FANUC Europe Corporation Secures Logistics Activities in Luxembourg

On Friday 28 January 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, visited FANUC Europe Corporation, an industrial equipment supplier which occupies two sites in the Grand Duchy.

Minister Fayot began his visit in Contern, where the company has just acquired the logistics warehouse that it had been renting since 2015 within the Eurohub Centre logistics park. He then visited the company's European headquarters in Echternach.

Founded in 1956 in Japan, at the foot of Mount Fuji, FANUC Corporation is a world leader in industrial automation systems. The company designs, develops and manufactures industrial robots, machining centres, electric injection moulding machines and lasers, among others, in its fully automated factories in Japan. In 1993, the group decided to establish its European headquarters in Luxembourg by founding FANUC Europe Corporation in Echternach, which today employs 1,810 people, 286 of whom are located in Luxembourg. From the Grand Duchy, where its repair centre for the European market is located, the group serves 24 subsidiaries in Europe, Russia and Israel.

In 2015, in order to optimise its supply chain in Europe, FANUC relocated its distribution centre from the Netherlands to Luxembourg and, more specifically, to Contern, where the company established its robots and robomachines customisation centre. This activity, previously carried out in the various European subsidiaries, consists of customising, according to the needs of the customers, robots and robomachines delivered from the factories in Japan in a standard configuration in order to reduce delivery times.

Driven by the automation of industry in Europe, FANUC's sales have been increasing steadily in recent years. In response, the company decided to acquire the building that it had been renting until now in Luxembourg, in order to transform it into a centre of excellence for the customisation of robots and robomachines. As part of this acquisition, the company also took over the building right contract for the land on which the premises are located, which had been granted by Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy to the building's previous owner. The Eurohub Centre logistics park in Contern is located close to the cargo centre of Luxembourg Airport, a location that is particularly suitable for air transport logistics activities.

In 2021, FANUC also started a process innovation project, co-financed by the Ministry of the Economy within the framework of "Néistart" state aid (in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic) and supported by Luxinnovation, consisting in designing and implementing a centralised e-commerce platform at the European level for ordering spare parts, small supplies and training.

Shinichi Tanzawa, CEO and President of FANUC Europe, commented: "We are very honoured to welcome Minister Franz Fayot in our premises. Long-term partnerships and reliability are the core values of our business. The history between FANUC and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is rich and deep and we have always been able to rely on the government's support and dynamism. We are proud of our long-standing partnerships in Europe and plan to continue expanding our activities".

Minister Fayot added: "In the current context, the consolidation of FANUC's activities in Luxembourg is a sign of confidence in the Grand Duchy as a leading logistics hub in Europe. The increased presence of the leader in automation and industrial robotics strengthens and diversifies the sectors of high value-added logistics and industry 4.0 on which we are banking for a sustainable and digital diversification of our economy".