Before Silicon Valley, there was Pittsburgh in the early 1900s. Young entrepreneurs with serious capital flocked to the city, creating industries from the ground up. From plate glass and oil drilling to vulcanized rubber, these steel processes would later build America’s skyline.
But today, something incredible is happening in the Steel City once again. The same superstructures tower overhead, but below, you’ll find robots solving automation challenges that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.
We sit down with Jay Douglass, COO of the ARM Institute, inside the historic Mill 19 facility. The epic building sits beneath a 1,400-foot steel framework that once stored World War II ammunition. Only now, it houses one of our country’s most advanced robotics labs, and it’s all powered by the largest slope solar array in North America.
This story is personal to Jay, too. We learn that his great uncle was the first head of workforce at the steel company that operated on this exact site back in 1883. Four generations later, Jay’s tackling a problem as old as time. How do you help American manufacturers scale and stay competitive?
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3 Quick Things from this Episode
- Small manufacturers may think using robotics is out of reach. But the ARM Institute’s approach makes it simple by duplicating your manufacturing challenge in their lab first, then building out realistic specs and workforce requirements, before you even spend a dime.
- Solid assessments save more money than most automation projects. Sometimes the smartest outcome is walking away with complete clarity on why robotics won’t work, before making a costly mistake.
- Manufacturing’s biggest risk is waiting too long to engage automation experts. It’s better to spend two months discovering automation won’t work than two years trying to make the wrong solution stick.
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Tweetable Quotes
- “We created the industrial world 130 years ago, and now we’re really pushing the robotics industry.”– Jay Douglass
- “We’re not going to buy you a robot. We’re gonna help you make a better decision.” – Jay Douglass
- “Another thing about small businesses; if they’re not focused on cost, quality, and time to market, by definition they’re going out of business.” – Jay Douglass
Please Scroll Down for Recommended Resources from this Episode
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This episode is part of the MADE HERE City Series, created in partnership with ISN, the Industrial Solutions Network. In these episodes, we’re exploring what makes a city’s manufacturing community so special. This series not only features full podcast interviews with manufacturing leaders, but behind-the-scenes tours of some of the region’s most iconic and important industrial operations. Check out our latest mini-series in Nebraska today.
Hexagon is the global leader in precision technologies at any scale. Their digital twins, robotics, and AI solutions are transforming the industries that shape our reality. Learn how Hexagon is helping unlock next level innovation, bringing the power of automation, simulation, and real-time quality control to the smallest shop floor or the largest enterprise.
What We Discuss with Jay
- How 450+ Pittsburgh companies are working together instead of against each other
- The truth of America’s manufacturing dependence (and why we’d be lost buying only US-made products)
- Why robotics seems like building the “Starship Enterprise” to small manufacturers, and the practical solutions that overcome this
- A compelling family story spanning 140 years at the same industrial site, from steel workforce supervisor to robotics leader
- How proper robotics risk assessments save costly automation mistakes later down the line
- His formula for the future of domestic manufacturing: Robots + people = Scalability + skillset
- The history of the Mill 19 building from 1940, when it was constructed, to now
Recommended Resources
- The ARM Institute is America’s manufacturing robotics consortium advancing automation for national security and economic competitiveness
- Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute is a leading robotics research institution driving Pittsburgh’s transformation into America’s automation hub.
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