By Joe McGarvey, Marketing Director |

Regardless of how precise and productive automation and artificial intelligence grow, neither will completely replace its human model or replicate the nuisance and innate ingenuity that produce abstract works of art or masterpieces of literature — or even next-generation outside plant technology.

While comparing HFC amplifiers to Hamlet is admittedly a stretch, evidence of their shared dependence on the indispensability of human beings can be found at ATX’s manufacturing plant in Holly, Michigan. The state-of-the-art facility owned and operated by MARA USA Technologies, a subsidiary of Invotek Group, that went online in April of 2023 is now in full production and approaching run rates of tens of thousands of 1.8GHz-capable amps a month.

Every line extender or system amplifier assembled, tested and shipped from this finely tuned facility carries the imprint of a highly trained and dedicated workforce utilizing advanced manufacturing automation to deliver a steady and high-volume supply of next-generation outside plant equipment.

Recognizing from the beginning that driving automation to new levels of sophistication would be required to produce equipment cost-efficiently in the USA, ATX and MARA invested in cutting-edge manufacturing machinery. But building intelligent HFC amplifiers still requires a human touch, the laying on of hands by men and women from a storied workforce who have been highly trained and who have acquired the RF tuning touch necessary for next-gen amplifiers to meet precise performance requirements.

Leveraging MARA’s leading-edge surface-mount technology and wave soldering expertise, ATX has enhanced the facility with more than 35 advanced test stations, where trained operators assemble, troubleshoot, tune and test amplifiers to meet our customers’ specifications.

To commemorate this production milestone, ATX recently produced a short video that captures the one-of-a-kind collaboration of automation and human expertise that is the hallmark of the ATX-MARA manufacturing plant, which can be viewed below.

Where Automation Meets Human Expertise