Learn about automation and how to get started with our articles, videos, customer stories, whitepapers, and more.
POLAR MANUFACTURING has been making metal hinges, locks, and brackets in south Chicago for more than 100 years. Some of the company’s metal presses—hulking great machines that loom over a worker—date from the 1950s. Last year, to meet rising demand amid a shortage of workers, Polar hired its first robot employee. The robot arm performs a simple, repetitive job: lifting a piece of...
Read MoreThis week, we raised $26.5 Million in our Series A financing led by Lux Capital. I’m honored to partner with the Lux team and have Shahin Farschi join me on our board of directors. Lux is one of the leading deep technology investment funds, and has excelled for years at turning “sci-fi into sci-fact”. Lux is joined in this round...
Read MoreMandissa Marshall, Talent Acquisition Lead You have been a part of Formic for 3 months now, how would you describe your time here so far? It's been a blast coming on board, even unexpecting. I didn't realize how collaborative and team oriented everyone is internally. I've been really blessed to have so many team members on site share so much...
Read MoreInnovations in industrial automation are often talked about, but here are a few trends you might not have heard of… 1. Soft Robotics Technology such as soft robotics is a direct solution to many of the limitations in traditional industrial robots. They are called soft robotics because they literally have features such as soft-touch grippers that consist of more elastic...
Read MorePolar Manufacturing Rents Fully Customized Machine Tending Robot from Formic; Automates for First Time in 105 Years Formic’s innovative “robotics-as-a-service” model lowers traditional barriers to automation; Polar Manufacturing Company expects to save up to $77,000 a year in labor costs. CHICAGO―November 22, 2021-- Polar Hardware, a manufacturer of door and truck body hardware, chose Formic’s “robotics-as-a-service” offering to automate for...
Read MoreAlthough no two manufacturers are entirely alike, many of them face similar challenges with regards to productivity, output, labor, and capital improvement initiatives. Any manufacturer considering automation thinks through their choice of partner carefully: there is a high cost of failure, and any production hiccup can impact both top line revenue and operational expenses. There are also a broad range...
Read MoreThe current state of the U.S. labor market speaks for itself. It is estimated that almost 2.1 million jobs in manufacturing could go unfilled by 2030, according to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. New automation technology can help the U.S. bridge this gap, yet it is still very common to walk on to a small to mid-sized...
Read MoreJack Wagler, Treasurer and VP of Finance at Formic What is your position, and how involved are you with incoming customer deals? What we are doing is very unique. When you are offering a new solution like RaaS, you have to have new contracts and new documentation to allow that to happen. A key part of my involvement with the...
Read MoreThe Technology Homo sapiens have been alive for slightly over 300,000 years. Incredibly, however, our most powerful technological inventions - the steam engine, mass production and digital technology - have all occurred within the last 250 years, a blink of an eye on the timescale of our existence. Now, in 2021, we are in the midst of a fourth revolution...
Read MoreKyle Kidwell, an application engineer at Formic. Responsible for evaluating potential automation applications, managing projects, and engaging with customers. What is your proudest accomplishment working at Formic? I would say my proudest accomplishment doesn’t necessarily have anything to do specifically with individual effort. I would say that as a team we have worked to develop a system that allows us...
Read More
