Rocket Roundtable: Event Recap

April 30, 2021

FORGE hosted a public, virtual Rocket Roundtable for Supply Chain Solutions, where an autonomous vehicle startup pitched their physical product challenges and received live advice from the supply chain expert panelists.

This Rocket Pitch was more of a “Drone Pitch”, as it centered on a single startup, Airgility, which is an early-stage unmanned aerial systems company based out of College Park, Maryland. The panel featured representatives from Alpine Bearing, Fourstar Connections, Axis New England, and PEKO.

Airgility came prepared with demonstration videos of their product in action and detailed the roadblocks they faced on the path to commercialization. Airgility is preparing to enter low-scale production, but needs design flexibility in order to keep up with the constantly evolving technologies available in their highly competitive industry. Our panel of suppliers was ready to offer their expertise on the benefits and drawbacks of continuing to 3D print versus creating a custom mold, as well as advice on sourcing key components, like custom bearings.

The consensus of the supplier panel was to get in touch with manufacturers as early as possible, allowing startups to receive critical design for manufacturing support and prevent complications later on in development. FORGE’s network of 400+ regional suppliers is ready and willing to connect with startups to provide them the knowledge and resources they need.