Building a Generational Manufacturing Company | Ed Mehr, Founder & CEO @ Machina Labs

In Episode 12, we speak with one of my favorite founders in robotics! Today, Edward Mehr, CEO and Founder of Machina Labs, joins us for Scaling Robotics.Machina builds RoboCraftsman, a 40-by-30-foot dual-arm robotic cell that forms sheet metal by pinching and incrementally deforming it, the way a potter shapes clay. The same cell drops its forming end effector to trim, scan, and soon heat treat and forge. They've deployed 19 robots and are working to scale this to many more, with factories being set up in the USA and the UAE.We discuss Machina's journey to get there: securing their first contracts with NASA and the Air Force, building a high-margin, semi-automated robotics business, and cultivating an engineering culture that continues to excel to this day. Ed also talks about his personal experiences that brought him to robotics and why he joined SpaceX as an early employee.If you're a robotics founder interested in how to build a team, fundraise, and create a great robotics business, this one is for you!L𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒- Miru Blog (including episode transcripts): https://www.mirurobotics.com/blog- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1xr38bFEhk7MSf8UvmPUBo?si=761aeb03b4464fd1&nd=1&dlsi=fa48d636a0f74df6- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/scaling-robotics/id1857724488𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒(00:00:04) – Introduction(00:03:00) – The Problem Machina Solves (00:06:15) – Fleet Scale and Factory Buildout(00:07:51) – Ed's Origin Story(00:13:10) – Lessons from SpaceX Culture(00:16:15) – Early Customers and Going to Market(00:18:56) – Staying Lean and Building with Humans in the Loop(00:23:20) – Culture: What Not to Copy from SpaceX(00:27:18) – Scaling: From R&D Shop to Factory Operator(00:30:49) – Bridging Engineering and the Factory Floor(00:33:15) – Telling the Story: Fundraising and Vision(00:36:55) – The Strategic Thread for Machina(00:42:03) – Operational Excellence: Learning from Toyota and SendCutSend(00:45:24) – Staying Lean with Resources(00:48:13) – Lightning Round(00:51:00) – Why Manufacturing and Robotics(00:53:22) – How to Help Machina Labs