Fanuc LTD and GE Fanuc have announced the production of more than 7 million AC servo motors, and anticipate that the 8 millionth motor will be produced within a couple of months.
Fanuc AC Servo motors are used in robotics and CNC machine tool applications. This year, production began at a new state-of-the-art robotised motor factory, which now allows Fanuc in Japan to produce a total combined output of 150,000 servo motors per month between its motor facilities.
Fanuc's AC servo motor production began in 1982, with the company reaching the 1 million unit milestone in 1991,2 million in 1995, 3 million in 1998, 4 million in 2001 and 5 million in 2003. An additional 2 million units have been produced in the last three years.
Fanuc was the first in the industry to offer AC servo motors and has continually expanded its offerings and production capabilities since that time.
In 1994, the high performance, energy saving Alpha series AC servo motor was developed and more than 2.7 million Alpha servo motors were produced. 2001 marked the beginning of the Alpha i series AC servo motors. These improved motors feature reduced size, high rotational speeds and high-resolution pulse coders.
Over the years, production has increased several times to meet market demand. Original production capabilities of 15,000 units per month were increased to 25,000, and then high demand for the Alpha and Alpha i series drove production to be increased again to almost 60,000 motors per month. The introduction of the new motor factory will more than double production again, giving fanuc the ability to produce 150,000 servo motors per month. The new motor factory is fully automated, featuring extensive use of Fanuc's own intelligent robots.
Over 2006, Fanuc made a monthly average of 15,000 CNC units per.
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