MacroFab 2018 Year in Review: Manufacturing On-Demand Platform Experiences Record Growth

Houston-based tech startup MacroFab is revolutionizing the electronics manufacturing industry by building a marketplace that will benefit both its customers and contract manufacturers (CMs). The company experienced a record-breaking year in 2018, marked by aggressive growth in bookings and revenue, an ever-increasing number of repeat customers, a new CEO and expanded management team entering 2019.

MacroFab builds printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies and finished electronics products at both low and high volume quantities through its proprietary online platform. They provide these turnkey manufacturing services for a variety of industries including Industrial IoT, Digital Oilfield, Robotics/Drones, Industrial Automation and Consumer Electronics. The company has built a successful business model through its online platform and is now creating the first vertical manufacturing marketplace in the electronics industry.

Since being founded in 2013, MacroFabs easy-to-use online platform and outstanding level of customer service have helped hundreds of customers get their products to market. Through their turnkey services, customers can stay with MacroFab throughout their products creation lifecycle from prototype to production. This model has helped the company grow substantially in 2018:

• 120% growth in sales.
• 37% increase in repeat customers per quarter.
• Expansion of the manufacturing network to US factories and capacity growth in Mexico.
• 27x increase in manufacturing network production volume.
• Industry-leading Net Promoter Score of 55% (industry standard is -3)
• MacroFab weekly podcast has more than 300,000 total downloads

MacroFab made key personnel changes in 2018 that have strengthened its leadership team. In November the company announced thatMisha Govshteynjoined the team as Chief Executive Officer. Founder and former CEO, Chris Church moved into a new role as Chief Product Officer. Scott Stearns has joined as Director of Supply Chain Management. Taylor Smith has been promoted to Director of Account Management and Sales. Lastly, Chris Mullins was hired in October to lead the partner development network as VP of Business Development.

The $480B electronics manufacturing industry is largely operated by decades-old systems of emails, conference calls and large teams of people. The software engineering team at MacroFab has built a cloud-based, API-enabled platform that allows customers to upload design files to receive instant quotes and lead times driven by intelligent algorithms. MacroFab customers can get to market faster by accessing unlimited and on-demand capacity through a growing network of CMs in the US and Mexico.

Our platform is transformational for both our customers and partners. We are making it easier than ever before to manufacture their PCBs at higher volumes in North America, through access to as much manufacturing capacity as they need, so they can get to market faster and rely on consistent quality, said Misha Govshteyn, CEO of MacroFab.

MacroFab customers gain the ability to consume electronics manufacturing as a virtualized resource, which is a more convenient user experience and allows them to scale without looking for new suppliers as they grow. MacroFab partners gain a source of low overhead manufacturing jobs, allowing them to fully subscribe their factory capacity and eliminate idle time. The production process is driven by the companys digital platform at every stage of production to ensure just-in-time logistics management and guaranteed quality of service.

The dominant trend were seeing is a return to manufacturing in North America for most critical technologies, where electronics production is a growing $70B industry, Govshteyn said. Our fastest growth segments are in robotics, automotive and industrial IoT, and its not only due to trade conflicts and tariffs. We consistently hear that IP protection, supply chain security, digital-first experience and ability to work within the same continent is essential to rapid product iteration. Were not talking about commodity electronics. These are highly complex industrial products with rapidly evolving designs Govshteyn continued.

In what can take other CMs months to go from quoting to full production, MacroFab has found a way to shorten the manufacturing timeline, benefitting entrepreneurs and businesses around the world. The startup is effectively changing the way that the industry operates, by helping realize new innovations and by bringing new electronic devices into the market more affordably and easier than ever before.