Key Notes
- FANUC invested more than $18 million in the Auburn Hills academy, which contains 56,300 square feet of dedicated training space inside a 132,000-square-foot building.
- The academy expands classroom capacity from 13 to 28, while FANUC’s academy and eight regional centers together can train approximately 17,500 participants annually.
- The new facility replaces training space at FANUC’s Rochester Hills headquarters and supports manufacturers, educators and students learning industrial automation skills.
FANUC America has opened a robotics and automation training academy in Auburn Hills, Michigan, investing more than $18 million in a facility designed to help manufacturers build the skills needed to operate increasingly automated factories. The company describes it as the largest corporate robotics and industrial automation training center in the United States.
The new FANUC Training Academy sits on the company’s West Campus and replaces its previous training facility inside the Rochester Hills headquarters. FANUC announced the opening on October 19, positioning the investment as a response to a persistent obstacle for automation: finding people who can install, program and maintain the equipment.
More Classrooms for Hands-On Robotics Training
The three-story building covers 132,000 square feet, with 56,300 square feet dedicated specifically to training. The move increases the number of classrooms from 13 to 28, expanding access for technicians, engineers, educators, students and manufacturing professionals.
FANUC says its wider training network, comprising the academy and eight regional facilities, can now accommodate approximately 17,500 participants annually. That network features more than 160 robots and over 40 computer numerical control, or CNC, simulators. Those equipment and capacity figures apply across the network rather than exclusively to the Auburn Hills building.
The academy supports training for manufacturers and system integrators alongside educator certification, community college partnerships and high school mechatronics programs. Its emphasis is practical experience with industrial automation equipment, linking classroom instruction to the technologies participants will encounter on factory floors.
Skills Remain a Constraint on Factory Automation
FANUC America President and CEO Mike Cicco said manufacturers are investing in robotics, automation and AI-enabled technologies while struggling to find skilled workers. The academy is intended to help prepare employees for higher-skilled manufacturing roles as those systems become more common.
That focus complements the broader expansion of U.S. robot installations. Buying a robot is only one part of an automation project: companies also need personnel who can integrate it into an existing production line, diagnose faults and keep equipment running.
Robotics suppliers are addressing that challenge through different approaches. RobotsBeat previously covered Trener Robotics and its work on industrial robot software. FANUC’s academy concentrates on the workforce side, expanding the infrastructure available for people to learn automation skills directly.
A Separate Investment in Michigan’s Manufacturing Base
The academy’s more than $18 million investment is separate from the $90 million Michigan manufacturing expansion FANUC announced in March. It also follows the opening of the company’s $110 million West Campus in 2024, reflecting a combination of spending on automation capacity and the people needed to support it.
Beyond customer training, FANUC says its Certified Education Training program supports more than 1,700 schools across North America and engages approximately 60,000 students annually in robotics, CNC and automation education. That school network is distinct from the academy and regional centers’ annual participant capacity.
Michigan construction company Frank Rewold & Sons led the academy project with local subcontractors. The building also includes a cafeteria, 200 additional parking spaces and room for a customer support call center scheduled for completion in 2027.
For manufacturers considering new automation projects, the opening adds a larger dedicated training site in metro Detroit. Its practical significance will be in helping staff develop the technical skills that turn robot purchases into reliable production capacity.
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