This past February, Robex, an automation and robotics integrator for the food, beverage, building, and container industries, rolled out a unique offering that delivers its custom-made robots in a usage-based finance model. This Machine-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering is a flexible way to install equipment on the factory floor without having to invest upfront capital. Instead, the customer pays for a successful outcome based on a predetermined agreement around productivity.
The service, called Robex Flexx, is powered by SteamChain, blockchain-based software used to measure a variety of critical machine productivity parameters in real-time which then calculates transactional payments based on a machine’s overall performance. Robex also bundles preventative maintenance into the contract. “If we see a robot is not performing or part of the solution is not working, we are on it right away,” says Craig Francisco, president of Robex. “Probably before a customer even picks up the phone, we know there’s an issue and we will fix it immediately.”
