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Trump’s trade war has increased demand for robotics and automation.
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Robots-as-a-service company Formic said its customers have stepped up their use of robots this year.
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Automation can help companies to save money amid uncertainty.
Automation company Formic said that its customers stepped up their robot usage this year as tariff announcements sent global supply chains into chaos.
Formic automates packing and palletizing — or placing packages on a pallet — for automotive, industrial, food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods companies. It operates on a “robots-as-a-service” model, meaning that customers lease Formic’s robots and pay a monthly rate based on how much they use them. Its robots are deployed in more than 100 factories in the US and have stacked and packed more than 1.2 billion products.
Between January and February, Formic’s customers increased their robot usage by more than 17% overall, Chief Marketing Officer Shawn Fitzgerald told Business Insider. Its food and beverage customers stepped up their usage by more than 13%. He said the usage numbers seemed particularly notable given that February has fewer business days than the other months of the year.
It’s likely that brands were using robots to get ahead of any tariff-related price increases.
President Donald Trump made his first in a series of tariff announcements on February 1, placing tariffs on goods from China, Canada, and Mexico, and closing the de minimis tax loophole.
“This data suggests everyone sat down with each other and said, let’s step on the gas as much as we can in February, and let’s make as much as we possibly can at the price points we are at right now,” Fitzgerald said.
Formic customers’ robot usage dipped in March, but the numbers are showing signs of a rebound so far in April, the company said. This month has seen the return of global trade chaos as Trump announced a large set of tariffs on April 2 — which he called “Liberation Day” — then later paused those tariffs except for those on goods from China.
Fitzgerald said that working with Formic helps companies to get more predictability in their costs amid uncertainty.
“If you do unfortunately have to go to overtime, robots love first, second, and third shift and overtime all the same. They do not care,” he said.
Formic’s customers include Rumiano Cheese Company, a cheese-making and packaging company based in Willows, a small town in the Sacramento Valley of California. Automation is top of mind for the 106-year-old company — even more so as tariffs have posed a threat to their profits this year. Rumiano imports cheeses from Italy and exports products to Mexico, China, and the Dominican Republic through a third party.
