WARREN – Andy Storm, the President and CEO of $100 million global supplier Eckhart, sees Industry 4.0 taking the manufacturing world by storm. Eckhart plans to lead the charge in North America, he said, by providing smart factories with such products as his company’s Autocraft Autonomous Guided Vehicles to streamline the manufacturing process.
This week, Eckhart opened its 47,000 square foot Advanced Technology Center in Warren to engineer and build these self-driving delivery vehicles and also serve as a home for its additive manufacturing – 3D printing – laboratory.
“The biggest underlying theme is a lot of individuals who work in manufacturing are terrified of change,” Storm said in an interview. “We are leading the charge to adopt and help companies utilize the tool kit that is Industry 4.0 to put intelligent tools in these factories, such as 3D printing to more rapidly move through the Ideation process and other innovative ways for them to come up with permanent solutions faster.”
The Advanced Technology Center currently employs 60 and the company’s expansion plans call for the employment of more than 100 in the next two years, all to accelerate adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies for the largest industrial companies in the world.
“Expansion into Southeast Michigan, where there is a concentration of talent in the global epicenter for automotive research and development, is a key component of Eckhart’s growth strategy,” said Storm. “While the auto industry is focused on developing autonomous vehicles for use on the streets, Eckhart is accelerating the development of advanced technologies we believe will reshape the manufacturing ecosystem. Eckhart is investing to expand our suite of solutions and bring real value to all of our customers who realize, as we do, that the next industrial revolution is upon us.”
Eckhart’s services to global manufacturers includes:
• Autonomous Guided Vehicles
• Collaborative Robotics and Flexible Automation
• 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
• Assembly Tooling
• Engineering Services
In addition to the Advanced Technology Center, Eckhart operates locations in Algonac, Lansing, Marine City, and Rochester Hills.
Eckhart’s services to global manufacturers includes:
• Autonomous Guided Vehicles
• Collaborative Robotics and Flexible Automation
• 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
• Assembly Tooling
• Engineering Services
In addition to the Advanced Technology Center, Eckhart operates locations in Algonac, Lansing, Marine City, and Rochester Hills.
Major Eckhart customers include John Deere, Boeing and Volvo. Storm said Eckhart also serves all the major domestic and international auto OEMs with facilities in North America. Other clients are GE Medical Devices, Stryker, Caterpillar, and Peterbuilt Trucks, just to name a few.
Another advantage of opening its tech center in Warren is it brings technology solutions to Eckhart’s customers and potential customers in Southeast Michigan where the brains of the auto industry are located, Storm said. What’s more, It sucgets Eckhart closer to the huge concentration of engineering talent in Warren.
“It also makes it easy for customers from outside Michigan to interact with us,” Storm said. “They land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and in 20 minutes can be at a nice hotel in Detroit not far from our Warren tech center.”
Eckhart is hiring engineers. For more information, click on http://www.eckhartusa.com/
