In this episode we are joined by CircuitHub co-founder Andrew Seddon for a conversation about the origins of CircuitHub and the future of high-mix electronics manufacturing.

Andrew shares how his experience as a design engineer—and his frustrations getting increasingly complex hardware projects manufactured—eventually led to the idea behind CircuitHub. They revisit the company’s early days, including its original shared parts library, the first CircuitHub manufacturing order, and how Andrew and Chris first connected.

The conversation then turns to the challenges of high-mix manufacturing and why seemingly simple ideas, like standardizing component libraries, become much more complicated in the real world. Andrew explains how those lessons ultimately led CircuitHub to rethink the manufacturing process from first principles and develop The Grid, which he describes as a “factory-scale robot” for electronics assembly.

We also discuss the role of automation, the limitations of traditional manufacturing equipment and software, and why keeping manufacturing capabilities close to hardware designers matters for innovation.

In this episode:

• A quick recap of the Boston Hardware Meetup and live DFM reviews
• The current surge in manufacturing demand
• Andrew’s background and the origins of CircuitHub
• CircuitHub’s first manufacturing order
• The complexity of high-mix, low-volume manufacturing
• Why standardized component libraries only get you so far
• The evolution and philosophy behind The Grid
• Building a “factory-scale robot” from first principles
• Automation and the future of local manufacturing
• Andrew’s pet peeve: slow walkers

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