IMTS+ Road Trippin’ Show Premieres July 27

Detroit was given the name “Motor City” for a reason. It was the global center of the automotive industry at the turn of the 20th century where skilled workers and innovation were flourishing. As things change, so too will they remain the same, and viewers will find out in Season Three of “Road Trippin’ with Steve” when host Steve LaMarca visits Detroit to drop in on  Stellantis, LIFT and FANUC.

An IMTS+ Original Series, Season Three of “Road Trippin’ with Steve” premieres July 27 on IMTS+ on imts.com.

The first stop was Stellantis’ Detroit Assembly Complex – Jefferson. Spread over 3 million square feet, the facility houses an army of robots working as a team with few humans in sight. Its production line includes the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 and Dodge Durango.

“It was the first time I’ve seen that many robots. It was like watching synchronized swimming. It was like watching a play,” LaMarca says. “However, the thing that blew me away was the pride behind their product. Each worker genuinely loved being there.”

Next stop: LIFT, which is operated by the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII), a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense, industry and academia, and one of the Manufacturing USA institutes.

“In areas where our education system has failed, LIFT is doing its best to pick it up,” LaMarca says. “In terms of technology, they cover everything from welding to automation and robotics to metal additive. If we have a skills gap in manufacturing, then down the road we are absolutely going to have a skills gap problem in stuff like material science.”

A visit to FANUC America, the automation segment leader’s North American headquarters, is a rite of passage in the manufacturing industry and Steve’s next stop on his road trip. “It’s almost entirely a research and development lab dedicated to improving their products and proof of concept reliability testing,” LaMarca says. A separate 600,000-square-foot facility is “packed with robots,” where FANUC installs customer-requested, end-of-arm tooling in accessory packages, wraps them up and gets them ready for shipping.

“I learned FANUC welcomed competition from other robot companies,” he says. “It’s not something that they shy away from because competition makes them better.” LaMarca has the keys to all three of these innovative Motor City companies. Get in and enjoy the ride in Season Three of “Road Trippin with Steve” on IMTS+ on imts.com.