How FANUC Took Over The American Factory Floor

At the base of Mount Fuji, hidden inside a dense forest in Yamanashi Prefecture, a company called FANUC operates one of the most consequential industrial empires on Earth. Its robots and computer numerical control systems run inside automotive assembly plants, pharmaceutical packaging lines, aerospace machining centers, and the contract manufacturing facilities that produce Apple's iPhones. FANUC controls roughly half the global CNC machine market and has shipped over one million industrial robots and five million CNC systems. Yet outside the manufacturing industry, almost nobody has heard its name. This documentary traces FANUC from its origins as a small research team inside Fujitsu in 1955, led by the engineer Dr. Seiuemon Inaba, through the development of Japan's first numerical control system, the 1972 spinoff that created FANUC as an independent company, and the construction of a massive, isolated headquarters compound at the foot of Mount Fuji. It covers Inaba's autocratic management style, his demand that every surface in the compound be painted yellow, and the corporate secrecy that defined the company for half a century. The film examines FANUC's entry into the American market through its 1982 joint venture with General Motors, GMFanuc Robotics Corporation, and how that partnership displaced domestic competitors and transformed the factory floors of Michigan. It addresses the labor pushback from the United Auto Workers, the workplace fatalities that accompanied the spread of industrial robotics, and the broader social consequences of automation in the American Midwest. From the ROBODRILL machining centers that carve the aluminum chassis of every iPhone, to the lights-out factories where robots build other robots in total darkness for thirty days without human supervision, to the activist investor siege that forced FANUC to open its books for the first time, this is the full story of how a quiet engineering team from a Japanese village built the machines that build the modern world. Subscribe to Trade Archive for more industrial history documentaries. Sources FANUC Corporation. "FANUC History: Innovation and Leadership in Automation." FANUC, fanuc.co.jp. "Seiuemon Inaba." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiuemon_Inaba. International Federation of Robotics. "FANUC Founder Dr. Seiuemon Inaba Passed Away." IFR, October 2020. "Fanuc Ltd." Encyclopedia.com, encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/fanuc-ltd. "GMF Robotics Corp, a Joint Venture Between General Motors..." UPI Archives, June 23, 1983, upi.com/Archives/1983/06/23/GMF-Robotics-Corp-a-joint-venture-between-General-Motors/2797425188800/. "GM Venture Now No. 1 in Robotics: Orders From Auto Giant Account for 70% of Its Business." Los Angeles Times, September 1985. FANUC Corporation. "FANUC Reaches CNC Production Milestone of 5 Million." News Release, March 2022, fanuc.co.jp/en/profile/pr/newsrelease/2022/notice20220317.html. FANUC Corporation. "Total Shipment of 1 Million Units of FANUC Robot." News Release, September 2023, fanuc.co.jp/en/profile/pr/newsrelease/2023/notice20230915.html. "This Company's Robots Are Making Everything—and Reshaping the World." Bloomberg, October 18, 2017, bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-10-18/this-company-s-robots-are-making-everything-and-reshaping-the-world. FANUC Corporation. "FANUC Corporate Outline." FANUC, fanuc.co.jp. "Yamanashi Oshino-mura, Shusshoritsu 1.9-cho." Nikkei, February 2024, nikkei.com. FANUC Securities Report, Fiscal Year Ending March 2025, via Nikkei. "Robert Williams (Robot Fatality)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Williams_(robot_fatality). Holbrook v. FANUC America Corp. et al. Court filings, 2017. Hinterdobler v. Tesla Inc. and FANUC America Corp. Court filings, 2024. "Third Point." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Point. FANUC Corporation. "Financial Results for the Year Ended March 31, 2026." April 2026. "FANUC America Unveils New $110 Million Robotics and Automation Campus." PR Newswire, July 2024. FANUC America. Press Release, March 2026. $90 million Pontiac, Michigan facility announcement. "FANUC." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FANUC. "The Giant Japanese Robot Company You've Never Heard Of." Worldcrunch, worldcrunch.com. "Lights Out (Manufacturing)." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lights_out_(manufacturing). FANUC Europe. Product Specifications: CRX Collaborative Robot Series. DERO GROEP. "Our Long-Standing Partnership with FANUC." January 2025, dero-groep.nl. "Chart: The Giants of Industrial Robotics." Statista, August 2025, statista.com. Trend Micro. "The Security Risks Faced by CNC Machines in Industry 4.0." 2022. "FANUC Showcases New FIELD System IoT Technology." FANUC America, IMTS 2016.