Jabil and Apptronik are working together to scale production of the Apollo humanoid. In interviews and a company manufacturing brief, Jabil executives set out the production changes they believe humanoid developers need to make.

From prototypes to repeatable production

Robotics & Automation News describes Jabil as a large-scale manufacturing and supply-chain partner that turns complex designs into commercially viable products. The outlet says Jabil operates in more than 25 countries and helps bridge prototype and production work across several industries, including humanoid robotics.

Jabil vice president Robert Gutridge calls industrialization the bigger hurdle for humanoids now. He says moving beyond prototypes requires supply chains that can support new components, designs shaped for manufacturing from the outset, and repeatable testing and quality processes.

Prototype units are generally optimized to work, Gutridge says, rather than to be reproduced consistently. Volume production instead requires designs that can be assembled with little manual rework while retaining performance and reliability. Testability also has to be built into the design so each unit can be checked against the same safety, reliability and performance requirements without slowing the line.

Why humanoid hardware is difficult to build

Jabil’s manufacturing brief says a humanoid body needs dozens of actuators. Each actuator assembly can combine a precision motor, reducer, screws, bearings, encoders and force sensors. Jabil says these parts require tight tolerances, controlled calibration and validation under load.

The same brief lists vision, force-and-torque, inertial and environmental sensors as another integration challenge. Power systems, battery modules, thermal management, wiring and lightweight structural materials add further manufacturing demands.

According to Jabil, higher-volume production will need precision assembly cells, actuator test and break-in procedures, end-of-line validation and continuous process improvement.

Cost, quality and production volume

Jabil senior director Thomas Brown says humanoid customers are moving beyond low-volume, hand-assembled units toward production in the tens of thousands. He presents that scale as requiring different cost structures plus improvements in manufacturability and quality. Brown says Jabil can also help customers reduce design costs to reach those volumes.

Gutridge separately argues that manufacturers must reproduce complex electromechanical systems consistently and safely across regions. His comments frame scale as a combination of product design, supplier readiness, testing and production discipline—not simply a larger order count.

A regional manufacturing model

Jabil advocates manufacturing networks that combine U.S. engineering and customer proximity with production in Mexico. Its brief says this model can give manufacturers flexibility when demand, tariffs or market conditions change.

Brown also offers a longer-term forecast for factories. If humanoid fleets become widespread, he says, software-defined layouts could let robots reposition workstations, change end effectors and retrieve supplies. That is a forecast from Jabil, not a demonstrated capability of today’s Apollo production program.

Sources

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