An industrial plant in S.F.? Yes, it’s real
Tempo Automation brings manufacturing back
A low hum pervades Tempo Automation’s “smart factory” in San Francisco, as refrigeratorsize machines churn out electronics while smockclad workers wheel components on metal carts.
San Francisco hasn’t been a manufacturing center for decades. But pockets of small, highvalue manufacturing — like the prototype circuit boards made by Tempo — are taking hold as tech extends its reach into the city.
“We free up electronics manufacturing to move at the speed of software development,” said Jeff McAlvay, Tempo CEO and cofounder, as he stood on a balcony overlooking the manufacturing floor in the Design District building. Companies buy the custommade circuit board prototypes and use them to develop new products.
Each of the factory’s manufacturing machines is a marvel of innovation — but they don’t talk to one another. Tempo’s innovation is proprietary software that interconnects them.
Tempo aims to speed up electronics manufacturing to match — as much as possible — the pace of software updates.
“With software, you can do 100 updates in a day with no trouble,” McAlvay said. “Electronics would take
weeks.”
Massmarket electronics manufacturing mainly happens overseas where labor is cheaper. But prototype makers need to be near product designers, so the products can be constantly refined. Not surprisingly, the Bay Area, the epicenter of technology innovation, is home to scores of prototype factories, McAlvay said.
“Silicon Valley probably has the highest concentration there is,” said Sharon Starr, director of market research for IPC, a trade group for electronics manufacturers. “Anybody who does prototyping needs to work very closely with their customers.”
Circuit boards are integral parts for all sorts of products, from airplanes to dishwashers. Tempo’s focus is on aerospace, medical devices and industrial applications.
“Tempo allowed us to take a clue from the cell phone industry and get into rapid prototyping,” said Ken Merchant, vice president of F35 global sustainment at Lockheed Martin. It is both a customer of Tempo and an investor, having participated in the company’s recent $45 million funding. Tempo has a total of $74.6 million in backing. Of its approximately 120 employees, about 50 are dedicated to factory work.
“Our traditional suppliers don’t operate that fast,” Merchant said. “With Tempo, we upload a design, push a few buttons, they build it and send it to us.”
Lockheed Martin used Tempo in developing systems to test for flutter, the term for unstable oscillation affecting wings or other parts an airplane. “Our original plan was 22 months to get a production system,” he said. “We were able to get it done within 11 months.”
About a third of Tempo’s customers want it to take products “all the way across the finish line,” doing lowvolume production, McAlvay said. It’s not equipped to churn out millions of smartphones, but manufacturing 500 or 1,000 medical devices is feasible.
Along with cofounders Shashank Samala and Jesse Koenig, McAlvay started Tempo in 2013 in the hallway of a beauty salon in downtown San Francisco. The idea came from his work at an industrial supply company.
“The average product has 14 iterations before it goes to market,” McAlvay said. “Our competitors produce a version every three weeks or so; for us, it’s every three days. Multiply that difference by 14 and it stacks up.”