Windy City to Sin City: Robot manufacturer moves headquarters to Las Vegas
A robot manufacturer has moved its headquarters from the Windy City to Sin City.
AAA20 moved its headquarters from Chicago to Las Vegas in late April. It specializes in manufacturing robots for factories, to minimize hard labor and increase productivity.
The company has a 9,000-square-foot facility off Pilot Road near Harry Reid International Airport; its third, and largest facility for the company in the valley, which actually first arrived in Las Vegas in January 2020.
'The costs (in Chicago) are extremely high, of course,' said Marcus Kurle, co-founder of AAA20, on the reason for the move. 'I can travel anywhere directly with flights. We are four hours from California. Besides the fact, is a tax free state, so it was a great move.'
Despite the headquarters moving, AAA20 kept its facility in Chicago, as well as a showroom in Silicon Valley.
Since moving, the company has also been working with UNLV to hire engineers directly, bringing on two UNLV-graduated employees. Overall, the company has around 13 employees in Las Vegas.
With its main focus being factory solutions, AAA20's robots help minimize the 'repetitive tasks' of everyday factory work, the company said. AAA20 sources parts from around the world and manufactures them at the Las Vegas facility.
Its main robot is the CP200 Stretch Wrapper, which focuses on streamlining the palleting of goods.
'Whatever you see in a supermarket or in a pharmacy, those are transported in boxes,' said Kurle. 'Those boxes go in a pallet, and that pallet goes in a truck. We are automating the last piece, the repetitive tasks of carrying heavy boxes onto the pallet.'
The robot can weigh boxes, pick up and place them on a pallet, then shrink wrap them to prepare for shipping. While the robot is said to offer labor solutions, the robots do not take the human aspect out completely — the robot must be programmed and learn the size of the boxes and humans must be present to start and stop the machine.
What sets AAA20 apart from other robot manufacturers is the leasing options, Kurle said. With prices starting at around $5,000, companies can lease robots for a short period of time, with the option to purchase.
'For example, you need to hire just for Christmas, for holidays, you can rent a robot for two months,' said Kurle.
Currently, the company has around 50 clients across the country, but no Nevada-based customers yet. Right now, at their facility they are working on other robots to help streamline the factory process.
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