Waukesha, Wisconsin · Founded 2025
Innovation for Industry
Milwaukee’s new home for factory automation — custom machines, robotic solutions, industrial controls, and field service, for small through large manufacturers.
Who we are
Milwaukee’s new home for factory automation, with broad experience supplying a variety of industries with custom machines, robotic solutions, industrial controls, and field service. We offer support not only in Wisconsin but across the rest of the Midwest and the Southern United States. We work with small through large manufacturers, on everything from service calls to capital projects.
With our current staff we have nearly 150 years of combined experience in factory automation. Most of the staff are former senior-level international field service engineers, so we take great pride in innovation, high quality, and customer care at an affordable price. We value add everything we do. We are currently at a 100% customer retention rate.
What we do
Four disciplines, delivered by one team — so the machine, the robot, and the control system are designed to work together from day one, and stay supported after they ship.
Mechatronics
Custom machine design and build — semi-automatic and fully automatic assembly, thermal and non-thermal fastening, and inspection machines, plus retrofits and fixtures for existing equipment.
Custom machines
Industrial Robotics
Machine tending, welding, assembly, and material handling — including PFL (collaborative) robots as either a fixed or a mobile asset.
Robotic solutions
Controls
Design and lifetime support of electrical control systems — panel building, PLC and HMI programming, servo and VFD systems, and legacy retrofits.
Control systems
Service
Three distinct types of service — engineering (mechanical design, risk assessments, 3D simulation, project management), continuous improvements, and field service including robot predictive and preventative maintenance.
Engineering, improvements & field serviceWhy automate?
The advantages of industrial automation show up in more places than the labor line on a spreadsheet.
High productivity
Equipment runs at rate, shift after shift, without the ramp-up and fatigue curve of a manual process.
Better quality and consistency
The same cycle, the same way, every part — with inspection built into the process rather than bolted on after it.
Reduced cost
Lower cost per part across the life of the asset, with scrap and rework pulled out of the equation.
Greater safety
Operators come out of the pinch points, the press, and the weld cell. The robot takes the hazardous half of the job.
Improved flexibility
Changeover becomes a recipe selection instead of a rebuild. New parts get added without new machines.
Real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance
The machine tells you what it is doing and what it needs, before a failure becomes downtime.
Production traceability
Part-level data support — what ran, when, to what result, and with which settings.
Increased added value and human capacity
Skilled people move off repetitive work and onto the work that actually needs a person.
History
Brew City Robotics LLC is a business founded in 2025 by Chris Bartleson, on the lineage and lessons learned from its predecessors: American Mechatronix (sole proprietor, consultant), Brainstorm Automation LLC (multi-partner LLC, S-corp), and Hixson Industrial Automation LLC (sole-membership LLC).
Mission statement
That’s easy. It’s our tagline — “Innovation for Industry.”
Have a problem worth automating?
Every project starts the same way — a conversation about what you are trying to solve. Service call or capital project, we would like to hear it.