Posted on 04/14/2017 11:05:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Tucked away in Apex, a robotics company is about to nearly double its headcount.
Robert Little, CEO of ATI Industrial Automation, says the company breaks ground next week on an expansion that will create 275 new jobs and grow its Apex footprint to 185,000 square feet.
The company currently has 300 employees. Little says it has reached the limits of its Apex facility, and that the new robotics lab will be bigger with state of the art features.
With the new facility, ATI intends to focus on new and better robots with force-control. Little describes it as equipping robots with sensors that “feel.” The robots can then use that feature to accomplish the kinds of tasks that currently need to be done by people.
“The phone you probably carry around is handmade,” he says. “People, in order to make that phone, are treated like robots. It’s tough work.”
To automate the creation of your iPhone requires robotic tooling, the kind of precise equipment Little’s team is already developing for a variety of industries – primarily the automotive space. ATI's robotics tools are used to make vehicles for companies such as General Motors and Volkswagen.
The robotics lab will allow ATI to improve products in that sector, as well. “[Automobile makers] want robots to see and feel to assemble their components,” he says. “The tooling that will be able to handle that task will be made in this lab.”
Little calls the expansion crucial. Without it, his team would be unable to keep advancing its technology.
“And that’s key for us to continue this good growth,” he says, adding that ATI is on track to have a $70 million revenue year. Half of its sales are outside of the U.S. “And that’s probably going to grow to 60 percent or higher, which means we have to be able to handle complex applications.”
The expansion is the company's second in four years in Apex. And this time, Little briefly considered expanding in Michigan to be closer to customers in the vehicle space. “But being in North Carolina gives us an advantage – and that’s education.”
ATI is currently hiring, primarily in engineering and sales. Its goal is to have the new facility up and running by next April.
ATI was founded in 1989 by its chairman, Keith Morris, Chief Sensor Technologist Dwayne Perry and Little. The company has operations in Michigan, China, Mexico and Brazil, along with its Apex-based corporate and manufacturing headquarters.
Re: “ATI is currently hiring, primarily in engineering and sales.”
That's a really strange statement.
The University of Michigan and Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh are usually considered the top two schools in America for robotic engineering.
Georgia Tech is very good, but that's at least 250 miles from the Research Triangle.
Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, and N.C State are all good engineering schools, but not elite.
All unc ‘engineering’ degrees require you to take some classes at nc state. Dukes program does not prepare folks for practical application that well.
For the most part college rankings as to what is elite are bs.
“Apex robotics firm plans hiring binge in upcoming expansion (275 jobs in North Carolina)”
Let me fix this....
Apex robotics firm plans hiring binge in upcoming expansion (275 jobs in North Carolina), UNTIL they can program the robots to take their places.
No transgender restroom issues with the robots, I presume.
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