Following in his father’s footsteps, Matthew Schembri Vanhear’s love for science and engineering started at a very young age.

“I used to spend countless hours in my dad’s garage building simple circuits with DC motors and LEDs. As I grew older, automation intrigued me more and I started experimenting with a simple button in the kitchen that was connected to a lamp in my room so that, when dinner was ready, my mum would press the button and I get notified,” he says.

During his studies at the university, Ing. Schembri Vanhear focused mainly on PLC programming and automation. When he started working in the local industrial automation sector, he noticed that, unfortunately, the local industry still relies heavily on foreign companies for servicing and upgrading their machines. “iAutomate,” he explains, “was created to offer a faster and more reliable alternative with a complete solution in the mechanical and electrical domain.”

Alistair’s academic focus was in the areas of power electronics and lithium battery management systems—fields that are increasingly vital in today’s transition to sustainable energy and advanced mobility solutions. His expertise extends into industrial automation, with hands-on experience working with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), machine vision systems, AC servo motors, and vector control drive technologies.

Over the years, Alistair has cultivated a reputation for combining solid theoretical knowledge with practical engineering application, contributing to projects that span both industrial and automotive sectors.

Outside of his professional work, Alistair is passionate about automotive tuning. He enjoys applying his technical skills to optimize vehicle performance, reflecting his lifelong interest in engineering innovation and precision.

From a young age, Franco Imbroll was always interested in how mechanical equipment works. He would spend countless hours in his father’s garage disassembling equipment to understand how it worked, even if he was not always able to assemble it all back together again.

“As time passed, I used to visit a friend of my father who was a former shipbuilding employee with excellent welding skills. His expertise invoked my interest in the mechanical engineering trade, which I pursued at MCAST,” he explains.

After graduating, Mr Imbroll spent three months working abroad to widen his knowledge. He was then accepted at Playmobil as a full-time tool maker. During that period, after work hours, he started his own workshop where he used to cater mainly for the marine industry. “The formation of iAutomate,” he says, “has expanded our operations to various industrial sectors.”