Breaking the Bottleneck | Issue 03
[04/22] Perspectives from Deloitte Catalyst, White House Updates, & Hadrian
Breaking the Bottleneck is a monthly newsletter recapping the past month in manufacturing with perspectives, interviews, news, recent funding announcements, and a startup database.
Production Perspectives - Don Meier (Deloitte)⚡
Manufacturing News and Interesting Reads 🏭
Great Summary of the White House Strategy to Fortify Industrial Base- Holland & Knight summary of the Biden administration’s initiatives such as capital expansion for small manufacturers, manufacturing roundtables discussing innovation, and the Seed Fund Startup Expo to help commercialize technologies that address supply chain challenges.
Report on the Perception of US Manufacturing - Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute survey highlighting manufacturers’ focus on workforce retention and irony of customers’ perception of manufacturing jobs as innovative and problem-oriented yet manufacturers’ inability to fill positions.
Perspective on AMRs in Modern Manufacturing - Perspective from a Zebra Technologies VP highlighting the advantages of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) when compared to Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) and AMR’s impact on productivity, throughput, and labor.
Survey Results from Both Corporate and Front Line Workers - Report highlighting the current impact of unplanned downtime on production and the limited number of manufacturers using condition-based monitoring solutions.
Thoughts on the Transition to Smart Manufacturing - Discussion on the shift in mindset from traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing such as capacity versus capability-focused operations, workforce upskilling, and increased agility via a data-driven approach.
Nvidia’s Digital Twin Announcement - The release of Modulus, a physics-informed AI tool, and its integration with Omniverse to foster faster simulation and greater 3D spatial visualizations for use cases such as modeling heat transfer systems in a plant.
Views on Data Science From an Industrial Data Scientist - Highlights the varying responsibilities (from hardware installation to connectivity, to building algorithms), the process-specific expertise, and toolchains required of an industrial data scientist when compared to the traditional data scientist.
March’s Manufacturing Deals 💰
Retrocausal- A startup taking frontline quality assurance to a new level by providing insights to guide, analyze, and optimize assembly processes
$3.4 million [Series Seed] - Co-Led by Glasswing Ventures and Differential Ventures
MixMode- A startup developing a platform that self-learns to detect cyberattacks in real time across industrial environments
$45 million [Series B] - Led by PSG, a leading growth equity firm partnering with middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies to help accelerate their growth, and joined by Entrada Ventures
Celona - A startup that provides a 5G local area network (LAN) solutions for manufacturers and warehouses that integrate with cellular wireless networks
$60 million [Series C] - Led by DigitalBridge Ventures and joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, NTTVC, and Qualcomm Ventures
Gecko Robotics- A startup that provides pulp & paper, chemicals and oil & gas companies with a platform to better manage industrial asset health
$73 million [Series C] - Led by XN and joined by Founders Fund, XYZ, Drive Capital, and Snowpoint Ventures
Hadrian - A startup building build abstract and automated precision component factories for the aerospace and defense industries
$90 million [Series A] - Co-Led by Lux Capital and Andreessen Horowitz and joined by Lachy Groom, Caffeinated Capital, Founders Fund, Construct Capital, and 137 Ventures
Events This Month 📅
National Hardware Show between April 5-7 in Las Vegas is the most comprehensive event, education, and networking platform serving the hardware and home improvement industry.
PLASTEC West 2022 between April 12-14 in Anaheim is an annual plastic design and manufacturing event for suppliers and buyers to discover innovation, engineer new technology, and build a better tomorrow
ATX West 2022 between April 12-14 in Anaheim is an annual conference bringing together leaders across automation, robotics, and smart/advanced manufacturing.
Westpack 2022 between April 12-14 in Anaheim brings together the entire packaging community from design engineers to distribution leaders to find the most creative packaging solutions and efficient automation systems.
MD&M West 2022 between April 12-14 in Anaheim brings together Medtech engineers, business leaders, disruptive companies, and innovative thinkers to create powerful solutions and medical devices.
D&M West 2022 between April 12-14 in Anaheim gathers designers and engineers across the design & manufacturing continuum, to bring forth global change.
AmCon Design & Contract Manufacturing Expo between April 13-14 in Orlando brings together contract manufacturers from throughout the U.S. and Canada from areas such as Additive Manufacturing, Forming, Fabricating, Machining, Engineering, Prototyping, Assembly and Electronics Manufacturing.
2022 CastExpo between April 23-26 in Columbus is the single largest trade show and exposition for metal casting in the Americas connecting metal casters, suppliers, and casting buyers and designers.
TAPPI PaperCon between Apr 30 - May 4 in Charlotte is the world's largest technical conference focusing on key industry segments including paper, nonwovens, tissue, recycled paperboard, and reliability & maintenance.
Startup Database 💾
Updated monthly, below is a database of industrial and manufacturing startups
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