Universities Detail Manufacturing Hub Involvement
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe University of Notre Dame and Purdue University are releasing details of their involvement with new advanced manufacturing institutes in Chicago and Detroit. Notre Dame is the only school involved with both Midwest locations and Purdue will partner with the Chicago lab on projects including 3-D modeling. Indiana University's contribution will include resources from its Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses. February 25, 2014
News Release
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame has been selected as a research partner in both of the advanced manufacturing institutes named Tuesday (Feb. 25) by President Barack Obama to receive government and private sector funding to help revolutionize manufacturing in the United States. Notre Dame is one of only two universities to be named a partner in both institutes.
Chicago's Digital Lab for Manufacturing and the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation (LM3I) Institute in Canton, Mich., were each awarded $70 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to enhance advanced manufacturing infrastructure and activity in the United States. In addition to the $70 million from the Department of Defense, matching private and public sector funds increase the total investment to $140 million in the LM3I institute and $320 million in Digital Lab. Notre Dame is partnered with both.
Tuesday's announcement raises the number of new manufacturing institutes funded by the White House to three – a power electronics institute was established in January in Raleigh, N.C. These innovative institutes led by not-for-profit organizations bring together academic institutions, private companies and the government in partnership to address important applied research problems in advanced manufacturing.
“To be included in two of just three advanced institutes established to date speaks volumes about Notre Dame's research prowess,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame president. “Poised to make real world advances in American manufacturing, Notre Dame, in collaboration with our partners, aspires to revitalize employment – especially among a Midwest workforce hit so hard by manufacturing declines over the last half century.”
The inclusion of Notre Dame in both institutes recognizes the University as a national leader in research, explained Robert J. Bernhard, vice president of research. “Notre Dame is very pleased to be a participant in both of the advanced manufacturing institutes announced today by President Obama,” Bernhard said. “These awards validate the hard work that our faculty have done over many years and open up new opportunities for them to work with local and regional corporations on advances that will be important to the national manufacturing renaissance.”
Over the next five years, Notre Dame will work with member corporations of the institutes to define areas for improvement and compete for grants from the institutes to develop the advances.
Principal investigators representing Notre Dame in the institutes are Steven R. Schmid, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, and Richard E. Billo, associate vice president for research.
The Digital Lab, an institute for digital manufacturing and design innovation, will apply advanced technologies to reduce the time and cost of manufacturing, strengthen the capabilities of the U.S. supply chain and reduce acquisition costs. It is led by Chicago-based UI LABS, a research and commercialization collaborative. UI LABS brought together more than 20 academic institutions, 40 industry partners and local and state government as well as community partners and supporting companies and organizations to create the Digital Lab.
The LM3I will expand the market of new lightweight, high-performing metals and alloys and will pioneer manufacturing processes to make lightweight metals more affordable and competitive. It is envisioned as a “teaching factory” where applied research advances can be translated into tools, skills and a knowledge base for the modern manufacturing workforce. It is led by the Advanced Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute, a Canton, Mich.-based consortium with 16 universities and more than 60 industry members along with state and local governments.
Source: The University of Notre Dame
February 25, 2014
News Release
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University will be part of a digital manufacturing institute announced Tuesday (Feb. 25) by President Barack Obama.
The Digital Lab for Manufacturing was awarded to Chicago's UI Labs, a research and commercialization collaborative of industry, universities and government.
The federal government will provide $70 million for the Digital Lab. Private and other government funding will add an additional $250 million.
Digital manufacturing is the application of computing, sensing and data analytics to improve manufacturing machines and factories.
Purdue will team with Rolls Royce, General Electric, PARC, the National Center for Supercomputer Applications and the Digital Lab in one of the Digital Lab's first projects, focused on advanced manufacturing enterprise.
“Purdue is excited to be working with UI Labs and the other government, industry and academic partners on the Digital Lab for Manufacturing,” said Richard Buckius, Purdue's vice president for research. “So much of our research focuses on the future of manufacturing that this is a perfect fit.”
Purdue will lead the application of 3-D modeling and enterprise interoperability standards for data exchange among companies within the U.S. Department of Defense supply chain. Purdue also will develop best practices for the use of 3-D modeling throughout a product supply chain. These methods will be turned into training and workforce education materials.
The training will be delivered through the Purdue Product Lifecycle Management Center in conjunction with the Digital Lab. The PLM Center is focused on the creation and downstream use of the 3-D digital product definition within an enterprise and its supply and sustainment networks.
Also working on the Digital Lab project will be IN-MaC, Purdue's next-generation manufacturing competitiveness center.
“Through the Digital Lab, Purdue will work to bring advances in technology to industry in the next 12 to 24 months rather than years from now,” said Nathan Hartman, the technical leader for Purdue's effort. He is an associate professor in the College of Technology's Department of Computer Graphics and director of the PLM Center. He also is co-director of IN-MaC's research effort along with Abhijit Deshmukh, the James J. Solberg Head of Industrial Engineering.
PLM methods and practices enable companies to make better business decisions by leveraging the digital product definition throughout the lifecycle of a product, using data collection, integration, transformation, analysis and visualization processes. It begins with a product's requirements and continues through design, manufacturing, maintenance and recycling of the product.
IN-MaC, which was launched with state funding in July, focuses on the use of digital product data; digital connection of the industrial supply chain; technology adoption by small and medium-sized manufacturers; and workforce education spanning K-12, post-secondary and current workers.
One goal of the government in setting up the Digital Lab is to promote the use of digital data through a product's lifecycle, including the supply chain, Hartman said. A digitally integrated supply chain is particularly relevant to the defense department because of its complex systems, extended supply chains and the long lifecycles of the products it uses. Digital data are used by many people over the life of a product, including those involved in design, production, procurement and support. It is critical that data be maintained over the product's life to reduce costs and accurately preserve pro