One Good Part Manufacture to the Next

This week: engineering careers, circular waste, AI to find the right parts, fully automated mould changeover, iPhones in India, Slate Auto reveal, automation operating system, rare earths and mining.

Apr 27, 2025

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Shop Talk

Capturing this week's zeitgeist

Henry Samueli, Broadcom cofounder and 2025 IEEE Medal of Honor recipient, offers straightforward career advice. Rather than chasing compensation, Samueli emphasizes pursuing engineering for impact and passion, noting that financial rewards typically follow meaningful contributions. He strongly advocates for maximizing educational credentials, citing statistical evidence that STEM professionals consistently outperform other fields in compensation. Contrary to popular tech narratives about college dropouts, Samueli recommends betting on proven pathways rather than outlier success stories.

Vikram Sekar over at Vik’s Newsletter, has “six hard truths about how engineers enter, survive, and often get stuck in the chip industry” that provides a lived experience to Mr. Samueli’s advice.

Automate 2025 Detroit is two weeks away and I’m excited to see some technology debuts! If you’re coming to Automate, reach out by replying to this email and let’s meet up!

Assembly Line

This week's most influential Industry 4.0 media.

Waste Not, Want Not: Smurfit Westrock Piles on Efficiency with LiDAR

SICK devised a tailored, turnkey solution that features the state-of-the-art LiDAR sensor multiScan100 and an on-device “heap detection app.” The solution is tailored to Smurfit Westrock’s requirements, such as the size of their bunkers, the number of measuring regions, and measuring frequency. Having the software on the device also avoids the need for additional computing unit hardware.

The multiScan100 heap detection solution accurately detects heaps of material. Its large field of view provides a reliable 3D measurement of the whole waste bunker. This information is sent to the crane controller for automatic operation. The scanner itself is designed to withstand the harsh conditions of waste bunkers, ensuring consistent performance.

Using AI to Find the Right Parts

3YOURMIND Unveils AI-Powered Technical Drawing Analysis to Accelerate Spare Part Digitization /3YOURMIND/
FLOW Science Expands Simulation Power for AM, Welding, and Casting /3DPI/
Industrial Communication: MCP and A2A for the shopfloor? /Industrial AI Podcast/

Less than 1 minute from the last good part to the next

General Extrusions’ New Energy Efficient Induction Heater /LightMetalAge/
FANUC Robodrill CNC with Caron Engineering Solutions: A Fully-Automated High Speed VMC Demo /Caron Engineering on YouTube/

Foxconn stops sending Chinese workers to India iPhone factories

✍️ Author: Selina Cheng, Viola Zhou

Foxconn is halting new work rotations for its Chinese employees at its Apple iPhone factories in India, and sending Taiwanese workers instead, according to five people familiar with Foxconn’s operations in India. Shipments of specialized manufacturing equipment meant for India have also been held up in China, the sources told Rest of World.

If sustained, the suspensions are likely to hinder the broader ambition of Apple to develop next-generation iPhones in India with Foxconn, its long-term Taiwanese manufacturing partner. It also highlights the difficulties Apple faces as it tries to diversify production away from China amid rising U.S.-China tensions.

Read more at Rest of World and Reuters

Tesla Explores Indian Semiconductor Suppliers /ASSEMBLY/ and Robot Plans Stumble Amid China’s Rare Earth Export Curbs /TrendForce/
Tokyo Electron turns to India's deep talent pool for development hub /Nikkei/
China bans export of Korean goods containing its rare earth metals to US /KED/ as POSCO Future M to make spherical graphite to cut its dependence /KED/
Analysis: Mapping the U.S. Tariff Shock on Chinese Manufacturing /Caixin Global/

Strategic vacancy engineering advances record-high ductile AgCu(Te, Se, S) thermoelectrics

✍️ Author: Nan-Hai Li, Xiao-Lei Shi, Si-Qi Liu, et. al

AgCu(Te, Se, S) alloys, as one of the rare p-type plastic inorganic thermoelectrics, are receiving striking attention for their application foreground in high-performing flexible thermoelectric generators. However, strategies to enhance their thermoelectric performance while maintaining exceptional plasticity remain largely unexplored. Here, we introduce a strategic vacancy-engineering approach to address this challenge. Using computational design as a guide, we carefully tune the cation vacancy concentration to optimize hole carrier concentration. A novel flexible thermoelectric device, comprising ductile p-type (AgCu)0.998Te0.8Se0.1S0.1 and n-type commercial Bi2Te3, achieves an impressive power density of ~126 μW cm−2 under 25 K temperature difference, demonstrating significant application prospects for wearable electronics.

Read more at Nature Communications and Manufacturers' Monthly

Double-network-inspired mechanical metamaterials /Nature Materials/ that is both strong and stretchy /Tech Explorist/
WireCo introduces Lazerlift: The New Generation of Rotation-resistant Hoist Ropes /WireCo/

New Product Introduction

Highlighting new and innovative facilities, processes, products, and services

Slate Auto Reveal Event

It's a Slate. A radically simple electric pickup truck that can change into whatever you need it to be – even an SUV. Made in the USA at a price that’s actually affordable (no really, for real).

2027 Slate Truck First Look: America's New Cheapest Pickup? /MotorTrend on YouTube/
Bezos-backed Slate Auto debuts analog EV pickup truck that is decidedly anti-Tesla /TechCrunch/
SK On seals $2.8 bn battery deal with Bezos-backed US EV start-up Slate /KED/

New KUKA operating system includes a virtual robot controller

KUKA unveiled the iiQKA.OS2 operating system. which it said is scalable, customizable, and includes a complete virtual robot controller. The company claimed that its system is ready for artificial intelligence and the new ISO 10218:2025 industrial robot safety standard.

It also said iiQKA.OS2 is “cyber-resilient,” making digital manufacturing future-proof. KUKA added that a robot controller with the operating system is easier to use and more accessible. This is thanks to combination of a web-based user interface and the ability to use one’s own teach pendants or the KUKA smartPAD. KUKA said iiQKA.OS2 combines the proven core of its KUKA.SystemSoftware (KSS) and a modern user interface with modular safety to meet automation requirements.

Business Transactions

This week's top funding events, acquisitions, and partnerships across industrial value chains.

💸 TDK Ventures announces launch of $150 Million Fund 3 to catalyze iconic companies /TDK Ventures/ to despite Tariff Risks /WSJ/
💸 KOMPAS VC closes €150M Fund II to back sustainability and productivity-focused industrial technology /Tech EU/
⛏️ Founders Factory & Rio Tinto invest in reduced-impact mining through AI & breakthrough technologies /Founders Factory/ and challenges /Joshua Clemans on X/
🇪🇺 EU investing €6 million in new optical networks to support future factories /Optics/
💰🇺🇸 Mati Carbon, a startup developing a sequestration technique called enhanced rock weathering, won the XPrize grand prize of $50 million /IEEE Spectrum/

🇺🇸 Electra Announces $186M Series B Funding Round to Scale Clean Iron Production

Electra, a clean iron company, announced its $186 million Series B funding round, co-led by Capricorn Investment Group and Temasek Holdings. This brings Electra’s total funding to date to $214 million, reinforcing its position as one of the leading solutions for decarbonizing iron production and underscoring its strong path to commercialization this decade.

Electra’s modular, patented process uses the most flexible and cost-effective iron ores and intermittent renewable energy as inputs while producing the highest-value 99 percent pure iron.

Read more at GlobeNewswire and Bloomberg

Clariant & Midrex fortify partnership in DRI, helping to decarbonize the steel industry /Clariant/

🇦🇹 Emmi AI raises €15M to bring real-time AI simulations to industrial engineering

Emmi AI, which is building AI-powered simulation technology for industrial engineering, has raised €15M in a seed round, the largest seed investment ever for an Austrian startup. The round was led by 3VC, Speedinvest, Serena, and PUSH VC.

Emmi’s software replaces traditional numerical solvers with deep learning models capable of processing massive simulations in milliseconds, removing the need for labor-intensive manual setup. The company’s inspiration is drawn from breakthroughs in AI-driven weather forecasting and climate modelling, applying similar techniques to simulate complex industrial environments.

🇬🇧 Isembard lands $9M to reshore manufacturing for critical industries

Isembard said it plans to create a network of factories across several Western locations. CEO Alexander Fitzgerald told TechCrunch that the first of these started to operate in London in January, and claims that it can already respond to requests for high-precision parts. It has yet to disclose further locations.

This pitch helped the startup secure a £7 million seed round (approximately $9 million) led by Notion Capital, with participation from 201 Ventures, Basis Capital, Forward Fund, Material Ventures, Neverlift Ventures, and NP-Hard Ventures, as well as angels including EU Inc promoter Andreas Klinger and Space Forge founder Joshua Western.

Read more at TechCrunch and Tech EU

🇺🇸 RISE Robotics Raises $3 Million in Additional Funding to Drive Forward the Electrification and Sustainability of Heavy Machinery

RISE Robotics, a leader in high-performance and cost effective electric linear actuation solutions, today announced it has raised $3 million in additional funding. The funding round was led by The Engine, the venture firm spun out of MIT that invests in early-stage Tough Tech companies that are solving the world’s most urgent problems, such as climate change, through the convergence of breakthrough science, engineering, and leadership.

RISE Robotics’ technology disrupts how linear actuators are engineered and makes the shift from diesel to electric systems possible, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible. Linear actuators create the push-and-pull movements in the mechanisms of heavy machinery which are essential for lifting and loading materials across many industries, including: construction, agriculture, and waste management. Without linear actuators excavators couldn’t dig, garbage trucks couldn’t crush, and forklifts couldn’t lift.