A Lawrenceville-based robotics firm that specializes in warehousing fulfillment services has issued a series of layoffs across the company as the national downturn impacting tech companies of all sizes continues to leave a mark in the Pittsburgh region.
According to nearly a dozen public posts made by former employees on the career-focused social media platform LinkedIn, IAM Robotics issued layoffs that at least one employee has claimed affected 65% of the company's workforce. Other workers reportedly affected by the layoffs described the company's employee reduction effort as a "mass layoff" or "massive" layoff event.
A spokesperson for IAM did not immediately respond to requests for comment as of the publication of this article as part of an inquiry to learn more about the total number of jobs impacted by the layoffs, among other details.
About 100 people list IAM Robotics as their employer as of the publication of this article, according to IAM's LinkedIn profile. Per a list from the Pittsburgh Business Times compiled in July 2022, IAM Robotics ranked at No. 18 among the largest robotics and AI companies in the region with 80 local employees and 90 total workers.
In a public post of his own, IAM Robotics Chief Technical Officer and Founder Tom Galluzzo confirmed the layoffs and expressed regret that the company issued them.
"To all of the people at IAM Robotics that were let go today, I want to personally thank each of you for your help, effort and care for the company and team," Galluzzo said in a post. "As a founder, this is hard to see happen, but it's wonderful to see the support from the community. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything or just want to talk."
Galluzzo's post went on to thank those who remain employed by the company for their continued efforts in seeing IAM Robotics' work progress.
The news of the layoffs at IAM Robotics comes during the same week that Google LLC's parent company Alphabet Inc. announced the termination of 12,000 jobs or about 6% of its workforce. Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. also announced major job cuts over the past week, which join the more than 70,000 tech industry jobs that have been lost over the past year, according to CNBC.
Locally, IAM Robotic's layoffs join those made by other tech firms including warehousing robotics peer Seegrid Corp, which cut 90 jobs companywide in August 2022. Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup based in the Strip District, shut down in October, resulting in the elimination of over 700 jobs locally. Fifth Season, a robotics-based vertical farming startup, also shut down in October and laid off about 100 workers, though efforts are reportedly underway to potentially revive the company.
