FANUC Corporation

The name FANUC comes from the words Fuji Automatic Numerical Control. The company began in 1955 as part of Fujitsu, and as an independent company FANUC Ltd. it was established in 1972, headquartered in Oshino in Yamanashi Prefecture at the foot of Mount Fuji. For decades it built its position on CNC controls for machine tools and on industrial robots, familiar from every automotive plant: the yellow arms are the brand's recognizable mark. Today the company is listed on the Tokyo stock exchange (6954), and according to Wikipedia it is the largest industrial robot maker in the world, with about 65% of the global CNC control market. It entered the cobot market relatively late, in 2019, with the CRX series. The key slogan is 8 Years Zero Maintenance: the manufacturer declares that over eight years of operation the gearing needs no scheduled servicing. The robots are programmed with a tablet by dragging blocks on the screen, and by guiding the arm by hand. The series covers models from the CRX-3iA to the CRX-30iA and special variants, including the CRX-10iA/L Paint for spray painting. For conservative maintenance departments it matters that this is the same brand they know from classic lines; for integrators, that the robot is fitted with proven, standard control.

The six CRX models in our coverage form a family ordered by payload. FANUC CRX-3iA (3 kg, reach 692 mm) is the smallest, for precision assembly. FANUC CRX-5iA (5 kg, reach 994 mm) comes in a food-grade version with grease approved for food contact. The middle of the range is the FANUC CRX-10iA (10 kg, reach 1249 mm, since 2019) and its long-reach version FANUC CRX-10iA/L (1418 mm), offered in Poland among other things in a welding package with Lincoln Electric. Higher up are the FANUC CRX-20iA/L (20 kg, reach 1418 mm, for palletizing) and the flagship FANUC CRX-30iA, with a 30 kg payload and 1756 mm reach for heavy palletizing. The manufacturer hides prices; the only guide is a market estimate for the CRX-3iA in the range of USD 40,000 to 100,000, which is very wide. Welders should look at “FANUC CRX: The Cobot Series with 8 Years of Zero Maintenance” (the FANUC CRX cobot series), and more generally at cobots (cobots). All models have six axes and force sensors on all axes; what distinguishes them is payload, reach and configuration, not programming philosophy. The CRX-3iA is a good starting point for electronics assembly, and the CRX-30iA for plants that stack heavy cartons.

In cobots FANUC has an advantage no startup has: a powerful brand in classic robots and a service network around the world. It competes directly with Universal Robots, which has more than ten years' head start in cobots, and with Doosan Robotics, Yaskawa Electric and ABB Robotics. Among cobots with European and Asian backgrounds it also faces Franka Robotics and Flexiv Robotics; an eight-year maintenance-free warranty combined with tablet programming is rarely found among them. In the CRX's favor is the certainty that gears and controllers will be serviced; against it, the lack of an open price list and a higher entry barrier for small firms. FANUC is a listed company, so there is no talk of funding rounds; the capital is simply in the group. On the difference between robot classes: [[wiedza:cobot-czy-robot-przemysłowy]] (cobot or industrial robot). The data on the company's scale, the largest industrial robot maker in the world with about 65% of the CNC control market, comes from Wikipedia, so we treat it as a point of reference, not a measurement.

FANUC CRX cobots are commercially available in Poland. The confirmed channel is spawalnictwo.pl, which offers the CRX-10iA/L in a welding package with Lincoln Electric among others; our article also mentions procur.pl. The manufacturer has a Polish information site at fanuc.eu/pl. Prices are on request. We found no named deployments. Welding applications are covered in “Factories and manufacturing” (factory). Note that the only directly confirmed prices are market estimates, so a concrete figure is best sought from an integrator in a quote for your task.

The FANUC CRX is a reasonable offer for companies that already have robots of this brand on the floor or value a warranty of long service-free operation. The 8-year claim is the manufacturer's promise, not an independent test result. Before buying, compare the offer with UR and Doosan. Who it is for: plants that want a cobot from a brand known from production halls and value peace of mind in maintenance. Ask the distributor for references from similar deployments.