vision systems and sensing systems, for applications ranging from packing and palletising to picking and placing,” explains Conor.
The company has several hundred robots already installed in Ireland and the new facility at Maynooth means that technical support will now also be available to businesses that may have bought FANUC equipment through integrators outside the previous network.
FANUC also recognises the importance of education and training to the future that Ireland and its businesses want to embrace. As well as providing on-site training at larger customers’ facilities and at the new offices in Maynooth, FANUC is continuing to work closely with Ireland’s higher education network, including the Technical Universities, and with manufacturers’ apprenticeship programmes.
