Caracol Brings the Microfactory to IMTS 2026, Doubling Down on U.S. Manufacturing

Visitors to Caracol’s IMTS booth (#237020, North Hall) can see its new microfactory model for U.S. industry first-hand, built on efficiency, flexibility, and sustainability. The scaleup recently joined America Makes, the national additive manufacturing innovation institute under the Manufacturing USA network

Austin, Texas, USA [September 8, 2026] — Caracol, a global leader in robotic large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM), is returning to the International Manufacturing Technology Show, held September 14–19 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The company will exhibit its latest technology at Booth #237020 in the North Hall. As the largest manufacturing technology conference in the Western Hemisphere, IMTS is the perfect stage for Caracol to demonstrate its commitment to supporting North American manufacturing.

The North American market has been central to Caracol’s expansion over recent years, and the company has used its Austin office to further its mission of making robotic advanced manufacturing a mainstream production method. Its presence at this year’s IMTS will highlight how the microfactory model, leveraging technologies like those developed by the company, are becoming a key solution to a major problem in modern American manufacturing: how to build closer to home without losing overall capability.

In Caracol-enabled microfactories, advanced manufacturing, robotics, automation, and AI operate inside a reconfigurable production plant capable of multiple operations. This model can sit wherever the parts are actually needed, rather than a supply chain away. The microfactory-made parts on display at the booth demonstrate the range of applications across metals and composites including: a satellite tank, a ship propeller, an oil & gas neck flange, a carbon fiber motorsport mold, and a freeform 3D bar, each produced as a single tooling-free build.

“The microfactory model exists to solve a real problem: manufacturing has become too centralized, too far from where parts are actually needed, and too fragile when supply chains break. Distributed production powered by robotics, automation, and AI changes that, bringing capacity close to the point of use with the flexibility and repeatability that industrial applications demand,” said Francesco De Stefano, co-founder and CEO of Caracol. “The U.S. is moving fast in this direction, and we’ve been doing a lot over the past few years to be at the center of this transformation. Joining a community like America Makes and showcasing at IMTS allows us to demonstrate to American manufacturers that this is not a future vision but a production-ready solution today.”

At Caracol’s booth #237020, IMTS 2026 visitors will find:

• Real industrial applications — composite and metal parts produced through robotic advanced manufacturing, from large-scale tooling to finished components.
• Heron AM live — real-time automated LFAM, with a close-up look at deposition precision and repeatable quality.
• Caracol’s experts — on hand to talk through how to solve your specific industrial needs.

A Landmark Year for Caracol in the American Market

IMTS allows Caracol to showcase some of the customer partnerships driving its recent momentum in the U.S. Freeman Boatworks, a leading South Carolina-based manufacturer of high-performance offshore vessels, has selected Caracol as its technology partner for robotic LFAM. The company will use Caracol’s HERON 300 HV in its hybrid configuration—robotic additive plus integrated CNC machining—to produce large-scale tooling and composite parts at its own facility. By bringing production in-house Freeman Boatworks aims to reduce lead times and costs while giving its engineers greater design freedom than traditional methods typically allow.

Caracol is capitalising on that traction by deepening its commitment to the American innovation ecosystem. The company has joined America Makes, the national additive manufacturing innovation institute under the Manufacturing USA network, whose members work alongside government and academia to shape AM technology roadmaps and build out the supply chains necessary to scale. For a company already running production sites on two continents, membership puts Caracol directly among the group shaping what U.S. additive manufacturing looks like next.

Conference attendees are encouraged to visit Booth #237020 in the North Hall to see the robotic technology running live and discuss how LFAM might fit their operations. To book a meeting or get updates ahead of the show, visit www.caracol-am.com/imts.