{"id":8785,"date":"2026-06-26T06:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=8785"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T21:21:11","slug":"americanamr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/americanamr\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
BY SANDY SMITH<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"usamr

USAMR co\u2011founder Shiva Sundaram shows Sadie Saur, daughter of co\u2011founder Nick, the USAMR robot while controls engineer Jonathan Dobbs watches.<\/p><\/div>

<\/figcaption>I<\/span>N AN INDUSTRY<\/strong> crowded with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)\u2014and even more crowded with unmet promises\u2014Nick Saur, CEO co\u2011founder of MHI member USAMR, is blunt about what\u2019s broken in the AMR market, and equally clear about what he intends to fix.<\/figure>\n

“The idea of shelf\u2011to\u2011goods and shelf\u2011to\u2011person is not new,” he said. “The technology was proven by Amazon. Then the rest of the U.S. caught on. China took the market by storm.”<\/p>\n

But Saur\u2019s experience as an automation integrator left him with a front\u2011row seat to the chaos behind the curtain. “I was integrating the best of the best technology in mobile robots. It was quite a dumpster fire behind the scenes.”<\/p>\n

The biggest problem, he said, wasn\u2019t the robots. It was the support.<\/p>\n

“When you need a change, support, spare parts or just someone to talk to figure out how to best do something, it\u2019s almost impossible,” Saur said. “All the big players in the game have identified that customer service is an issue. We are going to be customer\u2011centric where none of our systems or customers will be left high and dry. They\u2019ll have 24\/7\/365 customer care here in the U.S.”<\/p>\n

That commitment is tied to another differentiator: U.S.\u2011based manufacturing and U.S.\u2011built software. “A lot of the value proposition is that we are made here in West Michigan,” Saur said. “We are developing the software that manages the fleets in tandem. It\u2019s an organic solution, not some company in the U.S. with software trying to adapt to foreign hardware. There\u2019s often a miscommunication between those, from country to country.”<\/p>\n

For Saur, the goal is a robot that feels familiar to the American workforce\u2014durable, repairable and built with practical sensibilities. “We\u2019re a team of industry experts on mobile robot technology. We\u2019re applications\u2011focused first and roboticists second,” he said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. base solves another issue of security, he said. Customers “want to know where their data is going and [that it\u2019s]not going to a foreign entity. The biggest benefit is that the solution is developed in tandem to be everything that the American logistics company expects\u2014robust, quality parts, quality manufacturing, fixed with a craftsman wrench and duct tape because the workforce in America is blue\u2011collar. You don\u2019t need a German engineering degree to fix one of our robots.”<\/p>\n

QUALITY OVER PRICE\u2014AND THE ROI CASE<\/h4>\n

Saur is unapologetic about where USAMR sits in the market. “We are not competing on price. It was never a notion that I had,” he said. “With quality comes price.” The challenge, he admits, is helping customers understand the long\u2011term value. “The trick right now is to convince customers that it\u2019s a buy once, cry once. You buy quality.”<\/p>\n

Downtime, he notes, is where the real cost lies. “For some, it\u2019s $50,000 a minute or $5 million an hour. It\u2019s critical that we have systems that are redundant, scalable and flexible. All those things are true qualities that USAMR exhibits to be successful. The bar is low, but we don\u2019t just walk over the bar.”<\/p>\n

BUILDING THE TEAM TO BUILD THE ROBOT<\/h4>\n

Saur built USAMR by reaching out to trusted experts who “had the right knowledge set and in the area that I don\u2019t,” he said.<\/p>\n

His co\u2011founder is a mechanical engineer Saur met 14 years ago during a Michigan Tech senior design project who brings deep automation experience from both the U.S. and India. A longtime software collaborator leads development of the fleet management platform, “using all of our lessons learned to make sure we\u2019re capturing all the heartache and the pain of the customer.” An industry veteran handles solutions architecture and technical sales, while a highly creative controls engineer rounds out the group.<\/p>\n

“If I was going to build a team, it was with the best of the best,” Saur said. “They have the knowledge and capacity of what we need it to be.”<\/p>\n

Click here to read the full article.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY SANDY SMITH IN AN INDUSTRY crowded with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)\u2014and even more crowded with unmet promises\u2014Nick Saur, CEO co\u2011founder of MHI member USAMR, is blunt about what\u2019s broken in the AMR market, and equally clear about what he intends to fix. “The idea of shelf\u2011to\u2011goods and shelf\u2011to\u2011person is not new,” he said. “The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":8787,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,13],"tags":[2097,442,1902,1907,466,441],"class_list":["post-8785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-article","category-features","category-technology","tag-emerging-technology","tag-mhi-solutions","tag-mhi-solutions-magazine","tag-mhisolutionsmag","tag-supply-chain","tag-supply-chain-innovation"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY SANDY SMITH IN AN INDUSTRY crowded with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)\u2014and even more crowded with unmet promises\u2014Nick Saur, CEO co\u2011founder of MHI member USAMR, is blunt about what\u2019s broken in the AMR market, and equally clear about what he intends to fix. “The idea of shelf\u2011to\u2011goods and shelf\u2011to\u2011person is not new,” he said. “The ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/americanamr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T11:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-01T21:21:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"689\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"566\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robin Lamerson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robin Lamerson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/americanamr\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251\",\"name\":\"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T11:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-01T21:21:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/651ab04bd5786351be0f915720b16f5b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg\",\"width\":689,\"height\":566},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/\",\"name\":\"MHI Solutions\",\"description\":\"Improving Supply Chain Performance\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/651ab04bd5786351be0f915720b16f5b\",\"name\":\"Robin Lamerson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a282fa3daa389a57fb7be768af92152401f459d8e257543a57ce1b0bc913a8cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a282fa3daa389a57fb7be768af92152401f459d8e257543a57ce1b0bc913a8cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robin Lamerson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/author\/rlamerson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions","og_description":"BY SANDY SMITH IN AN INDUSTRY crowded with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)\u2014and even more crowded with unmet promises\u2014Nick Saur, CEO co\u2011founder of MHI member USAMR, is blunt about what\u2019s broken in the AMR market, and equally clear about what he intends to fix. “The idea of shelf\u2011to\u2011goods and shelf\u2011to\u2011person is not new,” he said. “The ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/americanamr\/","og_site_name":"MHI Solutions","article_published_time":"2026-06-26T11:59:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-01T21:21:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":689,"height":566,"url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Robin Lamerson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robin Lamerson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/americanamr\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251","name":"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics - MHI Solutions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-26T11:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-01T21:21:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/651ab04bd5786351be0f915720b16f5b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/071.jpg","width":689,"height":566},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/library\/item\/0326_volume_14__issue_3\/4349251#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Building an American AMR: Inside Nick Saur\u2019s Vision for Customer\u2011First Robotics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/","name":"MHI Solutions","description":"Improving Supply Chain Performance","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/651ab04bd5786351be0f915720b16f5b","name":"Robin Lamerson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a282fa3daa389a57fb7be768af92152401f459d8e257543a57ce1b0bc913a8cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a282fa3daa389a57fb7be768af92152401f459d8e257543a57ce1b0bc913a8cb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Robin Lamerson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/author\/rlamerson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8936,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8785\/revisions\/8936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}