During the second quarter of 2024, five companies have taken action to meet the increasing demands of the robotics market in manufacturing. One, Chicago-based Formic, a provider of robots as a service (RaaS) to U.S. manufacturers, raised another $27.4 million of Series A financing, bringing that round of funding to a total of $52 million since January 2022. Four others—CLOOS North America (Schaumburg,IL), Universal Robots (Odense, Denmark), MiR (Odense, Denmark), and FANUC America (Rochester Hills, MI) are expanding into new locations to better fit the demand for robots and automated systems in the manufacturing market.
Let’s tackle these in reverse order and start with FANUC. This well-known, well-entrenched robotics company has had a presence in the U.S. market for a long time, with a particular strength in auto and allied industries near Detroit. The company just finished its new 650,000 sq. ft. location in Auburn Hills, MI (about two miles away from HQ) on 67 acres. Also located on that land is a soon-to-be-renovated former law school building that will become the new FANUC Academy customer training center.
The facility (“West Campus”) is in addition to, not a replacement for, their existing headquarters. Together, the two buildings in Auburn Hills add up to 782,000 sq. ft. When you count all their buildings in Oakland County, MI, you’ll find that FANUC America occupies nearly two million square feet of space. We will bring you more coverage of the official opening shortly after it happens on July 10, 2024.
Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) are separate companies, but are sharing a new 215,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Odense. Universal Robots specializes in cobots, or collaborative robots, while MiR specializes in autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). Sharing a headquarters is not as farfetched as it sounds. Both companies are in robotics, both companies have experience in hardware and software, both companies have collaborated to deploy UR’s cobot arms on MiR AMR platforms, and importantly, both companies are owned by Teradyne.
In fact, together the companies comprise Teradyne Robotics, which boasts 1,400 employees worldwide, owns about a third of the cobot market, and has 130 patents issued. When separately acquired by Teradyne, the combined purchase prices totaled a little bit north of $500 million.
The new building will house 550 people, and will not include production facilities, based elsewhere. The building features a new UR/MiR showroom for visitors and training rooms for customers doing in-person robot training. Exciting times in Michigan.
CLOOS North America just opened its new continent-wide headquarters in Schaumburg, IL, an investment of more than $15 million as CLOOS responds to the increased demand for re-engineered and custom robotic welding solutions. The company predicts that two out of every three of its welding systems will be manufactured, assembled, and tested in North America. (According to a company source, the firm is vertically integrated and in fact makes its own robots.)
The new facility includes space for manufacturing, assembly, $3 million worth of inventory, $2 million in stocked parts (with a warehouse served by a vertical lift module and a heavy-duty racking system). In addition, a new Experience Center and training facility is more than five times the size of the company’s previous demonstration area.
The firm says it will more than double its headcount over the next five years, and will move from 44 employees to more than 100 during that time. (More coverage coming soon on our site, www.fifthwavemfg.com).
The robot as a service (RaaS) market will look to the customer much as an auto lease, but with much more value built into the deal. Formic delivers robotic automation at a low hourly rate, including deploying the system and providing continuous monitoring and maintenance. In the last 2.5 years, the firm’s equipment has completed 100,000 production hours at more than 99% uptime.
With its new Series A infusion, Formic’s plans include:
- Expanding its fleet of standardized equipment to provide more automation to more manufacturers, offering rapid deployment. They note that 75% of their customers are automating material handling for the first time.
- Increasing its network of support experts across the U.S., increasing response speed while upholding service level agreements (SLAs).
- Enhancing its robotic automation software.
Formic also announced a joint commercial agreement with Mitsubishi HC Capital and Mitsubishi HC Capital America. The companies will collaborate to source and finance Formic’s RaaS model. Formic currently boasts a renewal rate of 97 percent on their RaaS services, and between 2022 and 2023 have a 7x growth in robot production hours for U.S. manufacturers, 3x growth in deployed systems, and 2x growth in customers.
The fifth wave of manufacturing is already gaining momentum, and a lot of smart young people are getting educated in automation and robotics to help meet this demand.