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Q5D, an authentic gear producer (OEM) of robotic arm, hybrid additive manufacturing (AM) methods used for wire harness manufacturing, has closed a $3 million funding spherical. The funding arm of protection large Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin Ventures, led the spherical.
Based mostly within the UK, Q5D makes a machine known as the CY1000, a producing cell that includes a five-axis robotic arm suitable with totally different toolheads that may deposit a wide range of supplies together with conductive inks, and pick-and-place wire harness assemblies onto different components. As wire harnesses are “systematic and built-in association[s] of cables” used to “transmit a sign or electrical energy,” the CY1000 may be considered as a hybrid electronics printer.
That is no less than the second funding in as a few years by Lockheed Martin Ventures into an OEM specializing in electronics printing, with the division becoming a member of with RTX Ventures in 2023 to make a $12.5 million funding in composites 3D printing OEM Fortify. As with all different strategically important areas of the economic system, the protection sector has been hit exhausting by the chaos in semiconductor provide chains in recent times, driving protection contractors to ramp up investments in microelectronics.
In a press launch about Q5D’s $3 million funding spherical led by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Q5D’s co-founder and CEO, Stephen Bennington, mentioned, “We’re thrilled to have Lockheed Martin as a strategic investor. The potential marketplace for our expertise inside the protection sector, for each printed electronics and wiring merchandise, is huge. Lockheed Martin’s steerage and help will spearhead our entry into this market and past.” The VP and common supervisor of Lockheed Martin Ventures, Chris Moran, mentioned, “We see the chance for elevated versatility and agility in Q5D’s expertise. Wiring is a posh and costly a part of the manufacturing course of. Q5D’s expertise can supply flexibility with the potential for {hardware} to effectively swap between manufacturing totally different components with out compromising high quality.”
In June 2023, across the identical time as Lockheed Martin Ventures introduced its joint funding with RTX Ventures into Fortify, Lockheed and semiconductor agency GlobalFoundries introduced a strategic collaboration to bolster semiconductor provide chains in upstate New York. Earlier this yr, it was introduced that GlobalFoundries would obtain $3.1 billion in federal subsidies from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Together with serving to Lockheed assert management over its personal current provide chains, corporations like Q5D might assist the protection contractor department out into new markets. Nationwide safety enterprises’ accelerated give attention to the hyperlinks between manufacturing and their overarching mission means it’s not inconceivable that, sooner or later, each provide chain disruption will probably be considered as a matter of nationwide safety.
Thus, Lockheed and the opposite primes might realistically be enlisted into duties like serving to the automakers out of a jam, civil works crises, and so forth. On this context, it might appear no less than considerably related that Q5D is a UK-based firm. In any case, even when Lockheed’s electronics investments solely ever straight have an effect on its personal provide chains, we should always count on that bulletins like this one will proceed to turn out to be an increasing number of commonplace.
Photos courtesy of Q5D
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