Reshoring is rarely one major move. For packaging OEMs, it can take shape through a series of decisions around production, suppliers, workforce, automation, and where equipment is built.
In this edition of On the Line, we look at how OEMs are building U.S. manufacturing capabilities, along with investments in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven picking that are expanding U.S. operations and support services.
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Reshoring in Packaging: How OEMs are Building U.S. Manufacturing Capabilities
Reshoring can take different forms for OEMs, from bringing machine production back to the U.S. to building domestic supplier networks and adding capacity closer to customers.
Packaging OEM’s latest special report looks at how Orion Packaging, JLS Automation, Triangle Package Machinery, and Lantech are approaching U.S. manufacturing. The report also includes insight from the Reshoring Initiative and American Momentum Bank on the industry, workforce, automation, tariffs, supplier relationships, and financing factors shaping reshoring decisions.
“We wanted to reduce the global volatility,” said Pat Pownall, business development manager at Orion Packaging. “We wanted to give our customers the Orion craftsmanship that they have become accustomed to, and we wanted the consistency of each and every machine that leaves our facility to be the same every single time.”
→ Download the special report
Formic grows robotics-as-a-service footprint in the Midwest
Our friends at Control Engineering toured Formic’s 53,000-square-foot Bolingbrook, Illinois, headquarters, where the company builds and tests robotic systems for palletizing, case packing, machine tending, and other applications.
The company’s robotics-as-a-service model is designed to give manufacturers access to automation without taking on the full capital, engineering, maintenance, and training requirements of a traditional installation.
“We had a dream of easy automation and delivery to lower risk for customers,” said Shawn Fitzgerald, chief revenue officer at Formic. “We can impact operations quickly. We take the risks, so customers don’t have to.”
→ Read more
Sereact opens Boston-area HQ to support AI-driven order picking systems
Sereact opened a U.S. headquarters near Boston this summer to support demonstrations, testing, delivery, and customer support for its AI-driven robotic picking systems.
The company started with 10 employees at the Charlestown site and expects to grow to as many as 60 over the next year. The facility also includes space for gripper refurbishment, customer testing, and rapid order fulfillment.
“We wanted to make robots more intelligent and flexible,” said Sereact CEO Ralf Gulde, who co-founded the company based on vision and embodied AI research.
→ Read more
Final takeaway
Reshoring looks different from company to company, but the common thread is building more capabilities closer to North American customers.
That includes OEMs strengthening domestic production and companies like Formic and Sereact expanding the robotics and support infrastructure around it.
