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Fast Radius Opens Headquarters and State-of-the-Art Additive Manufacturing Factory in Chicago‘s West Loop
Chicago – Fast Radius, a leading manufacturing technology firm, today announced the opening of their headquarters in Chicago’s West Loop, where the company is scaling up its manufacturing footprint, software development teams, and sales teams. The location features one of the most advanced industrial-grade additive manufacturing (“3D printing”) facilities in North America. It also houses the largest Carbon production facility in the Western Hemisphere and extensive HP MultiJet Fusion technology.
Fast Radius’ technology platform and team of engineers help clients unlock value from additive manufacturing across a product’s lifecycle. The platform supports clients in identifying potential applications, conducting engineering and economic evaluations, accelerating new product development, and ultimately manufacturing industrial-grade parts at scale with the latest additive technologies. To date, Fast Radius has raised over $17M in venture funding from top-tier investors including Drive Capital, United Parcel Service (UPS), Jump Capital, Skydeck Ventures, and Hyde Park Venture Partners.
The strategic decision to headquarter Fast Radius’ platform and presence in Chicago is notable because Chief Executive Officer Lou Rassey and a number of Fast Radius executives first collaborated while building Chicago-based Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), including Chief Scientist Bill King, PhD, Chief Product Officer John Nanry and Enterprise Solutions Leader John Ramirez. King also was the founding Chief Technology Officer for DMDII.
“It was important to the Fast Radius team that we were headquartered in Chicago, as we are passionate about being a part of the next great industrial manufacturing renaissance in this city, the Midwest, and ultimately, the world,” said Rassey.
In addition to the Chicago headquarters, Fast Radius has offices in Atlanta, Ga and Singapore, as well as a production hub on-site at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville, Ky. Their strategic partnership with UPS unlocks entirely new supply chain solutions for both companies’ clients, enabling production-grade parts to be produced and shipped the same day.
“Manufacturing and logistics are in the midst of a fundamental platform shift to the cloud,” said Nick Solaro, Partner, Drive Capital. “The ability to transport parts across the globe—digitally—will transform manufacturing and commerce as we know it. So will the ability to create new, innovative product designs through additive. We believe that the Fast Radius technology platform clearly represents the next generation of manufacturing and logistics infrastructure that will bring these opportunities to life.”
Rassey leads a growing team at Fast Radius. Prior to taking the CEO role, Rassey was a Partner with McKinsey & Company where he focused on manufacturing, industrial innovation, and private equity. He brings over 20 years of experience in manufacturing to the company.
Just like Rassey, the rest of the Fast Radius team brings a wide breadth of industry and technology experience. Nanry joined Fast Radius from McKinsey where he led the Digital Manufacturing Practice. King serves as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Ramirez worked at World Business Chicago to architect the City’s manufacturing technology strategy.
Rounding out the executive team are Chief Operating Officer Pat McCusker and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Brian Simms. McCusker joins Fast Radius after serving as President, North America of technology firm InnerWorkings (NASDAQ: INWK) and as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company. Brian Simms was formerly the Chief Sales Officer at Rubicon Global and has also held sales leadership roles at Amazon and Groupon.
“Pat, John, Bill, John and Brian form the perfect core team to grow Fast Radius as we build out our technology platform and global footprint to bring manufacturing innovation to the world at scale,” said Rassey.
About Fast Radius
Fast Radius is the leading provider of additive manufacturing solutions, including application discovery, product design and testing, production-grade manufacturing and global fulfillment. From entirely new products uniquely enabled by additive manufacturing to global supply chain solutions leveraging a virtual warehouse, Fast Radius brings the future of manufacturing and the supply chain to its clients. Visit fastradius.com for additional information.