Lear to open automated factory as ‘blueprint’ for global network

The Michigan facility is expected to go live next year and be equipped with a host of automation tools, including two separate automated storage and retrieval systems.

Lear’s Orion facility represents the capstone on a 10-year journey built on strategic acquisitions and technology development, according to executives. Through acquisitions of companies such as WIP Industrial Automation, Thagora Technology and InTouch Automation, Lear is able to develop proprietary technology for its manufacturing sites that create a “competitive moat that will be difficult for others to replicate,” Scott said.

For example, the Orion site has two different automated storage and retrieval systems, one that handles raw components such as foam and another that handles finished goods. An internal team born out of Lear’s purchase of ASI Automation developed both systems, per Scott.

“We own the IP, we control the road map, and we can scale it across our global footprint,” Scott said.

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