Breaking the Bottleneck is a weekly manufacturing technology newsletter with perspectives, interviews, news, funding announcements, and a startup database. For a high-level market map on discrete and continuous manufacturing click the link here! If you know anyone looking to chat about manufacturing tech, I’d love to talk!
Content I Enjoyed This Week 🏭🗞️🔬
News:
Upsurge in US Clean Energy Manufacturing [Canary Media]
The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred significant growth in clean energy manufacturing and investment in the United States. Numerous clean energy manufacturing facilities and factory expansions have been announced, with over $70 billion in new investment since the law was signed. States in the eastern part of the country, particularly in the "Battery Belt" region spanning from the Great Lakes to Georgia, have become hubs for clean energy manufacturing. Time is of the essence for clean energy manufacturing, as there is a need to rapidly secure financing, sites, permits, and skilled workers to meet the growing demand. However, while the onshoring of manufacturing is progressing quickly, domestic supply chains are not yet capable of meeting the surging demand for clean energy technologies. The United States will still rely on imports to fulfill the need for solar, wind, and storage capacity as well as electric vehicles with the partnership between Ford and CATL being a great example.
Samsung’s Plans to Catch TSMC [CNBC]
Samsung, known for its wide range of consumer electronics, is also a major player in the semiconductor industry. While the memory chip market has experienced turmoil and declining prices, Samsung has shifted its focus to its foundry business, which manufactures custom chips for various customers. The company is investing heavily in chip fabrication plants with a $17B plant in Taylor, Texas, and a $228B mega-cluster in South Korea to expand its production capacity. Samsung aims to become the leader in advanced chip manufacturing, looking to make industry-leading 2-nanometer chips by 2025 and get them down to 1.4-nanometer by 2027. The company faces stiff competition from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), but it is determined to surpass its rival. However in order to do so, challenges such as environmental concerns related to energy and water usage need to be addressed.
Big Pharma Implementing Analytics in Manufacturing [Pharmaceutical Tech]
According to Allan Myerson, a professor at MIT and principal investigator at the Novartis-MIT Centre for Continuous Manufacturing the adoption of continuous manufacturing technology in pharma is still an open question. The incorporation of process analytical technology (PAT) in manufacturing protocols has not been readily adopted. Although manufacturers widely use PAT for simple things [like] pH, flow rate, and temperature), more advanced forms of PAT may not be utilized once continuous processes are fully implemented. This is because you must validate the method and make sure it actually measures what’s intended. You need to get the requisite sensors in your system and make sure they are compatible with the solvents, temperatures, and pH and do not impact the process. As a result, while there is a move towards reducing waste and improving the environmental impact of pharmaceutical manufacturing, the widespread adoption of continuous manufacturing methods will be a slow process.
EV Makers Confront the ‘Nickel Pickle’ [WSJ]
The electric vehicle (EV) industry faces an environmental challenge known as the "nickel pickle." Nickel is a crucial component in EV batteries, but the process of mining and refining it is environmentally unfriendly. Indonesia, the world's largest source of nickel, is at the center of this challenge. The country's mineral-rich islands hold nickel deposits close to the surface and will account for over 80% of global supply by 2027. Consequently, western companies are investing in nickel-processing operations in Indonesia to secure their supply chain. For example, Ford Motor invested in a nickel-processing facility in Sulawesi, partnering with a Chinese firm. However, clearing rainforests, which is necessary to access the nickel deposits, and the refining process are both carbon-intensive and produce hard-to-dispose-of waste slurry resulting in significant environmental impact. This is compounded by the increased mining activity causing significant greenhouse gas emissions due to rainforest clearing.
Research/Blogs:
Bloomberg NEF EV Report 2023 [Bloomberg]
This year’s annual EV Report looking at how electrification, shared mobility, autonomous driving, and other factors will impact road transport in the coming decades was published. Below are some highlights:
730 Million - Number of passenger EVs on the road in 2040 in the Economic Transition Scenario
335 Million - Gap in the number of battery electric passenger vehicles on the road between the Economic Transition Scenario
22x - Scale-up required in annual lithium demand between 2022 and 2050 in the Net Zero Scenario
Older Reads:
Redesigning Apparel Manufacturing in Asia [McKinsey]
Building Sustainability into Operations [McKinsey]
Podcasts/Video:
Why the World Can’t Quit Its Addiction to Chinese Goods[Stephanomics]
Twitter/Reddit:
Manufacturing Deals
Unspun - the company’s Vega 3D weaving manufacturing operations powered by robotic technology, can weave a pair of pants in under 10 minutes directly from yarns, reducing the finishing time required
$14 million [Series A] - Led by Lowercarbon Capital and joined by SOSV, Signia Ventures, and MVP Ventures
Onebeat - a Tel Aviv-based inventory management platform
$10 million [Series B] - Led by Magenta Venture Partners and joined by AnD Ventures, INcapital Ventures, J-Ventures, Surround Ventures, and Wilson’s Bird Capital
Partnerslate - a company building an online marketplace connecting food brands and contract manufacturers (co-mans)
$4 million [Series Seed] - Led by Supply Change Capital
Government Funding:
US DOE - Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMMs) to accelerate the adoption of recommendations made by DOE
$80 million [Grant Funding] - To improve energy efficiency to lower costs and reduce industrial emissions.