Robotics as a service could be key to rebuilding US as global manufacturing leader

Robotics companies have joined other industries in feeling the economy’s pain, but Formic, with its robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) platform, is an outlier. The company, which rents out robots for $8 to $30 an hour, is accelerating automation adoption for US manufacturers.To get more news about GRS, you can visit glprobotics.com official website.

Formic recently reported increasing its customer count 70% QoQ following a $26.5 million Series A round in January. It also increased its headcount 35%, and brought on Amazon alum Karl Barry as head of robotics monitoring and maintenance.

CEO Saman Farid, a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist, noticed a glaring absence of robotics when visiting warehouses, factories, and construction sites despite innovation in the field, and he wanted to do something about it. As the co-founder of Formic, his goal is to make deploying automation as easy as possible for companies.

One of the challenges of adopting robotics is that it’s often a heavy lift for outfits that have to shift focus away from their core operations to make it happen. It requires technical expertise in choosing the right bots, spending a hefty amount of upfront capital, and performing ongoing maintenance.

“We’re proud of the fact that for 67% of our customers, Formic’s robot was the first robot they ever had,” said Farid. “It validates our thesis that we’re making automation accessible.”

In an interview with Insider Intelligence, Farid talks about how Formic’s service is making waves in multiple industries and how it can be a game-changer for US manufacturing.
Saman Farid (SF): Our most common customers are producing fast-moving consumer goods—things like food and beverage and shampoo. The next big segment is plastic injection molding, where factories are making plastic parts that go into things like golf carts, lawn mowers, and plastic cups. The third big category is metal fabrication. These customers make parts for aircraft, defense, or automotive.

SF: It allows factory owners to focus on what they’re good at, which is running a factory. We’re good at making robots and keeping them up and running. The other big benefit in addition to higher capacity and throughput is that it results in an improved work environment for their teams. As things get better, they become more competitive globally and can start winning bids that used to go to China, Vietnam, or other places.

Because we’re managing robots for many factories, we benefit from the economies of scale. So it’s cheaper for us to buy, run, maintain a robot, and hold inventory because we’re doing it for 100 factories.

One potential drawback is that as a relatively young company some might ask themselves, “Can I trust these guys?”, “Are they going to disappear one day?”, “Should I rely on them for something so critical?” I think it’s a fair question we’ll get when we’re two years old.