Formic, a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) automation provider for U.S. manufacturers, officially announced the addition of Joel Onyshuk as its Vice President of Sales and Todd Plotner as the company’s first General Counsel. Following continued business growth and an additional Series A financing round of $27.4 million in June, Onyshuk and Plotner’s collective industry experience supports the company’s goal to accelerate the adoption of automation across American manufacturing.
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Formic specializes in full service case packing and palletizing automation. (Photo: Business Wire)
“This announcement comes amid rapid business growth and a commitment to innovating faster, driving better outcomes, and building even better systems and processes for our partners and customers,” said Saman Farid, Formic CEO. “Joel brings vast industry experience and new sales expertise to the team, while Todd serves to bolster the legal infrastructure critical to delivering our full-service automation solutions to customers.”
Onyshuk will lead the continued evolution of the sales team to deliver our Full Service Palletizers to the CPG market, build out Formic’s overall business footprint, and drive revenue growth for the business. He joins the team with impressive experience serving the food and beverage market. As an early employee at Redzone, he worked with the owners to grow the company from $7 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $100 million ARR in six years, leading to an acquisition of $1 billion, or 10x the company revenue. He also co-founded Unisyn and served as the Senior Vice President of Atana, Inc., where he overhauled the sales team and tools, leading to the growth of the company’s average ASP and value-per-opportunity by 100% in 6 months.
“This is the dream job for someone like me,” Onyshuk said. “I’ve had the pleasure of being a trusted advisor to the food, beverage, and CPG manufacturing world for many years, and nothing is more exciting than being back in that world again in this role, especially at this stage in Formic’s journey. Growing and coaching our sales team to be world-class and prepared to deliver 300% growth in 2025 is my biggest focus and passion, and we will be successful.”
In his new role, Plotner will support financial planning and analysis and Formic’s asset finance infrastructure critical for service delivery. He joins with 25 years of experience in equipment leasing, securitization, and structured finance. While a Partner at Chicago-based Chapman and Cutler LLP, Plotner represented Wall Street banks, specialty finance companies, and start-ups. He also advised companies on financing arrangements for a variety of assets including industrial equipment.
“I know Formic takes seriously its commitment to making automation easy, seamless, and almost magical for both the initial installation of robotic systems and day-to-day operations and maintenance to allow factories and production facilities to focus on their core business instead of selecting, installing, programming, and maintaining robots,” Plotner said. “I’m excited to be part of the team to help Formic grow by providing even more efficient automation services to American industry.”
To further serve the market need for accessible automation, Formic has launched a partner program to team up with industry leaders and distributors, enabling them to provide Full Service Automation to their customers. With ongoing labor shortages in the manufacturing industry, Automation Hub, MDSA Consulting LLC, Werner Electric, Optamate, Crown Packaging, Industrial Marketing, and BRG Consulting, Inc. are excited to offer a new, risk-free way for U.S. manufacturers to get started with automation.
“Businesses recognize the need for a solution to ongoing labor shortages, unnecessary production downtime, and safeguards against the supply chain turbulence we’ve seen in recent years,” Farid said. “But for many companies, automating has always felt outside the realm of possibility because of the cost, expertise, and human capital required. Robots-as-a-Service is changing that, and with the addition of Joel and Todd to the Formic team, and the launch of our partner program, we can better emphasize how we’re removing barriers to automation success and simplifying production processes through automation in an accessible way.”
About Formic
Formic was founded in 2020 to accelerate the accessibility of automation across American manufacturing by delivering the positive outcomes that robotic automation enables: more capacity, consistency, and reliability; less cost, downtime, and worker safety issues. Our Full-Service Rental program includes 24/7 technical support, 100% maintenance coverage, and guaranteed performance rates with $0 CapEx at a fixed monthly rate. Our product is productivity, and our robotic systems are a consistently dependable employee in facilities struggling with ongoing labor shortages and production downtime. Learn more at formic.co or by emailing hi@formic.co.
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