FANUC America said on Oct. 19 that it has opened the FANUC Training Academy in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a 132,000-square-foot facility that the company calls the largest corporate robotics and industrial automation training center in the United States. The robot and CNC maker said the academy, an investment of more than $18 million, is meant to help close a gap in skilled workers as manufacturers invest in automation.

The three-story building sits on FANUC America’s West Campus in Auburn Hills and includes 56,300 square feet of training space, according to the company. It replaces the training facility at FANUC’s Rochester Hills headquarters and raises the number of classrooms from 13 to 28.

FANUC said its training network, which includes the new academy and eight other regional facilities, now has capacity to train about 17,500 participants a year and features more than 160 robots and over 40 CNC simulators. The academy will support training for manufacturers and system integrators, educator certification, community college partnerships and high school mechatronics programs.

Mike Cicco, president and CEO of FANUC America, said in the release that manufacturers across North America are investing in robotics, automation and AI-enabled technologies, “but the availability of skilled workers remains one of the industry’s greatest challenges.” He said the academy is designed to help close that gap through hands-on training.

“Advanced automation requires advanced skills,” said Rich Meyer, general manager of the company’s Customer Service Group, who said the academy gives students, educators and manufacturing professionals access to the technologies used in today’s factories.

Building on a Michigan expansion

Construction was led by Frank Rewold & Sons, which used Michigan-based subcontractors, the company said. Besides its training space, the building has a full-service cafeteria, 200 additional parking spaces and space set aside for a customer support call center scheduled for completion in 2027.

The opening follows a larger Michigan announcement earlier this year. In a March 24 release, the company said it would spend $90 million to acquire property and build an 840,000-square-foot facility in Michigan, creating production-ready space for a possible expansion of U.S. robot manufacturing. That project is targeted for completion in late 2027 and is expected to add 225 jobs, the company said. The March release also said the Auburn Hills academy, then due to open later in the year, would be the largest robotics and automation skills-development center in the United States.

FANUC America said in March that, with that announcement, it will have invested nearly $300 million in multiple new facilities, grown its footprint to three million square feet and created more than 700 jobs in the United States since 2019. The October release lists other recent commitments, including the $110 million West Campus in Auburn Hills, opened in 2024, and a $1 million FANUC Automation Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The company’s education outreach extends beyond its own buildings. Through its Certified Education Training (CERT) program, FANUC supports more than 1,700 schools across North America, engaging about 60,000 students a year in robotics, CNC and automation education, according to the release.

Why it matters

FANUC’s executives framed the academy as a response to the limited availability of skilled workers, which Cicco called one of the industry’s greatest challenges at a time when manufacturers are investing in robotics, automation and AI-enabled technologies. For plant managers and integrators in the Midwest, more classroom capacity in Auburn Hills means more options for training technicians on the equipment they run, with the company’s network now able to train about 17,500 people a year.

The investment also links training to FANUC America’s broader push to expand its U.S. footprint. Paired with the planned Michigan production-ready facility, the company is putting manufacturing capacity and the skills pipeline in the same region, where Cicco said the concentration of manufacturers, educational institutions and skilled talent makes it an ideal location for a training operation.

What to watch

  • Completion of the customer support call center space in the academy building, scheduled for 2027.
  • Progress on the 840,000-square-foot Michigan facility, targeted for late 2027, and whether FANUC confirms an expansion of U.S. robot production there.

The caveats

The “largest” description, the investment totals and the training capacity figures are the company’s own and were not independently verified. The 17,500-participant figure describes the capacity of FANUC’s whole nine-site training network, not enrollment at the new academy alone.