In June 2021, Coventry-based Fanuc UK Ltd said that it intended to serve customers in Ireland from local premises and with full local representation. This summer, the robotics and automation company will move into its new facility in Maynooth, Co Kildare — about 25km west of Dublin — thereby demonstrating a strong commitment to its growing Irish customer base.

Conor O’Kelly, one of two Ireland-based sales managers now in place (the other is Ronan Rasdale), said: “We announced that we planned to have an initial team of five and here we are, as promised. Two service engineers and a technical support engineer complete the team.

“There have been plans for an Irish subsidiary for a while, but the impact of Covid-19 and the restrictions on international travel accelerated them. Previously, our Irish customers would have had to travel to Coventry in England for training, but we can now offer in-house training for our larger customers and training courses for smaller groups, from our facility here in Maynooth. In addition, the showroom at our new headquarters will be stocked with robots for demonstration, evaluation and test purposes.”

The report Making it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020, says Ireland’s manufacturing sector contributes 25% of GDP and employs 205,700 people directly, rising to 400,000 when indirect employment is considered. There were 16,700 firms in the manufacturing sector in Ireland in 2017, with Irish-owned companies representing 97% of these. At 35%, manufacturing’s share of Ireland’s GVA (gross value add) is more than double the average of the euro area.

Mr O’Kelly added: “Ireland doesn’t have a traditional industrial background in, for example, automotive manufacture, but it makes a lot of agricultural machinery — and has established a global reputation in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage, medical devices, computers, electronics and engineering. SMEs account for a significant proportion in those key sectors.”

According to its government, Ireland currently lags the European average in robot penetration, with the second-lowest robot density in the European Union in 2019. However, the Irish government’s strategy is that by 2025 Ireland will be a competitive, innovation-driven manufacturing hub and at the forefront of Industry 4.0 development and adoption. Mr O’Kelly says Fanuc believes that it is ideally placed to help Irish businesses close the gap and profit from the new opportunities, supported by its network of expert integrator partners.

“We manufacture and supply a wide variety of robot arms, along with peripherals like vision systems and sensing systems, for applications ranging from packing and palletising to picking and placing. We also work with a range of specialist integrators to ensure we offer the most competitive options for our customers, as well as ensuring each solution accurately matches the individual application demands.”