“Parts and labor” for auto-repair estimates can be a painful phrase to hear as inflation rates surge, but one suburban Detroit startup aims to reduce the costs for about half of that equation with a new generation of robots.
(Bloomberg) — “Parts and labor” for auto-repair estimates can be a painful phrase to hear as inflation rates surge, but one suburban Detroit startup aims to reduce the costs for about half of that equation with a new generation of robots.
Plymouth, Michigan-based RoboTire Inc. has developed a system using a pair of robots from Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. that can rotate four tires in 18 minutes with the push of a button, a job that can take a person almost twice as long.
The robots can cut labor costs by as much as 40%, or the equivalent of three employees in a tire shop doing the same work as five, said Victor Darolfi, who founded the company in 2019 and counts Discount Tire Co. as an investor and customer.
“We’re making the most sophisticated tool a shop owner can have to help the technicians do their job,” Darolfi said in an interview, adding his company plans to add other services, such as brake inspection and alignment.
The shift to swap robots for human labor has accelerated as worker shortages have increased costs. Last year, auto companies drove overall robot orders 11% higher to a record of about 44,200 in North America, compared to 2021, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. Though in the first quarter, orders dropped 21% from a year earlier to about 9,200.
RoboTire’s system uses vehicle identification numbers to adjust to the wheel set of any vehicle made in 1986 or later. The price is negotiated for each system, which pays for itself from efficiency and cost savings in three to five years. It integrates with some existing tire-changing and wheel-balancing equipment to do those jobs almost hands-free.
The system has been installed with four customers so far and the company expects to announce a new round of funding as early as next month to ramp up production, Darolfi said.
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