May 20 2015
Nanotronics Imaging, developer of the world’s most technologically advanced nanoimaging solutions, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Franklin Mechanical & Control, Inc. (Franklin MCI), a Hollister, California-based manufacturer of advanced mechanical and optical equipment. Through this acquisition, Nanotronics will incorporate Franklin MCI as a unique manufacturing division known as Nanotronics Automation offering customers a fully integrated suite of hardware prototyping, production services, and solutions.
For fifteen years Franklin MCI has designed and manufactured precision equipment for a variety of industries, including electronics, biomedical, semiconductor, agricultural, mining, and automotive. The company’s extensive product portfolio and experience designing, building, and deploying custom precision equipment complements Nanotronics’ proprietary AI, software, and high-quality optics offerings. Nanotronics can now serve as an end-to-end provider of both software and hardware, able to offer customers fully customized equipment for rapid prototyping and deployment at greater speed and efficiency, and at a lower cost compared to other production alternatives.
“We have built a strong relationship with the team at Franklin over the past few years and feel that bringing them into our company will be an incredible boost for Nanotronics and our customers,” said Julie Orlando, Vice President of Technology at Nanotronics. “In the present market, customers in advanced hardware manufacturing like semiconductors can have a difficult time testing out new designs that show a lot of promise but may be too risky to invest the kind of capital required to design and build a new factory system. By combining Franklin’s expertise in customized precision equipment and our expertise in nanoimaging, we’re able to help our customers test out new design concepts and experiment with new product possibilities at off-the-shelf prices and faster turnaround times.”
Nanotronics CEO Matthew Putman said, “We have always focused on the agility of our software as we allow customers to update as fast as we add features and make improvements. With this new division we will be able to bring much of the same agility to hardware.”
Nanotronics Automation is located at Franklin MCI’s existing facility in Hollister, California, joining Nanotronics’ Brooklyn, New York headquarters and Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio office as the company’s first facility on the West Coast. Under the terms of the acquisition, Franklin MCI’s executive team, led by Randy Griffith, will continue to oversee day-to-day operations at Nanotronics Automated Solutions. Franklin MCI employees will transition to Nanotronics employees effective immediately.
“Nanotronics Imaging has been a valued customer and partner for several years,” said Randy Griffith, President of Franklin MCI. “Our entire team is excited to start a new chapter as employees of Nanotronics, a company that is enabling some of the most promising scientific advances to come to life.”
About Franklin Mechanical & Control (MCI)
Franklin MCI designs and manufactures precision equipment for any industry that requires microscope inspection, precise motions, or automation. These include the electronics, biomedical, semiconductor, agricultural, mining, and automotive industries. Franklin MCI has long offered a variety of products to meet those needs and specializes in custom solutions.
About Nanotronics Imaging
Nanotronics Imaging brings the nanoscale world within reach, by combining the highest quality off-the-shelf technologies with customized advanced mathematical solutions and artificial intelligence to make nanoimaging fast, accurate and cost-efficient. The company’s proprietary systems allow computer-controlled microscopes to process, analyze and report on nanoscale images in a way that can’t be done with the human eye, or with alternative technologies, at a fraction of the cost. Nanotronics Imaging is funded by San Francisco’s Founders Fund.