Robotics News
The October 2010 issue of
The Atlantic Magazine features a fine article about Baltimore-based Marlin Steel Wire. Drew Greenblatt, owner and CEO of Marlin Steel Wire, was a featured speaker at the 2010 Chesapeake Regional. Mr. Greenblatt is also Chairman of the Regional Manufacturing
Institute which will feature FIRST teams at its 20th anniversary gala on October 28th.
The Marlin factory sits on Baltimore's outskirts, in a vast brick building that houses a dozen or so companies, from manufacturers to shipping and storage. In fact, Marlin's public face is so unobtrusive that I would never have found it without
the exact address.
But behind that blank brick wall is an
array of robots, stamping machines, and other equipment marvelous enough to swell the heart of any red-blooded fan of the industrial revolution. On the day I visited, workers in shorts and goggles on one side of the floor were spot-welding baskets to hold
components for Honeywell. On the other side, machines were doing work all by themselves. I watched, somewhat awestruck, as one machine put a series of complicated crimps in a piece of wire that was then grabbed by a robot, which rotated the wire, put it back
in the machine for a final crimp, and then deposited it onto a rack of
identical wire parts-brackets, as it turned out, for telecom cabinets. That day they were going to Singapore, but they could have been going to any of the
29 countries and counting to which Marlin now exports.
First Robotics in Maryland Blog
The Atlantic Magazine - The Bright Side
