MITO® Materials receives Conexus grant

Working with the IEDC and Conexus allows MITO to leverage additional opportunities. MITO’s CEO, Haley Marie Keith, shares why now is an essential time for MITO to make strategic growth choices, “MITO is investing in processes and equipment now for our future. We believe industrial scaling is required for our materials to power real-world growth. Instead of viewing MITO as a startup in a niche market, we are looking at the global stage of the graphene industry. We are setting up MITO, and our client partners, for industrial success. This type of investment is an essential part of our transition from startup to growth company. Now is the right time for MITO to invest in organizational processes and equipment as we prepare for industry demand.”

MITO’s Executive Vice President, Caio Lo Sardo, spearheaded the application for the Manufacturing Readiness grant as well as expenditure choices. Lo Sardo focused on three main areas for improvement: technology, process improvement, and employee safety.

MITO implemented an ERP that will provide MITO with operational efficiency and accuracy, managing inventory, production, warehousing, customer orders, and  purchasing process, and shipping. This technology solution will minimize errors, save unnecessary costs, and streamline operations procedures in a single place.

MITO installed an automated milling/screen system that will be used towards MITO’s flagship formulation, E-GOTM, and speed up the manufacturing at the post-processing level. The high output post-processing equipment will enable MITO to achieve large-scale volume processing and fulfill orders with efficiency, quality, and consistent batch-to-batch post-processing.

MITO invested in an automated ventilation system that reduces air interior pollution. The Downdraft tables and Non-Sparking Walk-in clean air stations enable MITO to maintain a safe working environment and air quality in the Indianapolis warehouse space. While collecting hazardous dust from particles during manufacturing (post-processing) and packaging as well as during the research activities to characterize MITO’s formulations in different polymers and troubleshoot customer issues, the system keeps hazardous and controlled particulates from reaching the environment, contributing to a key MITO value – a sustainable operation.

 “The new equipment and technology purchases are directly related to better manufacturing output, increasing capacity, and developing both more efficient and safer processes. Using the Manufacturing Readiness grant for critical large expense purchases also allowed MITO to focus on small but meaningful areas of manufacturing improvement,” states Lo Sardo. “Our E-GO additive is sold by the gram. Additional development is ongoing to make this process more robust and cost-effective. The material is engineered to deliver large value at low loading levels – users need 0.1% of E-GO by weight of the material. Our product could quickly make a significant market impact with a large volume or high-impact use case. And we now have the capacity to scale our production, through the support of the Conexus grant.“

A case study on how MITO has deepened their manufacturing ability through the Manufacturing Readiness grant can be found here.

What are the examples of qualifying smart manufacturing investments?
Projects should directly affect manufacturing processes and focus on investments in commercial-ready equipment through established vendors. The equipment should be beyond ‘advanced’ in nature, i.e. more technologically intensive and broadly innovative than mere upgrades via standard automation, increased capacity, tighter tolerances, improved fabrication techniques, or other incremental improvements that are common for the applicant’s sector. Strong applications offer a detailed description for how the applicant is undertaking an initiative that will be transformative beyond the status quo for themselves and competitors. The equipment should credibly leverage technologies such as industrial internet of things (IIoT), sensor technology, COBOTS, additive manufacturing (3D printing), big data and analytics, cybersecurity, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), digital twin, advanced modeling, blockchain, autonomous robotics or vehicles, augmented, virtual, or mixed reality, cloud computing, and advanced communications (5G, etc).