GeFanuc partnership dissolving

[memoryman]

GeFanuc announced on August 17 that they would dissolve the partnership between GE and Fanuc. See the announcement on their website.
Bill

[John_B]

Not surprised, with the whole internal communication problems I've faced over the last few years.

I guess it's a here we go again similar to the Cincinnati / Siemens split a few years back that has many of us swinging in the breeze, but possibly worse - or wait, better because Fanuc retains all CNC technology...Great.

[fanucman]

Originally Posted by John_B Fanuc retains all CNC technology...Great.

yea.. and they should they invented it..


I HATE calling Ge up for anything.. they dont know nothing and tell me to call Fanuc even though its their stuff..

[Al_The_Man]

I always wondered why Fanuc needed GE.
The following is pure speculation, but at the time of the merger, there was a push for the philosophy of 'Buy American' and I believe it was another case of a Japanese Company acquiring the association of a big US name to enhance its US sales.
Evidentally GE sales of CNC controllers went up 10x after the Fanuc merger.
Soon after that Fanuc reportedly captured 60% of the world market for CNC systems, without actually making a machine.
Al.

[John_B]

Originally Posted by fanucman yea.. and they should they invented it.. I HATE calling Ge up for anything.. they dont know nothing and tell me to call Fanuc even though its their stuff..

I've not had the best of luck with the Fanuc staff as well though... They are the only control manufacturer I've interacted with in the last 15 years that make you want to rip out the control and add hand wheels.

[fanucman]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Man I always wondered why Fanuc needed GE. The following is pure speculation, but at the time of the merger, there was a push for the philosophy of 'Buy American' and I believe it was another case of a Japanese Company acquiring the association of a big US name to enhance its US sales. Evidentally GE sales of CNC controllers went up 10x after the Fanuc merger. Soon after that Fanuc reportedly captured 60% of the world market for CNC systems, without actually making a machine. Al.

I thought they make the robo drills and tape drills dont they?

I think the whole reason they jointed together was so that the military can buy their controls... they were basically an unknown name so they partnered up with a well known name like GE to start selling to military in the US...

I dunno.. like i stated before i always get better service from fanuc directly than GE..

[memoryman]

My understanding is that Fanuc wanted a piece of the PLC market. Some ex-GE
service engineers suggested the the GE-2000 control was so good that Fanuc was afraid of it. For interested reading: History of Numerical Control, bu Richard A. Thomas.
Bill

[ihavenofish]

Originally Posted by fanucman I thought they make the robo drills and tape drills dont they? I think the whole reason they jointed together was so that the military can buy their controls... they were basically an unknown name so they partnered up with a well known name like GE to start selling to military in the US... I dunno.. like i stated before i always get better service from fanuc directly than GE..

robodrills were a pratt and whitney product. im not sure exactly when they got put under the fanuc name. in the early 90's perhaps.

[Dan Fritz]

Fanuc was also partnered up with Siemens at one time, under the name "General Numeric" in Elk Grove Illinois. I worked for them back in the late 70's and early 80's as a Fanuc service engineer and later as a Fanuc applications engineer. At that time, the Fanuc and the Siemens departments were very much separate, but located in the same building. The company president was always a Siemens man, the VP was from Fanuc, and there were Americans in positions of sales, training, and field service. The Japanese engineers I worked with were very dedicated and would work until midnight, while the German engineers from Siemens would break out the kegs at about 2:30 every Friday. Very different cultures. I learned to like sushi while I was there.

The partnership was dissolved around '82 or '83 and Fanuc then partnered up with GE. At that time, the GE2000 was the only real competition that Fanuc had left but, as the years went by, there were fewer and fewer American machine tool companies to sell controls to. Back then, there were many companies who bought CNC controls, like Warner & Swasey, Hardinge, Excello, Burgmaster, Acroloc, Cincinnati, and a few others. The partnership with GE let Fanuc assimilate the GE CNC controls division (like the Borg on Star Trek?), and the GE2000 was the last model that effectively competed with Fanuc in the USA. The only exception is Haas, which always make their own controls anyway.

Fanuc and GE were always a bit of a mis-match as far as I'm concerned. GE was always strong in sales, engineering, and PLCs. Fanuc is, well ... they're Fanuc. They make more CNC controls than anyone in the world. You can't argue with success.

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by Dan Fritz Fanuc was also partnered up with Siemens at one time, under the name "General Numeric" in Elk Grove Illinois. while the German engineers from Siemens would break out the kegs at about 2:30 every Friday. Very different cultures. I learned to like sushi while I was there.

I worked with some of the G.N. guys from Elk Grove on a couple of projects and I know what you mean.
On a similar note, it is interesting that companies like Simmons-Niles that made their money during WW11 due to their friendship with friends in the US govt (pres) via armaments.
They are now allied with, or owned by the German company hegenscheidt.
Al.