General Motors Honors FANUC as Inaugural Winner of Coveted Supplier Innovation Award

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FANUC was named a GM Innovation Award winner during General Motors 24th annual Supplier of the Year awards ceremony held on Thursday, March 10th at COBO Center in Detroit, Mich.

GM debuted its Innovation Award to recognize five suppliers among thousands globally who brought new innovations to the company that benefit customers. FANUC was named a first-ever Innovation award winner for its Zero Down Time (ZDT) Application, which analyzes data from GMs robots throughout its factories to detect potential problems that could lead to a failure. If a potential failure is identified, ZDT notifies GM and FANUCs Service Center, so parts and support can be delivered to address the issue before any downtime occurs. FANUC America has released a YouTube video regarding the GM Innovation Award and FANUC Zero Down Time, here.

"We partnered with Cisco to create highly secure connections from our robotic equipment in GMs factories to Ciscos Cloud Data Center where FANUC is able to perform analytics on how the robots are performing," said Rick Schneider, Chairman and CEO, FANUC America. "The ability to collect data from our robots and analyze it in the cloud, to predict potential equipment issues before downtime, occurs allows us to proactively address our customers needs. With ZDT, we can also take advantage of the data collected from our robots to optimize GMs manufacturing systems by reducing energy consumption, extending equipment life, improving cycle time and quality. Reducing downtime through ZDT has proven to have a direct and positive impact on GMs plants performance."

"With the FANUC ZDT solution, the robot is connected through a network and a Cisco data collector in the plant through to the Cisco cloud - all resulting in a sound and highly-secure solution end to end. By transferring the equipment data through a secure platform to the Cisco Cloud, Cisco and FANUC are building the manufacturing data highway, which will allow GM to collaborate with their large ecosystem of equipment suppliers and more easily perform preventive analytics and optimization with their equipment," said Bryan Tantzen, Sr. Director, Cisco IoT Vertical.

Currently, FANUC has applied ZDT to thousands of robots in 27 GM factories in 5 countries. In addition to monitoring the robots for potential problems, ZDT keeps track of robot usage and sends reminders at appropriate intervals to ensure important maintenance activities are completed on time.

"We're honored to receive GMs prestigious Innovation Award," said Schneider. "FANUC is committed to developing innovative, world-class products that provide manufacturers the ability to keep their production lines running uninterrupted."

As a manufacturing equipment supplier, FANUC was the only indirect supplier (non-vehicle component supplier) to win the esteemed Innovation Award for the Zero Down Time solution.

During the event, GM also recognized 110 of its best suppliers from 17 countries who have consistently exceeded GMs expectations, created outstanding value, or introduced new innovations to the company. FANUC was also selected as a GM Supplier of the year for the 11th year in a row.

GM recognized the most suppliers since debuting the Supplier of the Year event in 1992, representing a nearly 40 percent increase compared to 79 recipients in 2014. More than half are repeat Supplier of the Year winners from 2014.

"We are focused on building positive supplier relationships, bringing new, customer-centric innovations to GM, and being the OEM of choice among suppliers," said Steve Kiefer, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. "The companies we recognize tonight not only have brought innovation, they delivered it with the quality our customers deserve."

About FANUC America Corporation

FANUC America Corporation is a subsidiary of FANUC CORPORATION in Japan, and provides industry-leading robotics, CNC systems, and factory automation. FANUCs innovative technologies and proven expertise help manufacturers in the Americas maximize efficiency, reliability and profitability.

FANUC America is headquartered at 3900 W. Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48309, and has facilities in: Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Montreal; Pine Brook, NJ; Pontiac, MI; San Francisco; Seattle; Toronto; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, and Manaus, Brazil; and Aguascalientes, Mexico City, and Monterrey, Mexico. For more information, please call: 888-FANUC-US (888-326-8287) or visit our website: www.fanucamerica.com. Also, connect with us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com