Robotics & Automation Engineering in Detroit
Torqworks designs, integrates, and supports the automation Michigan factories actually profit from — scoped honestly, simulated first, and commissioned until it runs.
From One Cell to the Whole Line
Integration scoped to the process — robots where they pay, people where they're better.
Automation That Earns Its Floor Space
A robot that doesn't hit rate is just expensive sculpture. We scope automation around your real volumes and real labor math, simulate the cell before a single bolt is ordered, and stay through commissioning until the counter matches the promise. Median payback across our installs: fourteen months.
- ✓Payback modeled honestly before you commit
- ✓Every cell simulated before it's built
- ✓Commissioned to rate, not to handoff
- ✓Support from the engineers who built it
Cells Doing the Work
Three hundred ten installations across Michigan manufacturing — running rate, shift after shift.
Assess. Simulate. Integrate. Support.
Assess
Your process, volumes, and labor math — an honest read on whether automation pays, and where.
Simulate
The cell built digitally first — cycle times proven, reach verified, surprises eliminated on screen.
Integrate
Built, wired, programmed, and safety-verified — then run at rate before we call it done.
Support
Training for your team, spares strategy, and engineers on call — uptime is the product.
New Brains on Old Iron
The mechanical bones of most lines outlive their controls by decades. A retrofit — new PLCs, drives, safety, and sometimes a robot or two — buys modern performance for a third of replacement cost, with weeks of downtime instead of months. It's the highest-ROI project on most plant floors.
- ✓New controls on mechanical assets you own
- ✓Downtime measured in days, planned around you
- ✓Safety brought to current standards in the same pass
- ✓Documentation rebuilt so the line is knowable again
Every Project Includes
Brand-Agnostic Robots
We integrate every major robot brand — the process picks the arm, not our reseller margin.
Code You Can Read
Commented, structured programs with documentation your maintenance team will actually use.
Safety Engineered In
Risk assessments and guarding designed with the cell, not bolted on after the audit.
Acceptance at Rate
The cell passes when it runs your parts at your rate — that's the only test that matters.
Operator Training
Your people trained on the real cell before handoff — confident, not dependent.
Lifetime Support Path
Spares lists, remote support, and upgrade roadmaps — the relationship outlives the install.
What 310 Cells Teach
Simulate or Suffer
Every surprise found in simulation costs nothing. Every surprise found at commissioning costs a launch date.
The Operators Know
The best automation ideas come from the people running the process today. We interview before we design.
Uptime Is Designed
Reliability comes from boring choices — proven components, clean code, honest margins. Exotic fails.
From the Plants Running Our Cells
The weld cell Torqworks integrated has run three shifts for two years with 99.2% uptime. It paid for itself in fourteen months — three months ahead of their own projection, which was already the honest one.
Their vision system catches defects our inspectors missed for years — and it never gets tired at hour seven. Scrap escapes to customers dropped to zero the month it went live.
Everyone else quoted us a rip-and-replace. Torqworks retrofitted our existing line for a third of that — new controls, new safety, same iron. It runs better than it did new in 2009.
Asked Before the First Simulation
Is my process even worth automating?
Sometimes no — and we'll say so. The assessment looks at volumes, variability, and labor math honestly. About a fifth of assessments end with us recommending you don't automate yet.
What does a robotic cell cost?
Simple tending cells start in the low six figures installed; complex lines scale from there. Every quote comes with the payback model, so the decision is math, not faith.
How much downtime does an install take?
Cells are built and tested at our shop, so your floor time is tie-in and commissioning — typically days, scheduled around your production calendar.
Can our maintenance team support a robot?
With our training and documentation, yes — that's the design goal. Most service calls in year one are questions, not failures, and they taper fast.
Do you do safety assessments on existing equipment?
Yes — risk assessments to current standards, with prioritized fixes and the guarding design to close them. Often bundled with retrofits, where safety upgrades are cheapest.
What if the cell doesn't hit rate?
Acceptance is defined at your rate with your parts, in the contract. If it doesn't run, we're not done — simulation makes this a rare conversation, but the guarantee makes it a safe one.
The Assessment Is Free. The Insight Isn't Small.
One plant walk and you'll know which processes pay back in under two years — and which to leave alone.
Tell Us About the Process
One business day to an automation engineer's reply — process, volumes, and what's driving the project is plenty.