Through a Next Gen STEM (NGS) NASA Aerospace Skilled Technical Workforce Hubs (NAS_Hub) grant award, Georgia Tech will play a central role in addressing a critical labor shortage in the booming aerospace industry and enhance the state’s role as an aerospace industry leader in the global space economy.
Beginning this fall, the three-year, $1.5 million award will establish the Southeast Space Technology & Aerospace Readiness Skills (SE-STARS) Hub. The hub will expand opportunities for training and workforce readiness in high-demand technical careers in aerospace.
The SE-STARS Hub includes the Georgia Space Grant Consortium (GSGC), Georgia Tech’s Space Research Institute (SRI), the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), Georgia Southern University, Georgia College and Career Academies, Georgia Aerospace & Defense Alliance (GADA), and select Georgia aerospace employers to support the growing aerospace industry and NASA missions.
Aerospace products are Georgia’s No. 1 export and the state has more than 800 companies supporting aviation, manufacturing, research, maintenance, repair, and operations. Many aerospace and engineering positions rely on skilled technical workers whose training pathways do not require a four-year, or advanced degree. There are significant gaps in technical roles such as machinists, electronics technicians, test operators, and systems integrators. These shortages are driven by an aging workforce and a projected national shortfall of at least one million skilled technical workers by 2030. (National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, 2025). The gap also stems from the rapid pace of technological advancement, where even current skills can quickly become obsolete if not constantly renewed. All this combines to create an urgent need for training to support new and sustainable aerospace career pathways.
Stephen Ruffin, interim chair of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and GSGC director will serve as the principal investigator (PI). Jud Ready, executive director of SRI; Lori Skillings, GSGC; Hossein Taheri, Georgia Southern University; and Steven Ferguson, GTMI, will serve as co-PIs. Jeffrey McNabb, a research engineer in Georgia Tech’s Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL), will serve as the program manager, leading day-to-day operations and coordinating the project team.
"This initiative strengthens Georgia's position as a leader in aerospace innovation and manufacturing while providing new opportunities for students and industries across the state," said Ruffin.
Coordination between public education systems, industry, and workforce agencies can sometimes be limited. SE-STARS will act as a "hub" to bridge these gaps, connecting Georgia Tech and its specialized research institutes with TCSG’s 22 colleges and 88 campuses to provide statewide access to training.
“Another advantage of the program is the stronger network it creates,” said Ruffin. “Each organization in the SE-STARS team has unique capabilities but together we will strengthen the technical workforce pipeline across Georgia and the broader Southeast.”
The SE-STARS team will collaborate with industry partners to develop curriculum aligned with workforce needs. “The easily ported curricula we develop will be tailored for other institutions to adopt directly, creating a consistent foundation of skills and competencies that employers can universally expect from program graduates across Georgia,” Ready said.
Students will access training through a statewide network of technical colleges serving as regional instructional nodes, which offer flexible online options and hands-on paid apprenticeships to ensure broad geographic reach.
The program also reaches K-12 and adult learners through career academies and specialized STEM labs, creating a structured, sustainable transition from early education to high-demand aerospace credentials. GTMI will support this work through its Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Program, which connects industry-informed training with pathways into high-demand advanced manufacturing careers.
“Georgia's expanding aerospace and space sectors are creating high-paying jobs and driving economic growth,” said Ruffin. “This program will help develop the skilled workforce needed to support that growth and Georgia’s competitiveness in the space economy.”
As manufacturing systems become more connected, the cyberthreat grows with them. Saman Zonouz has spent years documenting how vulnerable smart manufacturing environments are. He’s an associate professor in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he co-leads the Cyber-Physical Security Lab with Raheem Beyah, Georgia Tech’s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs.
"Disrupting the manufacturing sector doesn't just shut down individual shops. It can directly impact national security and public safety," Zonouz said. Because manufacturing is one of 16 federally designated critical infrastructure sectors, it is deeply intertwined with energy, water, and defense, meaning disruptions can cascade far beyond the factory floor.
The threats Zonouz documents go beyond ransomware. His research has demonstrated how adversaries can insert logic bombs into design files, compromising Computer Numerical Control machines or 3D printers.
"We've shown how logic bombs can be inserted remotely into design files so that everything looks normal when the part is printed, but once it's in operation, the attacker can decide when it fails," Zonouz said, citing drone propellers, aircraft wings, and power grid transformer components as examples where invisible sabotage could have catastrophic consequences.
Internet-wide scans conducted by his team found that many shop-floor controllers are directly exposed to the internet, with no meaningful barrier between an adversary and the machines running a production line. Imported equipment compounds the risk, because controllers and firmware from unknown developers may carry unintentional vulnerabilities or deliberately planted backdoors. "In manufacturing, many controllers and machines can still be accessed easily from outside," Zonouz said, echoing the kind of supply chain exposure seen in high-profile attacks on widely used software platforms.
His prescription is straightforward but still largely unimplemented across the sector: Build security into the system design rather than adding it afterward. "The number one principle is to think about cybersecurity and risk when you design the system, not as an afterthought once everything is already built," Zonouz said.
His team has explored this through the $65 million Georgia AIM initiative, a collaboration with Aaron Stebner, Steven Ferguson, and Animesh Chhotaray, led by Ph.D. student Twisha Chattopadhyay. Using AI for automated anomaly detection allows complex production lines to be monitored continuously without requiring constant human oversight.
Georgia Tech's standing at the intersection of manufacturing and cybersecurity is, by most measures, singular. "Georgia Tech is the only top university with a dedicated School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, with about 30 professors focused solely on cybersecurity, and you rarely see this level of collaboration between cybersecurity and manufacturing faculty anywhere else," Zonouz said. That collaboration is already producing joint publications and a patent application for AI-driven attack detection systems developed through Georgia AIM.
Not every attacker wants a quick payoff. Zonouz also tracks advanced persistent threats, where a nation-state actor quietly compromises a controller and does nothing for months, waiting for the right geopolitical moment to act. "They get into the house and just sit there, because by sitting still nobody can detect them," Zonouz said. That patience turns an idle, exposed controller into tomorrow's leverage.
"Manufacturers do not need to solve every problem at once," Zonouz said. Finance and energy already operate under mandatory cybersecurity frameworks, while manufacturing's own standard, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, is still being phased in. "The security of these systems right now is so weak that basic, easy-to-deploy solutions would stop the majority of attacks that are succeeding simply because the door is wide open," he said. The hardest attacks will always be the patient, targeted ones, and closing the obvious gaps first is what buys manufacturers time.
Counterfeit and out-of-spec components are entering U.S. defense supply chains through thousands of small and midsized suppliers that make up the lower tiers of the industrial base. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) say the fix isn't just better parts, but better proof: verified digital records, secured against tampering, that travel with each component from raw material to installation.
A landmark 2012 Senate Armed Services Committee investigation documented 1,800 cases involving more than 1 million suspect counterfeit electronic parts in the defense supply chain, traced to more than 650 companies relying on their own unvetted networks of distributors and brokers. In one case, parts changed hands five times before reaching a Raytheon subcontractor.
The Pentagon has separately estimated that up to 15% of the spare and replacement electronic parts it buys are counterfeit. Without verification built into the supply chain, officials warn, a single bad part, or a single exposed manufacturing controller, can compromise a weapons system or halt a production line. That risk hasn't eased: a 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that Department of Defense now depends on more than 200,000 suppliers, and a deeper look at the MQ-9 Reaper drone's supply chain found Chinese components at the lower tiers despite U.S.- and Europe-based top-tier suppliers.
Manufacturers are adopting a QR-coded digital record, sometimes called a digital passport, that documents a part's full production history and can be scanned at any point in the supply chain. According to GTMI Executive Director Tom Kurfess, a member of the National Academy of Engineering who previously oversaw federal manufacturing R&D policy at the White House, the core requirement of this digital infrastructure is straightforward: apart must prove it is what it claims to be.
"I am not a counterfeit part; I was made according to specifications, and you can insert me into that jet engine with high confidence that I'm going to perform as specified," Kurfess said, describing what the scan of a digital passport for a replacement jet engine turbine blade needs to confirm before it goes into an F-35.
How the Tracking Works
While a fighter jet represents the apex of tracking stakes, Kurfess notes that the underlying infrastructure is already proven on much more ordinary assembly lines. He points to a plumbing fixture plant near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where every unit carries a QR code that pulls up the humidity conditions during manufacturing, the processing steps, and who worked on the part. Defense components use the same method, where an untraced failure carries far higher stakes.
The technology itself is cost-effective. Shops have swapped standard calipers for Bluetooth-enabled versions that cost only a few dollars more, Kurfess said. Paired with a smartphone or tablet and a cloud account, those calipers automatically and securely feed measurements into a spreadsheet rather than a handwritten log, building a documentation record for every part in a batch.
"Before shipping it off, you essentially signal that you are ready. You click the print button, and a QR code prints out to go right on the shipping bin," Kurfess said. "Whoever receives that bin, whether a commercial OEM or a defense prime, scans the code and can pull up the part’s full record.” The same approach covers more complex components. Electric motors built for the automotive industry now upload test-stand performance data to the cloud before shipping; once installed, a vehicle's control system scans the motor's passport and calibrates accordingly, Kurfess said. On automotive assembly lines, cameras and scanners verify that every part in a kit is present before workers seal and code it, catching shortages before they halt the production line.
For defense suppliers, Kurfess said the documentation lets prime contractors, and the Department of Defense confirm that a part meets specifications and traces it through its full production history. "We know it's a good blade, and you can insert it into the F-35," he said. "We can track all of it."
The Cybersecurity Risk
That documentation only works if the underlying systems stay secure. Saman Zonouz, associate professor in the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and Electrical and Computer Engineering, said manufacturing is one of 16 sectors the Department of Homeland Security, through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) classifies as critical infrastructure, dependent on energy and water to operate while other sectors depend on it in turn.
His research shows adversaries can insert what his team calls "logic bombs" into design files: code that leaves a manufactured part looking normal until it fails on command, whether that part is a drone propeller or a power grid transformer. He also pointed to supply chain attacks, where imported machine tools arrive with vulnerable or deliberately compromised software already installed, the same pattern behind the SolarWinds breach that hit critical infrastructure nationwide.
Scanning the internet, Zonouz's team found manufacturing controllers exposed and reachable by outside actors. Manufacturing hasn't developed cybersecurity measures at the pace of sectors such as finance or energy, he said, in part because engineers built legacy equipment for reliability, not to resist a deliberate attack.
AI cuts both ways, according to Zonouz. It powers new attack-detection systems, including the Georgia AI in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) technology corridor, a $65 million initiative that includes a pilot project at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility to enable shops to monitor for anomalies without constant human oversight. But AI systems also introduce new, often unknown vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.
Zonouz encourages manufacturers to build cybersecurity into systems from the start, borrow lessons from more mature sectors already operating under frameworks such as North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection for the power grid, and prepare for manufacturing standards, including the Department of Defense's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework, to tighten over time.
Much of GTMI's work runs through the small and midsized manufacturers that supply nuts, bolts, and castings to prime contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Motors, companies that typically lack the in-house IT resources of a major OEM. Kurfess said GTMI configures the same cloud tools that automate measurement tracking to meet Department of Defense documentation and cybersecurity requirements, working directly with smaller suppliers to build that capability instead of leaving them to develop it alone.
Tracking Choke Points Before They Become Failures
The same connectivity that verifies individual parts also shows manufacturers where a supply chain is vulnerable before a disruption hits. Kurfess cites the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which knocked out a single Japanese plant supplying a chip used in the machine tool industry worldwide, and the Covid-era shipping container shortage that forced companies to truck castings across the country when no containers were available at U.S. ports for shipping via rail. Mapping a supply chain in both directions, he said, reveals where a single supplier, region, or disruptive event such as inclement weather or a power outage could stop production.
Kurfess compares GTMI's approach to "being the Google Maps for manufacturing," using real-time connectivity to flag bottlenecks and reroute them in the best possible manner. That logic also drives GTMI's push for distributed manufacturing: spreading production of a component, such as electric vehicle motors, across many smaller regional plants instead of one large facility so a local disruption can't affect the whole chain. GTMI's Factory Information Systems Center builds the secure supply chain architectures and machine-to-cloud connectivity behind that work.
Chris Gaffney, managing director of Georgia Tech's Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, reached a similar conclusion in a June 2026 research brief, calling cyberattacks on physical supply chains "a defining executive risk" and trusted operational data possibly "the most valuable" asset a supply chain organization holds.
Verifying Quality Without Shipping Parts Across the Country
GTMI is applying AI directly to quality verification at its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), where manufacturers can build and verify a part under one roof instead of shipping it elsewhere for testing. "Right now, in manufacturing, a piece of equipment, a turbine rotor blade, for example, is created in one place, then sent somewhere else for testing," said Aaron Stebner, an associate professor who leads AMPF's work under the Georgia AIM initiative. "Often it goes across the country to check its interior structure, then is shipped to a second location to test its chemical composition."
AMPF's connected machines "talk" to each other using AI and a knowledge management system, verifying a part’s material composition and durability as it's made rather than after the fact, so manufacturers can confirm they're building what they intend to build without shipping delays. "No other facility in the nation is built to do this autonomously," Stebner said. "Georgia Tech will be the first." GTMI is also opening AMPF to remote materials research through a new AI-driven cloud lab (see sidebar).
GTMI's Role
Kurfess and Zonouz both credited close collaboration between manufacturing and cybersecurity researchers at Georgia Tech, including a dedicated School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, as the basis for GTMI's work in this area. That collaboration drives research into cyber-secure manufacturing platforms designed with security built in from the outset, and AMPF gives those systems a place to run on production-scale equipment.
Kurfess said the next test is scale: whether digital passports, secure cloud tracking, and AI-verified quality checks can move from a handful of pilot programs and flagship facilities to the thousands of small shops that make up the defense industrial base. The technology, from Bluetooth calipers to readily available and cost-effective cloud accounts, is already cheap enough that cost isn't the barrier. What remains is installing, securing, and standardizing those tools across a supply chain that still runs largely on paper.
To learn more about how GTMI can help defense manufacturers build supply chain resilience, visit https://manufacturing.gatech.edu/engage
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GTMI to Build AI-Driven Cloud Lab for Remote Materials Research
Georgia Tech is building a Programmable Cloud Laboratory that will let researchers across the country direct materials experiments at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute's Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) without traveling on-site. The National Science Foundation is funding the project with $18.1 million as part of a planned national network of 20 AI-enabled cloud labs.
Researchers will submit a request, and AI agents will translate it into a detailed workflow, coordinating robots, equipment, and data collection across the facility. "Researchers can ask a question, have work recommended by AI agents, have experiments carried out at the facility using robotics, and get the results back," said Aaron Stebner, GTMI associate director, Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair, and James R. and Sarah R. Borders Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. "They can use AMPF resources to advance their own research without having to be experts in each piece of equipment or send students to AMPF for weeks at a time."
AMPF is approaching autonomous workflow capability across about 38 of its 160 pieces of equipment. The cloud lab aims to push that past 100. Pascal Van Hentenryck, director of the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization, said the system will rely on digital twins, virtual models of the facility, to plan and monitor experiments, and will improve its scheduling and machine tuning as it learns from each run.
The project also integrates Duke University's Automatic FLOW for Materials Discovery platform and a knowledge and data management platform from Contextualize to connect researchers, instruments, and IT systems across the network. Organizers expect more than 400 users from 150 academic, industry, and government institutions, with more than half participating remotely.
Tom Kurfess, GTMI's executive director, said the lab will let industry partners test new ideas before committing to large-scale deployment. "This initiative will shorten development cycles and make it easier to bring promising technologies into production, enabling our partners and us to innovate at the speed of thought," he said.
The U.S. has seen its printed circuit board market share plummet to 4% while becoming dangerously dependent on foreign rare earth processing. Now, with global supply chains fracturing, defense industrial capacity under pressure, and adversaries looking to dominate advanced production, the country is in a race to rebuild — and to rebuild smarter.
Two converging trends are shaping what that looks like on the factory floor. The first is the rise of the lighthouse factory, where AI-driven systems, autonomous mobile robots, and centralized digital control work with a skilled human workforce rather than replacing it. The second is physical AI, in which machine learning moves off the server rack and into the manufacturing process itself, making real-time decisions at the machine level that no human operator could match at scale. Together, these shifts are rewriting the economics and the security calculus of American production.
At the forefront of both is the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), a first-of-its-kind, shared-use facility at a research university that is already doing what federal agencies are only beginning to fund. The AMPF is the proving ground where new manufacturing solutions are stress-tested before they reach the shop floor — where a scrap rate that plagued a major automobile supplier was cut in half in 45 days, and where capabilities are being realized faster than ever thought possible.
"The expectation was that building a capability like this would take decades," said Steven Ferguson, principal research scientist and GTMI deputy director. "Instead, we've compressed that timeline dramatically and are already applying these technologies to solve real manufacturing challenges."
The future Ferguson describes has already displaced the old “lights‑out” myth of fully dark, fully automated factories. What modern smart manufacturing demands is tighter integration between machines and the people who define what those machines should accomplish.
Georgia is well positioned to lead that charge. According to the Georgia Association of Manufacturing, the state supports more than 426,000 manufacturing jobs with average earnings of $86,372, contributing $77.1 billion to the state's gross regional product. Projected employment growth of 8% between 2024 and 2029 reflects not just expansion but transformation; the sector needs a different kind of worker, and a different kind of research partner than it did a generation ago.
GTMI and the AMPF have staked out a national leadership position in exactly those capabilities. The facility is pioneering the deployment of physical AI in a university R&D and demonstration environment, using machine learning to monitor and adjust manufacturing processes in real time. When printing a component from a $30,000 barrel of specialty powder or a newly developed superalloy, a process failure is not acceptable. AI-driven systems continuously analyze thousands of optical, thermal, acoustic, and process signals to identify patterns, optimize performance, and detect anomalies.
"In an R&D facility, you program it once, and it changes a million times," Ferguson said. "We're using AI and mobile robots to intelligently coordinate production scheduling, material movement, and manufacturing processes, all while humans define the experiments and interpret the results."
The facility also connects the full innovation chain from materials discovery through manufacturing process to quality assurance, demonstrating in one space what others are still planning.
Smart Manufacturing as a National Security Imperative
The stakes extend well beyond production efficiency. Ferguson points to pandemic-era chip shortages that left tens of thousands of finished vehicles waiting on a single component and to current constraints on the critical minerals and chips needed to build AI data centers and defense systems.
"Our ability to manufacture at scale underpins both our economic competitiveness and our national security," he said. "If we can't build what we need when we need it, we're at a strategic disadvantage."
From the Shop Floor: IAC Group
For Tom Boney, chief operating officer for the Americas at IAC Group, the question wasn’t whether to modernize; it was who could help the company move fast enough to keep plants competitive and workers employed. Georgia Tech, he said, offered something IAC couldn’t build on its own.
“Georgia Tech brings the brains and computing power we don’t have,” Boney said. “You’ve got some of the smartest people in the world on that campus, plugged into world-class infrastructure, and we put them side by side with our operators on the shop floor.”
An automotive interior components manufacturer with plants across the U.S., Mexico, and beyond, IAC is competing daily with facilities in lower-cost regions. “For us, smart manufacturing and AI are really about job and plant future security,” Boney said. “We’re competing every day with plants in China, Mexico, and the U.S., and we already have tons of production data, but we can’t analyze it fast enough on our own.”
IAC’s first project with GTMI focused on a complex adhesive manufacturing process at a plant in Vance, Alabama. The facility had rich production data but lacked computational power and AI modeling to act on it in real time. GTMI students and researchers connected Georgia Tech’s systems directly to the plant’s equipment, working with line operators. The result was a 50% reduction in scrap in roughly 45 days, with those gains then extended to other IAC locations.
The pace of the partnership was another sign that this wasn’t a typical university engagement. A framework agreement that usually takes 12 to 15 months was executed in 35 days, enabling the two organizations to move through new project cycles quickly. IAC now runs five active projects with GTMI, each advancing in turn or making way for the next initiative, a cadence Boney sees as essential to staying competitive on the factory floor.
Building the Workforce of Tomorrow
IAC’s success with GTMI underscores a hard truth: technology can unlock new performance, but only if there’s a workforce ready to run it. Technology alone cannot sustain a manufacturing renaissance. Ferguson is candid about the workforce challenge posed by automation, particularly the erosion of entry-level roles that once served as the first rung of a career ladder.
"The industry has an image problem. People still picture dark, dirty, and dangerous, when the reality is safer, cleaner, and far more interesting," Ferguson said. "Now we're trying to convince kids, 'You don't have to, you get to.' We don't need button pushers. We need thinkers and creators working alongside robots."
GTMI's response runs from K-12 engagement through technical college partnerships to university engineering programs at Georgia Tech, UGA, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, and others. For example, UGA partnered with the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) to launch the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio. This traveling advanced-technology lab visits K-12 schools across the state to give students hands-on experience with interactive engineering vignettes and robotics. Teacher boot camps bring high school educators to campus for hands-on training in CAD design, CNC milling, and additive manufacturing, equipping them to return to their classrooms as informed advocates. Dual-enrollment pathways through Georgia's Technical College System give students an on-ramp well before they graduate from high school.
This workforce strategy extends beyond traditional education. Through programs such as Advanced Manufacturing Pathways, teacher professional development, dual-enrollment partnerships, undergraduate research experiences, graduate research opportunities, and industry-sponsored projects, GTMI is helping develop the technicians, engineers, researchers, and manufacturing leaders needed to support the nation's next generation of smart factories.
But the workforce pipeline is only one strand of a much larger web. The AMPF is also where partners pressure-test how AI, automation, and new materials behave under real-world constraints like cost, quality, uptime, safety, and security. At GTMI, AI-driven process control, autonomous material handling, critical-mineral research, and cyber-physical security work in concert to create trusted, resilient production capacity that can scale when it counts, whether that means building lightweight components for vehicles, accelerating drone production to meet national needs, or hardening the critical infrastructure that underpins defense and the economy.
In that context, smart manufacturing is no longer a niche technical initiative. It is the connective tissue between research labs, industry partners, and national readiness, and a platform for new kinds of careers. GTMI’s role is to ensure that those connections are real, tested, and ready to perform under pressure, while opening doors for students, teachers, and workers who will run the next generation of factories. In Georgia, that ecosystem is already taking shape on the ground.
The workshop is part of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (AMP) program, a collaboration between the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), which connects rural educators with hands-on manufacturing training. This particular training was delivered through a partnership between GTMI, STEM@GTRI — GTRI’s K-12 outreach program — and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, leveraging the facilities and expertise of the Montgomery Machining Mall to provide teachers with direct experience in modern manufacturing. Building on GTRI’s Rural Computer Science Initiative, the program expands access to high-skill, high-wage career pathways across rural communities. The initiative is supported through state funding.
The workshop comes at a time when demand for skilled manufacturing workers continues to grow nationwide, particularly in roles requiring precision, technical expertise, and problem-solving.
Read the full story on the Georgia Tech Research news site.
]]>“It’s not just about creating jobs, it’s about filling them,” says Tom Kurfess, Regents’ Professor in mechanical engineering and executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). “To do that, we need to show students how exciting and innovative manufacturing can be. Manufacturing has really changed over the past few years. Today, going from an idea to a physical part is much easier to do. It is fun and exciting to bring ideas to life and to actually hold the results in your hands.”
GTMI is working to reignite student interest in the art and science of making through its new K–12 initiative: the Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (AMP) Program. Modeled after Georgia Tech’s Rural CS Initiative, AMP empowers schools with faculty expertise, cutting-edge equipment, and a hands-on curriculum to give students early exposure to the tools, technologies, and creativity behind modern manufacturing while building a pipeline of future talent ready to thrive in high-tech careers.
Funded by the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission (SWGRC), AMP is kicking off in three school districts this fall — Decatur County, Thomas County, and the city of Thomasville — with plans to expand to additional schools in the spring of 2026. The program will start by engaging more than 200 students through hands-on learning, virtual instruction, and in-person lab experiences led by Georgia Tech researchers and faculty.
“Here in Southwest Georgia, we believe that opportunities like this are vital for integrated learning in schools and for growing our future workforce,” says Beka Shiver, economic development and transportation planner for SWGRC. “Workforce development and K-12 integration are at the heart of our Southwest Georgia Ecosystem Building Project, and we are so pleased to be able to provide funding for this program.”
The launch of the AMP Program is centered around Design, Build, Race, a course putting a modern spin on the classic pinewood derby. Students will use digital design, 3D printing, and machining to build and race custom cars, while also learning how to collect and analyze performance data to improve their designs and predict outcomes. The course blends engineering with data science, sparking curiosity and showing students how modern manufacturing is powered by both technical skills and smart data.
“This program delivers real-world industry experience to students while strengthening the talent pipeline that drives innovation, competitiveness, and resilience in advanced manufacturing”, says Steven Ferguson, interim director of operations at GTMI and one of the project’s leaders. “After more than 20 years of driving education and workforce development innovation, I’m more energized than ever to help launch the AMP program to open doors for students and advance U.S. manufacturing leadership.”
Before it evolved into the AMP Program, Design, Build, Race was a course developed by GTMI research engineer Kyle Saleeby in 2023. Originating in GTMI’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), the course was designed to introduce Morehouse and Georgia Tech students to the possibilities of modern manufacturing through digital design, 3D printing, machining, and competitive creativity.
“Even after the first week, it was powerful to watch students discover how exciting it is to design and manufacture a competition-ready car in a matter of hours,” said Saleeby. “That’s when I knew we were onto something special.”
Saleeby teamed up with Ferguson to transform the course into a broader initiative. The duo engaged colleagues from STEM@GTRI and secured funding from SWGRC to modify the curriculum and scale the course for a high school audience.
“We are thrilled that we have been able to take the lessons learned during the development of the Rural Computer Science Initiative and expand opportunities for students in Southwest Georgia,” says Sean Mulvanity, a senior research associate in the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Mulvanity is one of the founders of the initiative and has been a key contributor to the AMP Program. “We hope this program can grow and expose students across the state to the field of advanced manufacturing.”
Though granted by the SWGRC, funds for the program were provided by Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, a statewide initiative founded by GTMI and Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute to advance AI-driven manufacturing.
To bring AMP into classrooms, Southern Regional Technical College helped set up labs and provide technical support, ensuring schools were ready to launch.
“At all levels, the community has rallied around this program,” says Saleeby. “Providing students with a unique experience learning advanced manufacturing technologies will open countless career opportunities. I cannot wait to see where they go.”
]]>Stebner is the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing and a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, with a joint appointment in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He also serves as a James R. and Sarah R. Borders Faculty Fellow, founding director of Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), and executive director of Georgia Tech’s Professional Master’s in Manufacturing Leadership program.
In his role as associate director, Stebner will lead operations, engagement and continued growth of the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), a cornerstone of Georgia Tech’s manufacturing ecosystem. The facility brings together artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and digital manufacturing to accelerate materials discovery and manufacturing innovation at pilot scale.
The AMPF is evolving into what Georgia Tech leaders describe as a national first: a university-based, self-driving manufacturing facility that allows new technologies to be invented, tested and de-risked before they reach full-scale production. Backed by more than $80 million in federal, state, and private investment, the facility serves as a shared-use platform for industry, startups, researchers, and government partners.
“AMPF is a national user facility and a blended industry-academia, human-AI environment where new manufacturing discoveries are made ready for industry adoption,” Stebner said. “By integrating AI-enabled systems, real-time automation and pilot-scale validation, we’re helping shorten the timeline from discovery to deployment.”
Stebner’s research and leadership sit at the intersection of artificial intelligence, manufacturing, materials, and mechanics, with an emphasis on intelligent and adaptive manufacturing systems. His work spans advanced alloys, additive manufacturing, autonomous experimentation, and data-driven process design, with applications across aerospace, automotive, biomedical, energy and industrial sectors.
Under his leadership, the AMPF is expected to continue expanding as a national collaboration hub for academia, industry, and government. The facility supports pilot-scale testing of emerging technologies, workforce development and applied research aimed at strengthening U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and economic resilience.
Stebner’s appointment also strengthens the alignment between GTMI, Georgia AIM and Georgia Tech’s broader research enterprise, integrating AI-driven research, translational infrastructure, and industry partnerships into a cohesive model for manufacturing innovation.
“With Aaron’s experience building forward-looking manufacturing programs and leading large, interdisciplinary teams, GTMI is well positioned to accelerate the impact of the AMPF and related initiatives,” said Tom Kurfess, executive director of GTMI.
]]>From fighter jets to medical devices, today’s most advanced machines depend on parts as intricate as their missions. These components aren’t just geometrically complex — they’re made from specialized metals engineered to withstand extreme heat, friction, and wear. But that strength comes with a challenge. How do you shape metals tough enough to survive the heat of a jet engine?
One solution is to start with a more moldable form of these super-metals: powder. In a specialized form of additive manufacturing (like 3D printing), manufacturers start with fine metal powders and fuse them, layer by layer, using focused energy. Known as powder bed fusion (PBF), this method enables highly complex shapes and reduces the amount of finishing work needed. Still, when a micron of extra material can make or break the final product, even near-perfect parts require precise finishing touches.
“The introduction of new, exotic materials produced through additive manufacturing has brought unique challenges, especially for applications in space and missile systems,” says David Antonuccio, business development director at Halocarbon, a Georgia-based company producing advanced chemical solutions used in manufacturing and other fields. “While these materials offer distinct properties, they are notoriously difficult to machine.”
That’s where the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) comes in. Through its Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium, GTMI connects industry manufacturers like Halocarbon with researchers and innovators to tackle real production challenges like this. Membership includes access to GTMI’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), where companies can test ideas and collaborate on new solutions.
Halocarbon recently teamed up with Freemelt, a leader in producing PBF systems and a fellow consortium member, to address this bottleneck. Their goal: to determine whether Halocarbon’s specialized metalworking fluids could enhance the finishing process for PBF-manufactured parts made from tungsten and molybdenum, two high-temperature, hard-to-machine metals.
“The future of manufacturing depends on how well we integrate talent, technology, and collaboration,” says Steven Ferguson, interim director of Research Operations at GTMI and managing director of the consortium. “By bringing companies together around shared challenges, we’re closing critical gaps and strengthening the nation’s advanced manufacturing capability.”
Even with advanced methods like electron beam powder bed fusion (E-PBF), which uses an electron beam to fuse metal powders inside a vacuum chamber, finishing remains a critical hurdle. “Surface finish in powder bed fusion is fundamentally tied to the particle size of the metal powder,” says Ian Crawford, a materials and application engineer at Freemelt. “Post-processing will almost always be part of the equation for high-performance components.”
In traditional machining, coolants and cutting fluids used in these finishing steps are often overlooked, and the methods haven’t changed much in decades. Halocarbon’s metalworking fluid aims to bring these fluids into a new era, using innovative polymer chemistry to extend tool life, improve surface quality, and boost efficiency when machining these challenging alloys.
The two companies initiated their joint project during their free AMPF equipment use time, which comes with the full level of consortium membership. From there, GTMI designed and executed controlled studies comparing the use of Halocarbon’s fluids to two standard finishing methods, dry machining and EDM-based finishing. The results showed a 6% improvement in side milling and a 26% improvement in end milling versus dry machining, with even greater gains over EDM. These improvements translate into higher-quality parts, tighter specifications, lower scrap rates, extended tool life, and reduced downstream costs — exactly what aerospace and defense suppliers need to meet stringent requirements.
The findings were shared at the 2025 National Space & Missile Materials Symposium, reinforcing the value of industry-academic collaboration.
“Industry keeps pushing materials to handle more heat and stress, but that makes post-processing harder,” says Matt Carroll, one of the GTMI researchers on the project. “By bringing equipment makers and chemistry innovators into the same experiment, we were able to prove where the gains really are and give manufacturers data they can act on.”
“No single manufacturing method solves every challenge,” says Crawford. “To achieve the performance and cost targets that aerospace and defense applications demand, we need to bring together the right combination of technologies, and collaborations like this show what's possible when we do.”
Contact: Belinda Vogel
Research Engagement Manager
Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
The award was announced March 25, 2026 and is one of six Institute Research Awards given by Georgia Tech’s Office of the Executive Vice President for Research. The portfolio of awards honors achievements in research engagement, innovation, faculty advising, and impact.
Georgia AIM is a statewide coalition led by the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) to develop and deploy AI talent and innovation in manufacturing. The Georgia AIM coalition includes dozens of universities, technical colleges, nonprofits, and economic development organizations.
“It is an incredible experience to collaborate with technology and economic development leaders around the state to lead the nation and the world in AI for manufacturing,” said Aaron Stebner, Georgia AIM co-director and the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing at Georgia Tech.
“We are truly honored to receive this recognition from our peers at Georgia Tech,” said Tom Kurfess, GTMI Executive Director and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control.
Georgia AIM was initiated in 2021 by Stebner, EI2 Vice President David Bridges, Kurfess, Georgia AIM managing director and GTMI deputy director Steven Ferguson, and Georgia Tech executive director for strategic partnerships George White. The coalition received an initial $500,000 planning grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), which was followed by $65 million in additional grants from EDA and with additional federal, state, and private sector support now totals more than $100 million to enact projects across the state.
The Georgia AIM coalition counts many achievements on and off campus, including:
“Georgia AIM proves that innovation scales when built alongside workforce,” said Ferguson. “We built a seamless pipeline from education to industry, ensuring talent is ready to deploy AI in real manufacturing environments on day one.”
“The impact of Georgia AIM is grounded in collaboration — universities, industry, nonprofits and communities working together to shape the future of advanced manufacturing in Georgia,” said Bridges. “This recognition underscores what a coordinated statewide effort can accomplish.”
Because research covers a range of activities — from research and development to commercialization and public impacts — the annual awards recognize the many facets of work in this area. The peer-driven nomination process emphasizes measurable contributions and leadership across disciplines.
“The strength of Georgia Tech’s research enterprise begins with the talented people who push discovery forward every day,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research. “Congratulations to this year’s honorees, who demonstrate what it means to turn bold ideas into real-world impact, advancing knowledge from fundamental science to commercial and community applications. With these awards, we celebrate their leadership, creativity, and dedication to serving the public good.”
Read more about this year’s Institute Research Award winners.
]]>From left: Steven Ferguson, Kyle Saleeby, Aaron Stebner, Thomas Kurfess, Stephan Turano, Weston Straka and Matt Carrol
More than 6,200 high school students across Georgia tuned in for Engineers Week 2026. Through a series of online talks, Georgia Tech researchers shared a glimpse of the technologies shaping the future.
A national initiative held February 23–27, the event highlighted research spanning cybersecurity, aerospace engineering, robotics, infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing. The program virtually brought engineers into classrooms statewide, who offered online learning experiences centered on inquiry, problem solving, and design.
“This is a great collaborative effort between the College of Engineering, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI),” said Sean Mulvanity, program lead at STEM@GTRI. “We provided students from across the state the opportunity to interact with leaders in a variety of engineering fields.”
Each day featured a different engineer discussing the real-world challenges driving their work. Cybersecurity professor Saman Zonouz began the week with a talk on protecting critical digital systems that power modern life. Aerospace engineer professor Adam Steinberg followed with insights into developing faster, cleaner engines for next-generation supersonic aircraft. Juergen Rauleder, also an aerospace engineer professor, then introduced students to aerodynamics research conducted in Georgia Tech's wind tunnel — one of the largest in the United States.
Later sessions expanded the conversation across disciplines. Civil and environmental engineering professor Lauren Stewart discussed designing buildings and infrastructure capable of withstanding extreme loads, while mechanical engineer professor Aaron Stebner closed the week with his talk, “3D Printing Titanium: Realizing the Superhero Powers of Ironman,” exploring advances in additive manufacturing.
“These talks show engineering isn’t just theory,” said Steven Ferguson, GTMI principal research scientist. “Students are hearing directly about the kinds of problems people are working on right now.”
One session featured Aparna Srinidhi Jagannathan, a third-year biomedical engineering student and undergraduate researcher at Georgia Tech, who spoke about her research in the Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab. Jagannathan is developing a wearable biofeedback system designed to help patients with gait disorders improve balance and coordination while walking.
“One of the things I value about being an engineer is the ability to turn abstract ideas and theories into tangible devices and technologies through research and design,” Jagannathan said. “Engineers Week empowers students with the knowledge that they, too, can meaningfully contribute to engineering. It reminds them that they can lead projects that benefit the communities around them.”
Engineers Week at Georgia Tech was presented by the College of Engineering, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
Georgia Institute of Technology has been ranked 7th in the world in the 2026 Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings, in association with Schmidt Science Fellows. This designation underscores Georgia Tech’s leadership in research that solves global challenges.
“Interdisciplinary research is at the heart of Georgia Tech’s mission,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive vice president for Research. “Our faculty, students, and research teams work across disciplines to create transformative solutions in areas such as healthcare, energy, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence. This ranking reflects the strength of our collaborative culture and the impact of our research on society.”
As a top R1 research university, Georgia Tech is shaping the future of basic and applied research by pursuing inventive solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Whether discovering cancer treatments or developing new methods to power our communities, work at the Institute focuses on improving the human condition.
Teams from all seven Georgia Tech colleges, 11 interdisciplinary research institutes, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Enterprise Innovation Institute, and hundreds of research labs and centers work together to transform ideas into real results.
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) recently welcomed its first Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) Fellow to help address this growing need. Lukas Berg, a retiring U.S. Army officer, will be working with GTMI to support new education and training programs aimed at preparing Georgians for careers in advanced manufacturing.
“Lukas Berg brings a unique blend of operational experience, academic insight, and a deep commitment to service,” said Thomas Kurfess, executive director of GTMI. “His perspective will be invaluable as we work to build stronger connections between Georgia’s communities and the advanced manufacturing sector.”
Hiring Our Heroes is a nationwide initiative led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that helps veterans and military spouses transition into civilian careers through short-term fellowships. Since 2021, Georgia Tech has hosted more than two dozen HOH fellows, beginning with U.S. Army veteran Erik Andersen, who now serves as interim deputy director for the Research, Electronics, Optics, and Systems Directorate at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where he also helps lead the HOH program.
Berg is the first fellow to be placed outside of GTRI, a sign of the program’s growing reach across campus and its potential to support a broader range of workforce development efforts.
“It’s been exciting to see how the Hiring Our Heroes program has grown at Georgia Tech,” said Andersen. “Berg’s placement at GTMI reflects the Institute’s commitment to connecting military talent with real-world innovation and workforce development. Veterans bring a unique perspective and skill set to these challenges, and I’m proud to see the program expanding to new parts of campus.”
Berg’s military career includes aviation command roles, teaching positions at West Point and the Joint Special Operations University, and deployments across multiple regions. At GTMI, he will be contributing to a new initiative that partners with rural school districts to introduce students to hands-on learning in advanced manufacturing, an effort designed to spark interest in high-potential career paths and support long-term workforce readiness.
With personal ties to Georgia Tech and a strong sense of purpose, Berg sees this fellowship as a meaningful next step. We spoke with him to learn more about what brought him to GTMI and how he views the role of manufacturing and workforce development in shaping the country’s future.
Last year, I visited Georgia Tech with many of the junior officers and pilots assigned to my helicopter battalion in Savannah. Our agenda included stops at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, both of which struck me as being absolutely vital to maintaining the technological edge required to fight and win on the modern battlefield. Pursuing a fellowship at GTMI felt like a natural extension of my military service, and I suspected that it would put me back at the intersection of thinkers and doers (where I have always felt most at home).
My grandmother, Maria Venable, was the first woman to serve as a full-time faculty member in Georgia Tech’s School of Modern Languages. She poured herself into both her family and her students, and I was lucky to count myself in both populations, as she agreed to tutor me for the AP German exam in high school (but only if I behaved as well as her students at Tech). Her example inspired me to pursue a teaching assignment at West Point halfway through my Army career, and I experienced the same joy in teaching that she did. It’s something that I will continue to do for the rest of my life, whether in a formal or informal capacity.
Most immediately, I am joining a new GTMI initiative that partners with rural school districts to deliver several weeks’ worth of curriculum and hands-on practice in advanced manufacturing. We just kicked off a pilot program with Bainbridge High School in Decatur, and it’s exciting to see their students leveraging sophisticated systems to design and build Pinewood Derby cars that would make Cub Scouts across the country green with envy. Beyond this initiative, I hope to contribute to other efforts that get young people excited about careers in manufacturing and that assist adult learners in re-skilling and up-skilling for this high-potential industry.
Georgia Tech feels like a physical and intellectual crossroads of modern civilization. I’m excited to not only contribute as a member of GTMI but also to learn about the countless other departments, institutes, and programs that are convening talent to solve the world’s thorniest problems.
As an Army officer, I’ve been stationed across the country and deployed around the world, but Georgia has always been home. (Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia” has been a fixture on my playlist since I left for West Point at the age of 17.) Now back with my family, I look forward to using my time at GTMI to learn about my home state and identify ways that I can contribute to its near and long-term prosperity, whether through roles in academia, government, or private industry. I also look forward to expanding my network in all these communities, as no single one has a monopoly on problem-solving.
As a career aviator, much of my professional life was spent agonizing over the availability of parts to repair my helicopters. It seemed like there were never enough, and they always took too long to get to me. This experience, coupled with lessons learned from our support of Ukraine’s self-defense, contrasted starkly with my recent study of America’s 20th-century role as the “arsenal of democracy.” I’m convinced that we need to regain that reputation, and I would like to see Georgia at the forefront of associated design, manufacturing, and education initiatives.
I think veterans are the most natural candidates in the world for roles in the manufacturing workforce. They possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be successful in most endeavors, but most are looking for ways to extend their service beyond their time in uniform. What better way than to contribute to a field that is so vital to our national security and prosperity?
I love Tech’s motto. I grew up in a family and community that reinforced at every turn the idea that our highest potential as human beings is realized when we serve others. This motivated my choice to serve in the military for the past 20 years, and it remains my North Star for this next chapter. I also love the idea of technological progress being the vehicle by which Georgia Tech collectively serves others, and I hope to accelerate this progress during my time at GTMI.
Inventory your passions and define your purpose. Then start reaching out to people in related fields. I have been amazed at how generous people have been with their time and how eager they have been to help me find my second calling and related opportunities.
]]>The tool, known as PROPEL, combines machine learning with optimization techniques to help manufacturers make better decisions in less time. It was created by researchers at the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization, or AI4OPT, based at Georgia Tech under Tech AI (the AI Hub at Georgia Tech).
The technology is already being tested on real-world supply chain data provided by Kinaxis, a Canada-based company that supplies planning software to global manufacturers in industries ranging from automotive to consumer goods.
Vahid Eghbal Akhlaghi, senior research scientist at Kinaxis and former postdoctoral fellow at AI4OPT and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, said, “Our industry partner has been instrumental in shaping PROPEL’s capabilities. By validating the approach with real operational data, we ensured it addresses true bottlenecks in supply chain planning.”
"PROPEL represents a leap forward in how we tackle massive, complex planning problems," said Pascal Van Hentenryck, lead researcher, the director of Tech AI and the NSF AI4OPT Institute, and the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor at Georgia Tech with appointments in the colleges of engineering and computing. "By combining supervised and reinforcement learning, we can make near-optimal industrial-scale decisions, an order of magnitude faster."
Traditional supply chain planning problems are typically solved using mathematical models that require immense computing power—often too much to meet real-time business needs. PROPEL, short for Predict-Relax-Optimize using LEarning, reduces this burden by teaching the AI model to first eliminate irrelevant decisions and then fine-tune the solution to meet quality standards.
Reza Zandehshahvar, one of the paper’s co-authors and postdoctoral fellow with the NSF AI4OPT and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, said the breakthrough lies not just in the AI algorithms but in how they're trained and deployed at scale.
“Many AI models struggle when applied to problems with millions of variables. PROPEL was built from the ground up to handle industrial complexity, not just academic examples,” Zandehshahvar said. “We’re seeing real improvements in both solution speed and quality.”
In trials using Kinaxis’ historical industrial data, PROPEL achieved an 88% reduction in the time needed to find a high-quality plan and improved solution accuracy by more than 60% compared to conventional methods.
While many AI methods in supply chain rely on simulated data or simplified models, PROPEL’s performance has been validated using real-world scenarios, ensuring its reliability in high-stakes operational settings.
The Georgia Tech team says PROPEL could benefit industries that manage large, multi-tiered production networks, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, and heavy manufacturing. The researchers are now exploring partnerships with additional companies to deploy PROPEL in live environments.
Access the abstract on arXiv.
]]>AI Marketing Communications Manager
]]>“We didn't have any training for advanced manufacturing in our area,” said Miller, vice president of Academic Affairs at Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC), which offers education and training programs in technical and manufacturing fields. “Companies had to go out and recruit people from Michigan to run their machines. That's when we said, ‘We don’t want that to happen — we need to be doing that right here.’”
That’s where the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) stepped in. Working with partner program Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), GTMI helped connect SRTC with the resources and expertise needed to develop a robust training program tailored to the needs of local manufacturers.
Miller said at first, he was skeptical. “When GTMI said they wanted to be partners, I thought, ‘OK, this is another situation where we're going to talk for a minute, everybody says things and then goes away — and that’s it,’” said Miller. “That's not how it's been at all.”
Rather, it’s been a true partnership driven by SRTC, with curriculum focused on automation and robotics developed by the Technical College System of Georgia and GTMI. The curriculum is also shaped by local industry input to directly address workforce gaps in the region’s manufacturing sector.
“As a state institution, we're here to serve you,” said Steven Sheffield, senior assistant director of Research Operations at GTMI and a point person of the partnership. “Tell us the problem, and we will work hard to try to solve it with you.”
Miller was committed to giving SRTC students the advanced manufacturing skills needed to stand out in the workforce. Yet the evolving manufacturing landscape and the needs of local manufacturers revealed gaps in SRTC’s curriculum, particularly in AI, automation, and robotics.
With GTMI and Georgia AIM researchers contributing key expertise to the expanded smart manufacturing curriculum, Miller noted the partnership is “opening our eyes to what we can do with AI. We're going to start integrating that into our programs.”
Beyond AI and robotics, SRTC leadership identified a crucial gap in their program: training in precision machining, a skill that local manufacturers like Check-Mate Industries sorely needed.
“If we want to attract new business and industry to Georgia, we need to be able to show them we can provide a skilled workforce,” said Miller.
To address this missing piece, GTMI and Georgia AIM helped procure funding to acquire and refurbish precision-machining equipment from longtime partner Makino. Georgia AIM also supported the renovation and outfitting of two SRTC lab spaces with additional updated equipment.
Last fall, SRTC launched its new Precision Manufacturing & Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering Technology programs, with instructors trained by GTMI faculty in precision manufacturing. The new program at SRTC is one example of the ways GTMI experts are working with communities across the state to expand access to training and new technology.
“Not a lot of technical colleges have this type of machinery,” said Marvin Bannister, SRTC precision machining and manufacturing program chair. Instructors like Bannister received specialized training at GTMI’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility to ensure they felt confident teaching students how to operate the machinery. “Not only is it something else to add to my skill set, but the most important thing is that I'll be able to train other students who desire to learn on a machine like this.”
Because of SRTC’s expanded offerings, the technical college has strengthened partnerships and developed new internship programs with local manufacturers. “We all want the same thing,” said Miller, “which is to grow industry partnerships and to create a talent pipeline for our state.”
GTMI and Georgia AIM also support STEM programs with Thomasville area schools and internship programs for K-12 teachers with local manufacturers such as Check-Mate. These efforts deepen the connections between students and manufacturers, opening doors to future careers in the sector.
“We’re here to connect the dots and enable these types of partnerships,” says Steven Ferguson, a principal research scientist with GTMI and co-director of Georgia AIM. “When teams and their networks come together to solve a challenge for just one manufacturer, the impact can reach across an entire region.”
]]>Shreyes Melkote, the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professor for Advanced Manufacturing Systems, will serve as interim chair of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering beginning May 15.
He will assume the temporary role after Devesh Ranjan departs Georgia Tech to become dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“I am deeply appreciative of Shreyes’ willingness to step into this role during our search process," said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. "This appointment reflects his exceptional leadership on campus. Shreyes’ achievements and dedication to Georgia Tech make him the ideal person to guide us through this transition period, and I look forward to continuing our collaboration in this new capacity."
Melkote has been a Woodruff School faculty member since in 1995. His research focuses on subtractive and hybrid manufacturing, industrial robotics for manufacturing, and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods for automated manufacturing process planning.
He was awarded Georgia Tech’s outstanding achievement in research engagement and outreach award in 2024. The annual honor is presented by the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research.
Melkote is the associate director for the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary research institute tackling the challenges facing manufacturers and helping to insure future global competitiveness. He also serves as executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub.
“I am honored to serve the Woodruff School in an interim capacity. It is an opportunity to give back to the School and the Institute that have supported me in my professional growth during the past 30 years,” Melkote said. “I look forward to working with faculty, staff, and students until the next school chair is chosen to lead it.”
Melkote has published nearly 300 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals and conference proceedings. His honors include the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal and the Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award. He also was awarded the Society of Manufacturing Engineer’s (SME) Gold Medal and Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.
Melkote is an elected Fellow of ASME, SME, and CIRP, The International Academy for Production Engineering.
She wanted to connect her experience in manufacturing with her burgeoning interest in data science but wasn’t sure which way to turn. Then, she stumbled upon a job opportunity that brought both into one path forward: A fellowship focused on artificial intelligence in manufacturing through the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, or PIN.
“I happened upon this fellowship and the vertical I landed on was AI in manufacturing, which was a good marriage of the two disciplines,” said Cook, who began the one-year paid position over the summer. The PIN fellowship, part of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, places early career professionals into public and private opportunities.
The fellowship is made possible through support from Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, or Georgia AIM. Georgia AIM supports several PIN fellows each year through the AI in Manufacturing vertical. Participants spend six months working on a research project through the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and then six months with a partner company where they focus on a project that enhances the use of smart technologies.
Cook recently completed her first six-month rotation as a researcher with the Melkote Advanced Manufacturing Research Group at Georgia Tech, working with GTMI Associate Director Shreyes Melkote. She is now in her next role at Carbice, an Atlanta semiconductor manufacturer.
That’s the interesting part of the PIN fellowship: those accepted into the program gain experience in both the public and private sectors. Upon completing the program, fellows enter the workforce with a unique, innovative skillset that contributes to the emerging roles AI is creating in manufacturing.
The PIN program also helps address a gap in the workforce. There is a growing need for professionals who understand AI and smart technologies, and the program’s public/private partnership provides useful training and experience to early career professionals who are eager to solve these challenges.
In Cook’s case, her first job after college was with a small manufacturer doing engineering design and CAD work. Her role expanded a bit to accommodate her data analytics background while working on her master’s degree practicum project. But due to the size of the company, her work returned to strictly engineering after she graduated. In contrast, through the PIN fellowship, Cook is working on developing machine learning models that can be used to search for parts in a database of CAD designs. This would allow manufacturers looking for CAD drawings or 3D models to find similar parts with designs already created, saving time by giving engineers a starting point. This research allows her to leverage both her analytics and engineering knowledge.
"I feel like I am learning a lot,” said Cook. The research position allows her to apply theoretical knowledge from her master’s degree in a research environment. “That’s been very interesting and eye-opening. I’m still early in my career and my only experience is fairly traditional corporate jobs, so working in the realm of the unknown is a different situation. With research, you’re just exploring and have no assurances that what you’re doing is going to work. ”
Moving to Carbice for the second half of her fellowship adds another layer of learning, she added, because it’s one thing to test out a theory in a lab; it’s different when you are working for a company that needs to see results.
“Working in the private sector allows you to identify and reality-check the needs of actual workplaces,” she added. “Because sometimes you have a compelling idea and interesting research, but in a corporate setting, first, is it useful, and second, if it is useful, is it even something the industry wants or is willing to adopt?”
This is a paradox Cook will face not only during the second half of her fellowship, but also going forward in her career. The foundational experiences attained through the PIN fellowship will give Cook an edge as she moves into her next role. Many manufacturers are interested in adopting AI and smart technologies, but the challenge is in identifying problems to solve.
Cook said she is confident the fellowship will give her new insights that can be beneficial to future employers. The program also offers networking opportunities and connections with respected professionals that will be beneficial in years to come, she added.
“It’s really good to have both the public and private perspectives. And because I’ve worked in a couple different manufacturing environments, I’m interested in how different my manufacturing rotation will be and if I can identify patterns, similar issues, or inefficiencies. And all that is useful knowledge to have,” she said. “For me specifically, the content of this work is going to be very helpful in tying my whole resume together.”
For more details on the AI and Manufacturing-focused PIN fellowship supported by Georgia AIM, visit the PIN website.
]]>“At Georgia Tech, innovation isn’t just about discovery — it’s about solving real-world challenges,” said Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen. “Georgia Quick Start ensures that cutting-edge research in advanced manufacturing translates into practical training solutions. Together, we are equipping Georgia’s workforce with the skills needed to drive economic growth and industry advancement.”
As manufacturing technologies and artificial intelligence continue to evolve, U.S. manufacturers increasingly require skilled workers experienced in advanced manufacturing. For decades, Georgia Quick Start, administered by the Technical College System of Georgia, has been addressing this need and has been recognized as the country’s top workforce training program for 15 years.
Now, researchers at Georgia Tech will collaborate with Georgia Quick Start to enhance these efforts by developing Extended Reality (XR) training programs, providing a scalable and experiential solution to meet the growing demand for training.
“We have been so successful for so many years because we stay focused on relevance, flexibility, and responsiveness,” said Scott McMurray, deputy commissioner for Georgia Quick Start. “This partnership is an example of how Quick Start is able to develop and deliver effective training even for companies working on the leading edge of advanced manufacturing technologies.”
XR technologies use a combination of virtual and augmented reality to create immersive, interactive experiences. By simulating real-world manufacturing environments and processes, XR has the potential to allow trainees to practice and refine their skills in a controlled, risk-free setting through standardized training experiences. This not only enhances the learning experience but also ensures consistency in training quality across a large workforce.
“Virtual reality scales training by gamifying complex tasks and removing the need for costly or hazardous physical equipment. Augmented reality scales on-the-job training by providing adaptive, context-aware guidance exactly when and where it’s needed, reducing the need for expert supervision,” said manufacturing XR researcher Mohsen Moghaddam, Gary C. Butler Family associate professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Together, they make training more consistent, up-to-date, accessible, and safe, especially for workers who may hesitate to ask for assistance from peers or supervisors out of fear of judgment.”
The collaboration will leverage Moghaddam’s research and the AR/VR training space within the expanded Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, providing a state-of-the-art environment for developing and deploying XR training technologies. Researchers from the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and Georgia AIM(Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing) will also play pivotal roles in the development of these training programs.
“Partnerships like these highlight the power of the integrated University of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia’s workforce development ecosystem,” said Thomas Kurfess, Regents’ Professor and GTMI executive director. “Our country not only needs the creation of new jobs but also the skilled workforce to fill them. At Georgia Tech and GTMI, we are serving as an enabler of innovation in that workforce development.”
]]>"Joining the NSTC is a significant milestone for Georgia Tech," said George White, senior director for strategic partnerships. "This partnership will enable us to collaborate with leading experts in the semiconductor field, drive groundbreaking research, and contribute to the advancement of semiconductor technology in the U.S."
The NSTC is operated by Natcast (National Center for the Advancement of Semiconductor Technology) and supported by the Department of Commerce through the CHIPS and Science Act. NSTC brings together key stakeholders from academia, industry, and government to create a robust semiconductor ecosystem. As a member, Georgia Tech will have access to a wide range of benefits, including research grant opportunities, participation in NSTC-led research projects, and access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources.
Georgia Tech's involvement in the NSTC will focus on several key areas, including workforce development, research and development initiatives, and fostering collaboration between academia and industry. By participating in the NSTC, Georgia Tech aims to enhance its research capabilities, support the growth of the semiconductor industry, and contribute to national economic and security goals.
Learn more about CHIPS initiatives at Georgia Tech:
$100M Investment Will Propel Absolics Inc., Georgia Tech’s Advanced Packaging Research
Georgia Tech Joins $840M DoD Project to Develop and Manufacture Next-gen Semiconductor Microsystems
Semiconductor Research Corp. and Georgia Tech Secure $285M SMART USA Institute
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Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00p
Tom Kurfess - Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114 or link here for virtual participation
Thursday, May 12 at 2:00p
Chuck Zhang – Callaway building, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114 or link here for virtual participation
- - - - - - Short Bios - - - - -
Thomas R. Kurfess is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his S.B., S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively. He also received an S.M. degree from M.I.T. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988. During 2019-2021 he was on leave serving as the Chief Manufacturing Officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he was responsible for strategic planning for ORNL in advanced manufacturing. He was also and was the Founding Director for the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL. During 2012-2013 he served as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America, where he was responsible for coordinating Federal advanced manufacturing R&D. He was President of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the ASME. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, and SME.
Dr. Chuck Zhang is a Harold E. Smalley Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also an affiliated faculty member with Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). He serves as the Director of the newly established Center for Composite and Hybrid Materials Interfacing (CHMI) which is a three-university NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) headquartered in GTMI. Dr. Zhang’s current research interests include advanced composite/nanocomposite structures manufacturing and maintenance, additive manufacturing, bio-manufacturing, and manufacturing cybersecurity. As PI and Co-PI, he has led or conducted over 50 research projects sponsored by numerous federal agencies including Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Science Foundation, as well as industrial companies such as ATK, Cummins, Delta Air Lines, and Lockheed Martin. He currently serves as a Co-lead of the “Soft Robotics Technology Working Group” for NextFlex, one of the Manufacturing USA Network Institutes. Dr. Zhang is a fellow of Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). He has published over 220 refereed journal articles and 230 conference papers. He also holds 26 U.S. patents.
]]>In the rapidly evolving world of manufacturing, embracing digital connectivity and artificial intelligence is crucial for optimizing operations, improving efficiency, and driving innovation. Internet of Things (IoT) is a key pillar of that process, enabling seamless communication and data exchange across the manufacturing process by connecting sensors, equipment, and applications through internet protocols.
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) recently hosted the 10th annual Internet of Things for Manufacturing (IoTfM) Symposium, a flagship event that continues to set the standard for innovation and collaboration in the manufacturing sector. Held on Nov. 13, the symposium brought together industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners to explore the latest advancements and applications of IoT in manufacturing.
"The purpose is to bring the voice of manufacturers directly to the university community," explained Andrew Dugenske, a principal research engineer and director of the Factory Information Systems Center at GTMI. "It's about learning from industry to guide our research, education, and knowledge base, which is inherent to Georgia Tech."
Initiated over a decade ago, the IoTfM Symposium has grown into a premier event that highlights Georgia Tech's commitment to advancing manufacturing technologies.
"This symposium provides a unique platform to share and learn from cutting-edge advancements in IoT and now AI for manufacturing,” said Dago Mata, regional director of business development at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and one of the event’s speakers. “The opportunity to engage with industry leaders and showcase practical, real-world implementations was highly motivating."
This year’s symposium welcomed over 100 attendees from across the country. Speakers from TCS, Amazon Web Services, Southwire, and more shared insights on the latest advancements, use cases, current challenges, and future directions for IoT in manufacturing processes.
“My favorite aspect was the case studies presented by major manufacturers, highlighting successful IoT and AI implementations," said Mata, who has attended the symposium since 2018. "These provided actionable takeaways and inspiration for driving similar innovation in my projects — the blend of exclusive learning from real-world applications and the presence of diverse experts made it a truly practical and inspiring event."
A distinctive feature of the IoTfM Symposium is its commitment to providing a platform for industry partners to voice their perspectives on powerful manufacturing research, says Dugenske. "We ask our industry partners to tell us about their experiences, challenges, and future predictions. This way, we can guide our research with the real-world needs of the manufacturing sector to form stronger collaborations and better prepare our students."
This unique format not only enhances the relevance of the symposium but also fosters a collaborative environment where industry leaders can learn from each other and from Georgia Tech's academic community.
As GTMI looks to the future, the symposium will continue to evolve, incorporating new elements and expanding its reach. Dugenske envisions even greater integration with other GTMI initiatives and broader industry engagement.
"Our goal is to create an event that highlights our capabilities and builds deeper connections within the manufacturing community.”
Organized by Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), Georgia AIM Week kicked off September 30 with a celebration on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus and culminated with another celebration on Friday at the University of Georgia in Athens and aligned with National Manufacturing Day.
In between, the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio made stops at schools and community organizations to showcase a range of technology rooted in AI and smart technology.
“Georgia AIM Week was a statewide opportunity for us to celebrate Manufacturing Day and to launch our Georgia AIM Mobile Studio,” said Donna Ennis, associate vice president, community-based engagement, for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and Georgia AIM co-director. “Georgia AIM projects planned events in cities around the state, starting here in Atlanta. Then we headed to Warner Robins, Southwest Georgia, and Athens. We’re excited about the opportunity to bring this technology to our communities and increase access and ideas related to smart technology.”
Georgia AIM is a collaboration across the state to provide the tools and knowledge to empower all communities, particularly those that have been underserved and overlooked in manufacturing. This includes rural communities, women, people of color, and veterans. Georgia AIM projects are located across the state and work within communities to create a diverse AI manufacturing workforce. The federally funded program is a collaborative project administered through Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
A cornerstone of Georgia AIM Week was the debut of the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio, a 53-foot custom trailer outfitted with technology that can be used in manufacturing — but also by anyone with an interest in learning about AI and smart technology. Visitors to the mobile studio can experience virtual reality, 3-D printing, drones, robots, sensors, computer vision, and circuits essential to running this new tech.
There’s even a dog — albeit a robotic one — named Nova.
The studio was designed to introduce students to the possibilities of careers in manufacturing and show small businesses some of the cost-effective ways they can incorporate 21st century technology into their manufacturing operations.
“We were awarded about $7.5 million to build this wonderful studio here,” said Kenya Asbill, who works at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) as the Economic Development Administration project manager for Georgia AIM. “We will be traveling around the state of Georgia to introduce artificial intelligence in manufacturing to our targeted communities, including underserved rural and urban residents.”
Some technology on the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio was designed in consultation with project partners Kitt Labs and Technologists of Color. An additional suite of “technology vignettes” were developed by students at the University of Georgia College of Engineering. RICE and UGA served as project leads for the mobile studio development, and RICE will oversee its deployment across the state in the coming months.
To request a mobile studio visit, please visit the Georgia AIM website.
During Monday’s kickoff, the Georgia Tech cheerleaders and Buzz fired up the crowd before an event that featured remarks by Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. EDA Christina Killingsworth; Jay Bailey, president and CEO of RICE; Beshoy Morkos, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Georgia; Aaron Stebner, co-director of Georgia AIM; David Bridges, vice president of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute; and lightning presentations by Georgia AIM project leads from around the state.
Following the presentations, mobile studio tours were led by Jon Exume, president and executive director, and Mark Lawson, director of technology, for Technologists of Color. The organization works to create a cohesive and thriving community of African Americans in tech.
“I’m particularly excited to witness the launch of the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio. It really will help demystify AI and bring its promise to underserved rural areas across the state,” Killingsworth said. “AI is the defining technology of our generation. It’s transforming the global economy, and it will continue to have tremendous impact on the global workforce. And while AI has the potential to democratize access to information, enhance efficiency, and allow humans to focus on the more complex, creative, and meaningful aspects of work, it also has the power to exacerbate economic disparity. As such, we must work together to embrace the promise of AI while mitigating its risks.”
Other events during Georgia AIM week included the Middle Georgia Innovation Corridor Manufacturing Expo in Warner Robins, West Georgia Manufacturing Day – Student Career Expo in LaGrange, and a visit to Colquitt County High School in Moultrie. The week wrapped on Friday, Oct. 4, at the University of Georgia in Athens with a National Manufacturing Day celebration.
“We’re focused on growing our manufacturing economy,” Ennis said. “We’re also focused on the development and deployment of innovation and talent in the manufacturing industry as it relates to AI and other technologies. Manufacturing is cool. It is a changing industry. We want our students and younger people to understand that this is a career.”
]]>“As researchers develop new materials, one of the key aspects we’re missing is how to make them at scale. This is a major oversight because if we can’t make them at scale, we can’t transition from basic research to commercialization,” said Tequila Harris, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “With this new facility, we can prove our discoveries beyond lab-scale studies — and can go from materials innovation to product development at scale.”
Led by Harris, the new facility is the result of a partnership between the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute(GTMI), the Strategic Energy Institute, and the Woodruff School. As a pilot facility, it will serve as a testbed for scaling up manufacturing research open for Georgia Tech researchers as well as academic, government, and industry partners around the world.
“The larger vision I see at Georgia Tech involves innovation in manufacturing for large-scale industries,” said Georgia Tech’s Interim Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen at the facility’s unveiling event on Sept. 19. “It’s crucial that we’re innovating in basic science and technology, but we also need to be innovating in large-scale manufacturing.”
Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing transforms flexible rolls of substrate materials, such as paper, metal foils, and plastics, into more complex, transportable rolls upon coating the surface with one or more fluids, such as inks, suspensions, and solutions, which are subsequently dried or cured on the base substrate. Its high yield and efficiency make R2R an ideal method for the sustainable, large-scale production of components for solar cells, batteries, flexible electronics, and separations — all industries that have expanded in Georgia in recent years.
“As a state institution, we’re ultimately here to serve our state,” said Lieuwen, who is also Regents’ Professor and David S. Lewis Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “We’re seeing Georgia emerge as the national leader in terms of recruiting corporate investments in this space and in industries that will be served by this facility.”
The R2R process is similar to the production of newspapers, where a large roll of blank paper goes through a series of rollers printing text and photos. “The roll-to-roll aspect is the process of using a specialized tool to force fluid onto a moving surface,” says Harris. It’s one of the fastest-growing methods for producing thin film materials — photovoltaics used in solar cells, transistors in flexible electronics, and micro-batteries, for example — at a large scale.
Harris’s group works to develop novel manufacturing tools, with a particular focus on understanding and improving the dynamics of thin film manufacturing to increase efficiency and minimize waste. Her group is particularly interested in slot die coating, an R2R technique where a liquid material is precisely deposited onto a substrate through a narrow slot. With the new pilot facility, researchers like Harris will be able to take their work to the next level.
“Slot die coating on a roll-to-roll can handle the broadest viscosity range of most coating methods. Therefore, you can process a lot of different materials very quickly and easily,” says Harris. “It’s one of the fastest-growing technologies in the U.S. — and currently, this is the most advanced modular pilot scale facility at an academic university in the United States.”
“Georgia Tech is way ahead of the curve in terms of our facilities,” says GTMI Executive Director and Regents’ Professor Thomas Kurfess. “This will grow our capability in the battery area, membranes, flexible electronics, and more to allow us to support the development of new technologies.”
“As technologies around cleantech continue to advance at an unprecedented pace, pilot manufacturing facilities provide a critical bridge between innovative benchtop research and commercial-scale production and manufacturing,” says Christine Conwell, interim executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute. “We are excited about the opportunities this R2R facility will provide to the Georgia Tech energy community and our industry partners.”
]]>Georgia AIM (Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing) was recently awarded the 'Tech for Good' award from the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the state’s largest tech organization.
The accolade was presented at the annual TAG Technology Awards ceremony on Nov. 6 at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. The TAG Technology Awards promote inclusive technology throughout Georgia, and any state company, organization, or leader is eligible to apply.
Tech for Good, one of TAG’s five award categories, honors a program or project that uses technology to promote inclusiveness and equity by serving Georgia communities and individuals who are underrepresented in the tech space.
Georgia AIM is comprised of 16 projects across the state that connect smart technology to manufacturing through K-12 education, workforce development, and manufacturer outreach. The federally funded program is a collaborative project administered through Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
TAG is a Georgia AIM partner and provides workforce development programs that train people and assist them in making successful transitions into tech careers.
Donna Ennis, Georgia AIM’s co-director, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.
“Georgia AIM’s mission is to equitably develop and deploy talent and innovation for AI in manufacturing, and the Tech for Good Award reinforces our focus on revolutionizing the manufacturing economy for Georgia and the entire country,” Ennis said in her acceptance speech.
She cited the organization’s many coalition members across the state: the Technical College System of Georgia; Spelman College; the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio team at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs and the University of Georgia; the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission; the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center; and TAG and Georgia AIM’s partners in the Middle Georgia Innovation corridor, including 21st Century Partnership and the Houston Development Authority.
Ennis also acknowledged the U.S. Economic Development Administration for funding the project and helping to bring it to fruition. “But most of all,” she said, “I want to thank our manufacturers and communities across Georgia who are at the forefront of creating a new economy through AI in manufacturing. It is a privilege to assist you on this journey of technology and discovery.”
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The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) proudly hosted U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro during his recent campus visit. Del Toro's visit underscored the critical role of innovation and technology in national security and highlighted Georgia Tech's significant contributions to this effort.
“Our Navy-Marine Corps Team remains at the center of global and national security — maintaining freedom of the seas, international security, and global stability,” he explained in his remarks at the John Lewis Student Center. “To win the fight of the future, we must embrace and implement emerging technologies.”
The Secretary provided an update on science and technology research to the Atlanta Region Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps unit, comprised of midshipmen from Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University. Del Toro has worked to establish a new Naval Science and Technology Strategy to address current and future challenges faced by the Navy and Marine Corps. The strategy serves as a global call to service and innovation for stakeholders in academia, industry, and government.
“The Georgia Tech Research Institute has answered this call,” he said.
A key pillar of the new strategy, says Del Toro, was the establishment of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board in 2023, “with the intent that the board provide independent advice and counsel to the department on matters and policies relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine, and business management functions.”
The board, which includes Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) Executive Director Thomas Kurfess, has conducted six studies in its inaugural year to identify new technologies for rapid adoption and provide near-term, practical recommendations for quick implementation by the Navy.
“I recently led the team for developing a strategy for integrating additive manufacturing into the Navy’s overall shipbuilding and repair strategy,” says Kurfess. “We just had final approval of our recommendations — we are making a significant impact on the Navy with respect to additive manufacturing.”
Del Toro's visit to Georgia Tech reaffirms the Institute's role as a leader in research and innovation, particularly in areas critical to national security. The collaboration between Georgia Tech and the Department of the Navy continues to drive advancements that ensure the safety and effectiveness of the nation's naval forces.
“Innovation is at the heart of our efforts at Georgia Tech and GTMI,” says Kurfess. “It is an honor to put that effort toward ensuring our country’s safety and national security in partnership with the U.S. Navy.”
“As our department continues to reimagine and refocus our innovation efforts,” said Del Toro, “I encourage all of you — our nation’s scientists, engineers, researchers, and inventors — to join us.”
As automation and AI continue to transform the manufacturing industry, the need for seamless integration across all production stages has reached an all-time high. By digitally designing products, controlling the machinery that builds them, and collecting precise data at each step, digital integration streamlines the entire manufacturing process — cutting down on waste materials, cost, and production time.
Recently, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) teamed up with OPEN MIND Technologies to host an immersive, weeklong training session on hyperMILL, an advanced manufacturing software enabling this digital integration.
OPEN MIND, the developer of hyperMILL, has been a longtime supporter of research operations in Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF). “Our adoption of their software solutions has allowed us to explore the full potential of machines and to make sure we keep forging new paths,” said Steven Ferguson, a principal research scientist at GTMI.
Software like hyperMILL helps plan the most efficient and accurate way to cut, shape, or 3D print materials on different machines, making the process faster and easier. Hosted at the AMPF, the immersive training offered 10 staff members and students a hands-on platform to use the software while practicing machining and additive manufacturing techniques.
“The number of new features and tricks that the software has every year makes it advantageous to stay current and get a refresher course,” said Alan Burl, a Ph.D. student in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering who attended the training session. “More advanced users can learn new tips and tricks while simultaneously exposing new users to the power of a fully featured, computer-aided manufacturing software.”
OPEN MIND Technologies has partnered with Georgia Tech for over five years to support digital manufacturing research, offering biannual training in their latest software to faculty and students.
“Meeting the new graduate students each fall is something that I look forward to,” said Brad Rooks, an application engineer at OPEN MIND and one of the co-leaders of the training session. “This particular group posed questions that were intuitive and challenging to me as a trainer — their inquisitive nature drove me to look at our software from fresh perspectives.”
The company is also a member of GTMI’s Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium, a membership-based group that unites industry, academia, and government to develop and implement advanced manufacturing technologies and train the workforce for the market.
“The strong reputation of GTMI in the manufacturing industry, and more importantly, the reputation of the students, faculty, and researchers who support research within our facilities, enables us to forge strategic partnerships with companies like OPEN MIND,” says Ferguson, who also serves as executive director of the consortium. “These relationships are what makes working with and within GTMI so special.”
In a significant step towards fostering international collaboration and advancing cutting-edge technologies in manufacturing, Georgia Tech recently signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (KATECH). Facilitated by the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), this landmark event underscores Georgia Tech’s commitment to global partnerships and innovation in manufacturing and automotive technologies.
“This is a great fit for the institute, the state of Georgia, and the United States, enhancing international cooperation,” said Thomas Kurfess, GTMI executive director and Regents’ Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME). “An MoU like this really gives us an opportunity to bring together a larger team to tackle international problems.”
“An MoU signing between Georgia Tech and entities like KITECH and KATECH signifies a formal agreement to pursue shared goals and explore collaborative opportunities, including joint research projects, academic exchanges, and technological advancements,” said Seung-Kyum Choi, an associate professor in ME and a major contributor in facilitating both partnerships. “Partnering with these influential institutions positions Georgia Tech to expand its global footprint and enhance its impact, particularly in areas like AI-driven manufacturing and automotive technologies.”
The state of Georgia has seen significant growth in investments from Korean companies. Over the past decade, approximately 140 Korean companies have committed around $23 billion to various projects in Georgia, creating over 12,000 new jobs in 2023 alone. This influx of investment underscores the strong economic ties between Georgia and South Korea, further bolstered by partnerships like those with KITECH and KATECH.
“These partnerships not only provide access to new resources and advanced technologies,” says Choi, “but create opportunities for joint innovation, furthering GTMI’s mission to drive transformative breakthroughs in manufacturing on a global scale.”
The MoUs with KITECH and KATECH are expected to facilitate a wide range of collaborative activities, including joint research projects that leverage the strengths of both institutions, academic exchanges that enrich the educational experiences of students and faculty, and technological advancements that push the boundaries of current manufacturing and automotive technologies.
“My hopes for the future of Georgia Tech’s partnerships with KITECH and KATECH are centered on fostering long-term, impactful collaborations that drive innovation in manufacturing and automotive technologies,” Choi noted. “These partnerships do not just expand our reach; they solidify our leadership in shaping the future of manufacturing, keeping Georgia Tech at the forefront of industry breakthroughs worldwide.”
Georgia Tech has a history of successful collaborations with Korean companies, including a multidecade partnership with Hyundai. Recently, the Institute joined forces with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) to establish the KIAT-Georgia Tech Semiconductor Electronics Center to advance semiconductor research, fostering sustainable partnerships between Korean companies and Georgia Tech researchers.
“Partnering with KATECH and KITECH goes beyond just technological innovation,” said Kurfess, “it really enhances international cooperation, strengthens local industry, drives job creation, and boosts Georgia’s economy.”
Between revitalized investments in America’s manufacturing infrastructure and an increased focus on AI and automation, the U.S. is experiencing a manufacturing renaissance. A key focus of this resurgence lies in improving the resiliency of supply chains in the U.S., particularly in crucial sectors like defense.
“If we were to suddenly have a seismic shift in defense manufacturing needs,” asks Aaron Stebner, professor and Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, “do we have the supply chain and manufacturers who could meet that sudden increase in demand? How do we do that in a way that’s sustainable for long periods of time as a nation if that need arises?”
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) officially launched the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium in 2023 to address that need. Designed to form a network of engaged manufacturers from across the country, the Consortium serves as a key connection point between Georgia Tech and industry partners — and as fertile ground for collaborative innovation.
“By bringing us all together,” says Stebner, who serves on the board of the Consortium, “we can do bigger, more meaningful things and find unique ways and opportunities to get money flowing back to the companies and Georgia Tech.”
With over 25 founding company members, the Consortium celebrated its first official year of operation in August.
The Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium originally grew out of an 18-month pilot project funded by the Department of Defense Office of Local Community Cooperation aiming to increase defense supply chain resilience, assist Georgia manufacturers in adopting new technologies, and foster collaboration by connecting manufacturers across Georgia.
Those goals and more are tackled by the Consortium’s focus on “networking, engagement, and collaboration,” says Stebner. “It's not just a consortium for Georgia Tech to take money from industry and do stuff with their money — the goal is to create new resources that enable us to collaborate in bigger ways than we could otherwise.”
To join the Consortium, industry members pay up to $10,000 annually to access its network, intellectual property, and facilities. With a 10% membership discount for Georgia businesses and a 75% discount for small businesses, the Consortium especially aims to promote growth for small Georgia manufacturers.
“Memberships come with time at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, which we’re expanding to be this test bed for autonomous maturation of research and development,” says Stebner. “The fact that we have what’s going to be an almost $60 million facility behind us as a mechanism and a playground for all these companies is unique.”
“Having a shared use facility that is fully equipped to solve manufacturing’s most interesting challenges is not only a perk of Consortium memberships,” said Executive Director Steven Ferguson, “but it also serves as a hub for innovation in manufacturing.”
Many consortiums founded by academic institutions are primarily focused on academic research.
“The Manufacturing 4.0 consortium has an industry focus,” said Branden Kappes, founder and president of Consortium member company Contextualize LLC. “It's more about how we take this capability that, at the moment, is trapped in a lab and transition from a wonderful concept into a wonderful product.”
The Consortium achieves that translation through shared intellectual property agreements, collaborative research initiatives, and an emphasis on creating an engaged and open network of members.
“I see camaraderie inside the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium,” says Kappes. “I see companies that overlap and compete in some areas, are complementary in others, and are willing to build a bridge to advance the capabilities of both sides and the community as a whole. That type of mentality is very exciting.”
“This is one of the most highly engaged groups I have interacted with in a professional setting,” said John Flynn, vice president of Sales at Consortium member company Endeavor 3D. “It is an incredibly dynamic melting pot of all the different facets of industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing, bringing everyone together from that part of the supply chain to create what I know will be important and value-added projects, ultimately resulting in intellectual property.”
“We are able to connect Consortium members with subject matter experts at Georgia Tech and within the Consortium who have ‘been there and done that,’” said Ferguson. “At the same time, we are working with manufacturers to create novel solutions to complex problems through research engagements. Blending all of those activities into one organization is part of the magic that is the Consortium.”
]]>GTRI is leading the development of an integrated artificial intelligence response hub for Southwest Georgia to help communities streamline disaster management and logistics. The hub aims to enhance resilience and response efficiency of these communities, potentially saving lives and reducing economic losses. GTRI is collaborating in this effort with the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission (SWGRC), a regional planning agency that serves 14 counties and 44 cities in Southwest Georgia. The SWGRC focuses on ecosystem building in the areas of manufacturing in food production, manufacturing start-ups, supply chain logistics and workforce development.
“This will be a centralized platform that key stakeholders in Southwest Georgia can use to manage various disruption scenarios,” said GTRI Senior Research Engineer Francisco Valdes, who is leading this project.
This project is one of several initiatives undertaken by Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM), a $65 million federal grant awarded to Georgia Tech and a coalition of partners across the state, including the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
“My home university has 30 campuses across Mexico with the main campus being in Monterrey—where I was born. I’ve known professor Tom Kurfess, executive director of GTMI, for more than 20 years. He has a faculty appointment at Tecnológico de Monterrey similar to a distinguished professor due to an agreement with Georgia Tech,” said Ahuett. “We’re both involved with advanced manufacturing but in different countries with similar processes. However, the facilities at Georgia Tech are far more advanced, such as the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) operated by GTMI. Some of our graduate students periodically come to participate in research at Georgia Tech.”
Ahuett, who has ample manufacturing research experience, was extended an invitation to visit Georgia Tech this spring. He is using this visit as a sabbatical to further his understandings and learn more about new advanced manufacturing topic areas.
He recently attended The Hershey Company lecture at GTMI presented by Will Bonifant, vice president of the US and Canada supply chain, and Chris Myers, vice president of engineering at Hershey. The topic was modernizing a century-old, iconic snacks company leveraging Industry 4.0 digital and technology solutions.
“Today, Hershey provided a good understanding of smart manufacturing and how Hershey uses its fast access to data to make quick decisions that are implemented inside the factory and its processes,” said Ahuett. “They deployed smart manufacturing processes to use fewer resources, reduce waste, yet make factory equipment changes in a timely manner and safe manner to deliver targeted product quantities based on customer demand.”
Ahuett indicated that the proliferation of sensor technology and corresponding data can be used to benefit manufacturing by reducing waste, saving energy, and generally making companies more agile with better use of resources in factory settings. One example would be understanding performance parameters for tooling where you generally know the life cycle of a cutting tool and are able to measure the tool’s degradation in real time so that you can make plans to replace the tool at the best time to minimize your downtime of that tool versus waiting for it to break unexpectedly and shut down the process.
His strongest research interest during his GTMI visit is the topic of digital twins.
“The topic of digital twins is not new -- it has been around for at least 40 years. A good example is that during the Apollo moon missions NASA had digital twins. They had instruments on earth that replicated the instruments sent on the moon missions so they could simulate actions [using data] on earth that would occur on the actual spaceships,” said Ahuett.
“The concept of digital twins generates confusion. The first impulse is to think of a digital image as the twin of a physical entity. In principle, the digital twin simulates the behavior of the physical twin to model and make predictions. Not all processes can be modelled in real time, but some can which provides beneficial information in a timely manner given how fast computer processors are today. Today, we have more and better tools that use data to give us greater insights.”
Ahuett will be working with robots and co-robots in collaboration with Kyle Saleeby, research engineer at GTMI, to help automate accurate measuring during a manufacturing process. A piece of their research project will be building models so a part’s characteristic data can be tracked and stored in a digital twin that represents a specific instance of each part manufactured and which will also include external data associated with the manufacturing of the part.
“I’m hoping my sabbatical at Georgia Tech will help me develop new competencies, new skills, and new knowledge on critical topics. I want to move research further in some areas and part of being here is to figure out some things that I didn’t know before with the help of GTMI,” said Ahuett.
]]>Novelis and the Georgia Institute of Technology recently co-hosted the 19th International Conference on Aluminum Alloys (ICAA19). Held on Georgia Tech's campus, this event brought together the brightest minds in aluminum technology for four days of intensive learning and networking.
Since its inception in 1986, ICAA has been the premier global forum for aluminum manufacturing innovations. This year, the conference attracted over 300 participants from 19 countries, including representatives from academia, research organizations, and industry leaders.
“The diverse mix of attendees created a rich tapestry of knowledge and experience, fostering a robust exchange of ideas,” said Naresh Thadhani, conference co-chair and professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering
ICAA19 featured 12 symposia topics and over 250 technical presentations, delving into critical themes such as sustainability, future mobility, and next-generation manufacturing. Keynote addresses from leaders at the Aluminum Association, Airbus, and Coca-Cola set the stage for insightful discussions. Novelis Chief Technology Officer Philippe Meyer and Georgia Tech Executive Vice President for Research Chaouki Abdallah headlined the event, underscoring the importance of Novelis’ partnership with Georgia Tech.
Marking the fifth anniversary of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech, Hub Executive Director Shreyes Melkote says that “ICAA19 represents a prime example of the close collaboration between Novelis and the Institute, enabled by the Novelis Innovation Hub.” Melkote, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, also serves as the associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
“This unique center for research, development, and technology has been instrumental in advancing aluminum innovations, exemplifying the power of partnerships in driving industry progress,” says Meyer. “As we reflect on the success of ICAA19, we remain committed to strengthening our existing partnerships and forging new alliances to accelerate innovation. The collaborative spirit showcased at the conference is a testament to our dedication to leading the aluminum industry into a more sustainable future.”
]]>“An individual faculty’s lab focuses on showing the innovation or the new science that they discovered,” said Aaron Stebner, professor and Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “At that point, the business case hasn't been made for the technology yet — there's no testing on an industrial system to know if it breaks or if it scales up. A lot of innovation and scientific discovery dies there.”
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) launched the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) in 2017 to help bridge that gap.
Now, GTMI is breaking ground on an extensive expansion to bring new capabilities in automation, artificial intelligence, and data management to the facility.
“This will be the first facility of this size that's being intentionally designed to enable AI to perform research and development in materials and manufacturing at the same time,” said Stebner, “setting up GTMI as not just a leader in Georgia, but a leader in automation and AI in manufacturing across the country.”
Located just north of Georgia Tech’s main campus, APMF is a 20,000-square-foot facility serving as a teaching laboratory, technology test bed, and workforce development space for manufacturing innovations.
“The pilot facility,” says Stebner, “is meant to be a place where stakeholders in academic research, government, industry, and workforce development can come together and develop both the workforce that is needed for future technologies, as well as mature, de-risk, and develop business cases for new technologies — proving them out to the point where it makes sense for industry to pick them up.”
In addition to serving as the flagship facility for GTMI research and the state’s Georgia AIM (Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing) project, the AMPF is a user facility accessible to Georgia Tech’s industry partners as well as the Institute’s faculty, staff, and students.
“We have all kinds of great capabilities and technologies, plus staff that can train students, postdocs, and faculty on how to use them,” said Stebner, who also serves as co-director of the GTMI-affiliated Georgia AIM project. “It creates a unique asset for Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and students.”
The renovation of APMF is a key component of the $65 million grant, awarded to Georgia Tech by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration in 2022, which gave rise to the Georgia AIM project. With over $23 million in support from Georgia AIM, the improved facility will feature new workforce training programs, personnel, and equipment.
Set to complete in Spring 2026, the Institute’s investment of $16 million supports construction that will roughly triple the size of the facility — and work to address a major roadblock for incorporating AI and automation into manufacturing practices: data.
“There’s a lot of work going on across the world in using machine learning in engineering problems, including manufacturing, but it's limited in scale-up and commercial adoption,” explained Stebner.
Machine learning algorithms have the potential to make manufacturing more efficient, but they need a lot of reliable, repeatable data about the processes and materials involved to be effective. Collecting that data manually is monotonous, costly, and time-consuming.
“The idea is to automate those functions that we need to enable AI and machine learning” in manufacturing, says Stebner. “Let it be a facility where you can imagine new things and push new boundaries and not just be stuck in demonstrating concepts over and over again.”
To make that possible, the expanded facility will couple AI and data management with robotic automation.
“We're going to be able to demonstrate automation from the very beginning of our process all the way through the entire ecosystem of manufacturing,” said Steven Sheffield, GTMI’s senior assistant director of research operations.
“This expansion — no one else has done anything like it,” added Steven Ferguson, principal research scientist with GTMI and managing director of Georgia AIM. “We will have the leading facility for demonstrating what a hyperconnected and AI-driven manufacturing enterprise looks like. We’re setting the stage for Georgia Tech to continue to lead in the manufacturing space for the next decade and beyond.”
]]>The multi-state tour was designed to showcase ways the Biden-Harris administration has built economic opportunity, supported communities, and is investing in traditionally underserved areas. Georgia AIM is an example of this, as it helps to expand technology training, job opportunities and advances for manufacturing across the state. Along with Georgia AIM, the Georgia Minority Business Development Agency Business Center (Georgia MBC), and Southeast Business Hub, programs of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, also attended the event at the Georgia International Convention Center, near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“This event was a great opportunity to introduce the vice president to the work of Georgia AIM,” said Donna Ennis, co-director of Georgia AIM, which works to drive adoption of AI in U.S. manufacturing. “We were founded as part of the federal government’s Build Back Better plan. It’s important for her to see how we are putting the grant to work to deliver equity in artificial intelligence for manufacturing in Georgia.”
Prior to the arrival of Vice President Harris, attendees could visit tables set up in the entry hall and learn about a number of organizations, from banks to nonprofits to governmental agencies, that are working to level the playing field for underserved Georgians. Attendees included representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Rise, and Brunswick Job Corps Center.
The Georgia AIM table, staffed by Ryan Scott, the community engagement manager, and Kyle Saleeby, research engineer with Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), was a popular stop, thanks to the tabletop “cobot” showing how robotics can be used in manufacturing and an array of 3-D printed industrial materials.
The program featured a conversation with Harris and financial literacy and business advice podcasters Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, from Earn Your Leisure. The podcast has an audience of about 2 million people, a majority of whom are Black. Harris spoke to the crowd of approximately 400 people about the administration’s focus on access to capital for minority small businesses and entrepreneurs.
“One of the compelling reasons for me to start this tour now,” Harris said, “is to ask all the leaders here for help in getting the word out about what is available to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Because we are in the process of putting a lot of money in the streets of America.”
Some of those funds have gone to Enterprise Innovation Institute programs, including $65 million for Georgia AIM.
Georgia senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Rep. Nikema Williams also spoke at the event. Prior to the event, they joined Harris at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs(RICE), a partner project with Georgia AIM. RICE is developing a mobile lab with researchers at the University of Georgia College of Engineering that will showcase AI-based technologies to communities across the state.
“It was exciting to hear first-hand about the administration’s commitment to equity in small businesses and entrepreneurship,” Ennis said. “It dovetails perfectly with the commitment of the programs of the Enterprise Innovation Institute.”
]]>But what if it could also help people live more efficiently — that is, more sustainably, with less waste?
It’s a concept that often runs through the mind of Iesha Baldwin, the inaugural Georgia AIM Fellow with the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation (PIN) at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. Born out of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, the Georgia AIM (Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing) project works with PIN fellows to advance the project's mission of equitably developing and deploying talent and innovation in AI for manufacturing throughout the state of Georgia.
When she accepted the PIN Fellowship for 2023, she saw an opportunity to learn more about the nexus of artificial intelligence, manufacturing, waste, and education. With a background in environmental studies and science, Baldwin studied methods for waste reduction, environmental protection, and science education.
“I took an interest in AI technology because I wanted to learn how it can be harnessed to solve the waste problem and create better science education opportunities for K-12 and higher education students,” said Baldwin.
This type of unique problem-solving is what defines the PIN Fellowship programs. Every year, a cohort of recent college graduates is selected, and each is paired with an industry that aligns with their expertise and career goals — specifically, cleantech, AI manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, and cybersecurity/information technology. Fellowships are one year, with fellows spending six months with a private company and then six months with a public organization.
Through the experience, fellows expand their professional network and drive connections between the public and private sectors. They also use the opportunity to work on special projects that involve using new technologies in their area of interest.
With a focus on artificial intelligence in manufacturing, Baldwin led an inventory management project at the Georgia manufacturer Freudenberg-NOK, where the objective was to create an inventory management system that reduced manufacturing downtime and, as a result, increased efficiency, and reduced waste.
She also worked in several capacities at Georgia Tech: supporting K-12 outreach programs at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, assisting with energy research at the Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center, and auditing the infamous mechanical engineering course ME2110 to improve her design thinking and engineering skills.
“Learning about artificial intelligence is a process, and the knowledge gained was worth the academic adventure,” she said. “Because of the wonderful support at Georgia Tech, Freudenberg NOK, PIN, and Georgia AIM, I feel confident about connecting environmental sustainability and technology in a way that makes communities more resilient and sustainable.”
Since leaving the PIN Fellowship, Baldwin connected her love for education, science, and environmental sustainability through her new role as the inaugural sustainability coordinator for Spelman College, her alma mater. In this role, she is responsible for supporting campus sustainability initiatives.
]]>Tracing between the lines of code, Salinas made a discovery: A character was missing.
The lesson was an important, real-world example of the problem-solving skills required when working in robotics. Salinas is one of a half-dozen students enrolled in the new AI Enhanced Robotic Manufacturing program at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center, which is setting a new standard for technology-focused careers.
The set-up of the lab was intentional, said Stoops, who designed the course modules and worked with local industry to determine their manufacturing needs. Then, with funding from the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute's (GTMI) Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) project, Stoops worked with administrators at Central Georgia Technical College to purchase robotics and other cutting-edge manufacturing tools.
As a result, the VECTR Center’s AI-Enhanced Robotic Manufacturing Studio trains veterans in industry-standard robotics, manufacturing modules, cameras, and network systems. This equipment gives students experience in a variety of robotics-based manufacturing applications. Graduates can also finish the 17-credit course with two certifications that carry some weight in the manufacturing world.
“After getting the Georgia AIM grant, we pulled together a roundtable with industry. And then we did site visits to see how they pulled AI and robotics into the space,” said Stoops. “All the equipment in here is the direct result of industry feedback.”
Funded by a $65 million grant from the federal Economic Development Administration, Georgia AIM is a network of projects across the state born out of GTMI and led by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. These projects work to connect the manufacturing community with smart technologies and a ready workforce. Central Georgia received around $4 million as part of the initiative to advance innovation, workforce development and STEM education in support of local manufacturing and Robins Air Force Base.
Georgia AIM pulls together a host of regional partners all working toward a common goal of increasing STEM education, access to technology and enhancing AI among local manufacturers. This partnership includes Fort Valley State University, the Middle Georgia Innovation Project led by the Development Authority of Houston County, Central Georgia Technical College, which administers the VECTR Center, and the 21st Century Partnership.
“This grant will help us turn our vision for both the Middle Georgia Innovation Project and the Middle Georgia STEM Alliance, along with our partners, into reality, advancing this region and supporting the future of Robins AFB,” said Brig. Gen. John Kubinec, USAF (ret.), president and chief executive officer of the 21st Century Partnership.
Georgia AIM funding for Central Georgia Technical College and Fort Valley State focused on enhancing technology and purchasing new components to assist in education. At Fort Valley State, a mobile lab will launch later this year to take AI-enhanced technologies to underserved parts of the state, while Central Georgia Tech invested in an AI-enhanced robotics manufacturing lab at the VECTR Center.
“This funding will help bring emerging technology throughout our service area and beyond, to our students, economy, and Robins Air Force Base,” said Dr. Ivan Allen, president of Central Georgia Technical College. “Thanks to the power of this partnership, our faculty and students will have the opportunity to work directly with modern manufacturing technology, giving our students the experience and education needed to transition from the classroom to the workforce in an in-demand industry.”
The VECTR Center’s AI-Enhanced Robotics Manufacturing Studio includes FANUC robotic systems, Rockwell Automation programmable logic controllers, Cognex AI-enabled machine vision systems, smart sensor networks, and a MiR autonomous mobile robot.
The studio graduated its first cohort of students in February and celebrated its ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 17 with a host of local officials and dignitaries. It was also an opportunity to celebrate the students, who are transitioning from a military career to civilian life.
The new technologies at the VECTR Center lab are opening new doors to a growing, cutting-edge field.
“From being in this class, you really start to see how the world is going toward AI. Not just Chat GPT, but everything — the world is going toward AI for sure now,” said Jordan Leonard, who worked in logistics and as a vehicle mechanic in the U.S. Army. Now, he’s upskilling into robotics and looking forward to using his new skills in maintenance. “What I want to do is go to school for instrumentation and electrical technician. But since a lot of industrial plants are trying to get more robots, for me this will be a step up from my coworkers by knowing these things.”
]]>The Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal, established in 2009, recognizes significant fundamental contributions to the science and technology of manufacturing processes.
"I am honored to receive this prestigious award. Milton C. Shaw was a giant in the manufacturing field, and to be recognized by an award named after him is very humbling," said Melkote, who also serves as the associate director for the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
The Warner T. Koiter Medal was established in 1996 and recognizes distinguished contributions to the field of solid mechanics with special emphasis on the effective blending of theoretical and applied elements of the discipline, as well as leadership in the international solid mechanics community.
Qi expressed his appreciation for his team upon learning of the award. “This award is really for my current and former students and postdoctoral scholars. It recognizes their work and innovations in a very special way," he said.
Qi's research is focused on the mechanics and 3D printing of soft active materials to enable 4D printing methods and the recycling of thermosetting polymers. He has developed several material models to describe the multiphysics and chemomechanical behaviors of soft active materials. He also pioneered several multimaterial 3D printing approaches that allow the integration of different polymers and functional materials into one system.
Melkote's primary area of research is manufacturing, and his secondary area of research is tribology, specifically in the science of precision material removal processes, new manufacturing process development including novel surface modification methods, the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve complex problems in manufacturing, and advanced industrial robotics for precision manufacturing.
Melkote also credited the efforts and support of his students and colleagues. "This recognition would not have been possible without the high level of creativity and outstanding efforts of my graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, the support of my colleagues and mentors at Georgia Tech and beyond, and the opportunities and resources provided to me by the Woodruff School. I am truly grateful to all of them."
Both will be presented with their awards at upcoming ASME events. Melkote will receive his award at the ASME Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, June 17-21, in Knoxville, TN, and Qi will receive his at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, November 17-21, in Portland, OR.
]]>The Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium is a membership-based organization connecting manufacturers, academia and government institutions at the university’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility in Midtown Atlanta. Members have unique opportunities to conduct research, develop and pilot new manufacturing systems and collaborate with students and other consortium members.
Members of the consortium’s board, announced earlier this month, include:
Additionally, the board has formed an industry membership committee led by:
Consortium board members assist in fostering business relationships among the organization’s members, develop short- and long-term plans to align projects with emerging industry needs, work to make connections across industries, and advocate for consortium members to ensure the organization is meeting their needs and aligning with industry trends.
“The addition of these board members to the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium cements this organization as a premier industry-academic partnership,” said Steven Ferguson, managing director of Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM). Georgia AIM, a 4-year, $65 million federal grant program, serves as a catalyst for the consortium.
The grant is supporting an expansion of the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility into a fully formed smart manufacturing space. As the facility expands to include new manufacturing technologies, members of the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium will be able to access and test these systems for their own manufacturing needs.
“This is an exciting time at the facility. The expansion of the manufacturing space allows us to expand research into new projects that incorporate artificial intelligence and smart technologies,” added Ferguson. “And, with our consortium board members in place, it increases our ability to serve the manufacturing community.”
Launched in 2023, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium aims to develop and deploy manufacturing technologies and workforce development opportunities. Consortium members gain the opportunity to accelerate product development, adopt and deploy industry 4.0 technologies, train the future workforce ad become global leaders using i4.0 solutions.
For more information on memberships, research opportunities, and the smart technologies planned for Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facilities, visit ampf.research.gatech.edu or contact Ferguson at sferguson@gatech.edu.
]]>Among those recognized is Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) Executive Director Thomas Kurfess, who was named Regents' Professor. The highest distinction awarded by the USG, Regents' distinctions recognize faculty members for academic, innovation, and entrepreneurial excellence.
Regents’ Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control
Kurfess researches advanced manufacturing systems, designing, developing, and optimizing new approaches for complex production systems. He helps lead a $65 million effort to use artificial intelligence in manufacturing and transform Georgia’s industrial economy. The Georgia AI Manufacturing (GA-AIM) Technology Corridor is creating and deploying new AI innovations across all manufacturing sectors while training the necessary talent and workforce.
In addition to his role as executive director of GTMI, Kurfess is the 2023-24 president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
He served as chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2019 to 2021, overseeing strategic planning in advanced manufacturing. Kurfess also previously led the advanced manufacturing team at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration from 2012 to 2013.
Kurfess is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, ASME, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
]]>Carter was recently named the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chair of the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee, a group that concerns itself primarily with contamination of soil, air, noise, and water, as well as emergency environmental response, whether physical or cybersecurity.
Because AMPF’s focus dovetails with subcommittee interests, the facility was a fitting stop for Carter, who was welcomed for an afternoon tour and series of live demonstrations. Programs within Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute — specifically the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) and Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) — were well represented.
“Innovation is extremely important,” Carter said during his April 1 visit. “In order to handle some of our problems, we’ve got to have adaptation, mitigation, and innovation. I’ve always said that the greatest innovators, the greatest scientists in the world, are right here in the United States. I’m so proud of Georgia Tech and what they do for our state and for our nation.”
Carter’s AMPF visit began with an introduction by Thomas Kurfess, Regents' Professor and HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute; Steven Ferguson, principal research scientist and managing director at Georgia AIM; research engineer Kyle Saleeby; and Donna Ennis, the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s director of community engagement and program development, and co-director of Georgia AIM.
Ennis provided an overview of Georgia AIM, while Ferguson spoke on the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium and Kurfess detailed the AMPF origin story, before introducing four live demonstrations.
The first of these featured Chuck Easley, Professor of the Practice in the Scheller College of Business, who elaborated on supply chain issues. Afterward, Alan Burl of EPICS: Enhanced Preparation for Intelligent Cybermanufacturing Systems and mechanical engineer Melissa Foley led a brief information session on hybrid turbine blade repair.
Finally, GaMEP project manager Michael Barker expounded on GaMEP’s cybersecurity services, and Deryk Stoops of Central Georgia Technical College detailed the Georgia AIM-sponsored AI robotics training program at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center, which offers training and assistance to those making the transition from military to civilian life.
The topic of artificial intelligence, in all its subtlety and nuance, was of particular interest to Carter.
“AI is the buzz in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Whether it be healthcare, energy, [or] science, we on the Energy and Commerce Committee look at it from a sense [that there’s] a very delicate balance, and we understand the responsibility. But we want to try to benefit from this as much as we can.”
“I heard something today I haven’t heard before," Carter continued, "and that is instead of calling it artificial intelligence, we refer to it as ‘augmented intelligence.’ I think that’s a great term, and certainly something I’m going to take back to Washington with me.”
“It was a pleasure to host Rep. Carter for a firsthand look at AMPF," shared Ennis, "which is uniquely positioned to offer businesses the opportunity to collaborate with Georgia Tech researchers and students and to hear about Georgia AIM.
“At Georgia AIM, we’re committed to making the state a leader in artificial intelligence-assisted manufacturing, and we’re grateful for Congressman Carter’s interest and support of our efforts."
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Steven Ferguson, who begins March 16 as a principal research scientist with the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, comes to Georgia AIM from the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). In his previous role, Ferguson served as chief information officer, where he led information technology, research, innovation, and data enterprises across Georgia’s technical colleges.
Now, Ferguson will leverage his experience working in technical education and workforce development to connect with Georgia companies. In this new role, he will also be the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium. This new collaborative within Georgia AIM gives manufacturers exclusive access to emerging technologies at Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility.
“I’m excited to join the team at Georgia Tech as I will get to work extremely close with both manufacturers and the research community,” said Ferguson. “For years, I’ve helped translate knowledge gained through research into hands-on training for the workforce. Now, I get to dedicate my time to that — I’m committed to working hand-in-hand to bridge the knowledge gap and get cutting-edge technology to Georgia’s manufacturers.”
Ferguson said one of his passions is serving the incumbent workforce — specifically, employees who have significant on-the-job experience. This will be key in his new role with the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium, Ferguson said, as he can work closely with manufacturers to better understand their current and future workforce needs.
Addressing gaps in the workforce is also a main goal for Georgia AIM, which is working to connect artificial intelligence to manufacturers across the state. Automation, collaborative robots, sensors, and data collection are all part of smart technologies revolutionizing manufacturing. But a trained workforce is essential in order to implement these changes.
After a long and successful career with TCSG, Ferguson said he is eager to tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead with Georgia AIM.
“To truly integrate AI technology into manufacturing, we need to ensure that the incumbent workforce is not just familiar but comfortable with these advancements,” he said. “While manufacturing inherently focuses on production, our aim is to make technology a fundamental aspect of this sector’s growth and evolution.”
View the story on Georgia AIM's website >>
]]>Melkote was nominated for his contributions to building and growing industry partnerships through the Georgia Tech-Boeing University Innovation Program and the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech.
“Shreyes has invested considerable time and effort to build enduring professional relationships with these industry partners which has ensured that the partnerships deliver long-term benefits to Georgia Tech faculty and students in their research and educational endeavors while enabling external partners to achieve their current and future technology and workforce development objectives,” said Devesh Ranjan, Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. School Chair.
More than 169 graduate students and 81 undergraduate students along with several post-doctoral students, visiting scholars, and research engineers have benefited from industry support in programs led and fostered by Melkote.
Melkote also serves as the associate director for the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). GTMI is Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary research institute tackling the challenges facing manufacturers and helping to insure future global competitiveness. Recently, Georgia Tech’s advanced manufacturing pilot facility managed by GTMI is supporting a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs called Georgia AIM.
“Shreyes has a passion for initiating collaborative industry and student partnerships that address strategic challenges faced by industry,” said Thomas Kurfess, chief manufacturing officer of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the executive director of GTMI. “He is an important part of Georgia Tech’s advanced manufacturing leadership helping to make the U.S. more globally competitive by engaging our best students and offering them valuable industry insight with world-class companies.”
]]>“OPEN MIND’s commitment to the Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium and support of manufacturing education enables students to leverage top-tier CAD/CAM software for collaborative development of Hybrid AM/CNC technologies. Together, we look forward to pushing the boundaries of precision manufacturing,” said Kyle Saleeby, Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium’s research program director and research engineer at Georgia Tech.
Consortium research projects cover an extensive range of topics that seek cost effectiveness, piloting new manufacturing systems, accelerating product development cycles, and adopting Industry 4.0 technologies. In addition to technology development focused on additive manufacturing, participating Georgia Tech graduate students have continued to push forth research positions within the U.S. National laboratory system, such as Sandia, NIST, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos National Labs, or have taken industrial roles in top engineering and manufacturing companies including Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Caterpillar, Ford, Delta TechOps, and Georgia Pacific.
Alan Levine, managing director of OPEN MIND Technologies USA, notes that, “We are very pleased to join the Georgia Tech Consortium which provides a great opportunity to participate in leading research and connect with other members focused on advancing manufacturing. The Consortium offers a unique opportunity to expand OPEN MIND’s collaboration with Georgia Tech to the full membership and their specialized projects."
About OPEN MIND Technologies
OPEN MIND is one of the world’s most sought-after developers of powerful and innovative CAD/CAM solutions for machine and controller-independent NC programming. The company designs technologically optimized CAD/CAM solutions that include a large number of unique features to deliver significantly higher performance in both programming and cutting machining processes. With its CAM software hyperMILL®, OPEN MIND offers a wide range of outstanding 2.5D, 3D, 5‑axis milling and turning strategies, as well as special applications. OPEN MIND is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in cutting-edge 5‑axis CAD/CAM technologies.
To learn more visit: www.openmind-tech.com
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its more than 45,000 undergraduate and graduate students, representing 50 states and more than 148 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
Hosted by the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) is a 20,000 square foot reconfigurable research and development high bay manufacturing facility in Midtown Atlanta supporting industrial, academic, and government stakeholders that also serves as a teaching laboratory. Recently, Georgia Tech and the AMPF facility are supporting a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs. AMPF is where industry works alongside researchers and students to take early-stage concepts from idea to reality.
]]>(Left to Right) Kyle Saleeby - Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium Research Program Director, Alan Levine – OPEN MIND Managing Director for North America, Prof. Aaron Stebner – GA-AIM and Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium Executive Director.
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The flat, wheeled robot gingerly moved across the floor, aiming for a taped square in the far corner.
Suddenly, someone stepped into its path. The robot stopped, blinked its lights, then carefully turned to a slightly different path. Its goal remained the same, but it adjusted the route on the fly.
“This is an autonomous mobile robot,” explained Sean Madhavaraman, project manager specializing in industry 4.0 strategy and leadership development for the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2). “No programming experience is necessary, and it can map a room by itself. It’s also very safe — you can step in front of it, and it will reroute.”
That demonstration was one of several on display at a recent event hosted by EI2’s Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) and the Georgia MBDA Business Center. The program of speakers, a tour and a panel discussion took place at Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility and served as an introduction into the world of artificial intelligence.
With about 50 manufacturers and engineers in attendance, the goal of the event was twofold, said Donna Ennis, Georgia AIM co-director. First, it served as an introduction to the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, which conducts research on new manufacturing technologies through its public-private partnerships. But also, it was an opportunity for manufacturers of all sizes to learn about the roles AI can play in their processes.
“Artificial intelligence has the power to bring transformative change to our manufacturers and our workforce, but it can seem overwhelming — where do you start?” Ennis said. “We wanted to create an opportunity to show manufacturers that you don’t need a large investment or a large time commitment to begin to implement AI. Think about your process, explore your options, and use the resources we have available to you.”
A Statewide Initiative
Georgia AIM was created through a $65 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant awarded through the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The grant funds 17 projects/ subprojects throughout the state that work in education, manufacturing, workforce development and new technologies. At its core, Ennis said, Georgia AIM is working to reach all Georgia residents — specifically residents in communities underrepresented in manufacturing spaces, including veterans; women; Black, indigenous and people of color; rural residents; and older workers — and empower them to fully participate in a diverse AI manufacturing workforce.
In the area of workforce development, the grant supports programs that upskill adults in the workforce, as well as programs that reach K-12 students, technical college students and those attending four-year universities. For example, Georgia AIM is supporting the construction of a new lab at South Georgia Regional Technical College that will train students and area residents on new technologies in food processing—a key industry in that region.
Another project partner, Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) is developing curricula and educational materials for K-12 students and hosts regional STEM-based competitions to promote science and technology.
Other projects are connecting with communities to help train the workforce on AI technologies. A partnership between the University of Georgia and the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs is developing a mobile lab stocked with technology “vignettes” — self-contained examples of real-world AI applications.
This mobile lab, as well as two others developed by Middle Georgia’s 21st Century Partnership, will travel across the state to work with schools and community organizations. The goal is to introduce underserved communities to AI technologies and open new doors to employees—and employers.
“We recognize that not every community across the state has had equal access to these new technologies. We want to break down those barriers,” added Ennis. “By taking these smart technologies to traditionally underserved communities, we aim to inspire and encourage Georgia’s workforce. This technology has the power to be transformative for our manufacturing community.”
Other programs offered by Georgia AIM focus on manufacturers and adoption of new technologies. And that was part of the presentation offered by Ennis and project co-director Aaron Stebner, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science engineering at Georgia Tech. In addition to workforce development and deployment, Georgia AIM also offers cybersecurity assessments and assistance with technology development and deployment for manufacturers.
For example, the GaMEP project provides a range of assistance, including cyber assessments, gap assessments and automation training. Another partner, EI2’s Advanced Technology Development Center, assists new tech startups and can help connect them with manufacturers that could use the technology. And Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility provides a space for companies to try new technologies without losing time on their own manufacturing line.
“We’re really a proving ground for new technology adoption,” Stebner said. The Georgia AIM grant is funding an expansion of the facility, which will allow for more smart technologies in the space.
“Our plan is to integrate autonomous robots and build out the manufacturing units to provide even more examples of manufacturing integrating with smart technologies.”
The facility’s new Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium is a member-based group that connects industry with academic and government research resources. Consortium members gain access to facility equipment, workforce training programs, new manufacturing systems and networking opportunities with other members. (For details, visit ampf.research.gatech. edu/how-engage.)
AI: More than ‘the spice’
But first, Ennis and Stebner told the manufacturers and business owners gathered at the manufacturing pilot facility, it was important to take stock of their current processes and think of where automation might occur. Start small and identify repetitive motions or places where human-machine collaborations might occur. Perhaps adding some sensors could help predict a mechanical failure, or a small automation might make a process more streamlined.
During a tour of the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility, attendees met graduate students who specialize in metals, 3-D printing technologies and other areas and got first-hand looks at new innovations in action. Some stations at the facility represented old practices merged with updated technology — such as a welder merged with a computer numerical control (CNC) device to automate its movements. In other places, entirely new technologies, such as large-format 3-D scanners, helped attendees think about new production methods that might incorporate smart technology.
Madhavaraman and other GaMEP representatives demonstrated the use of sensors, collaborative robots and autonomous mobile robots in the manufacturing process. Attendees were intrigued, especially as Madhavaraman explained how the robots could be integrated into a manufacturing process to work alongside a person.
“That’s why we call them ‘co-bots,’ not robots,” he said. “Collaborative robots are great for packaging and palleting products. No programming experience is necessary — you can use a tablet to tell the robot what to do or point the robot in the direction you want it to go.”
Before the event closed, a panel of three experts fielded questions from Madhavaraman on AI adoption and making the leap into smart technologies. The panel included Mitchell Tartar, project engineer with CJB Industries; Sentil Ramamurthy, senior engineer with Novelis; and Subbu Vishnubhatia, director of project management for Hexagon Management Intelligence.
In addition to addressing workforce needs, the panel stressed that manufacturers walk — not run — toward embracing smart technologies. Find the pinch points, start collecting data and think about small, holistic changes, they said.
“AI is not the spice in the dish that makes it very tasty,” said Vishnubhatia. He and the other panel members agreed it is best to start small. Incorporating smart technologies doesn’t need to be overly expensive or time-consuming — but it does require managers and employees to think outside the box.
And, getting buy-in from those who work with manufacturing. Not only is training imperative, added Tartar, but it’s important to have everyone on board with adopting new technology. Change is hard, but it doesn’t have to be difficult.
“Involve your people—they are going to know when the data is wrong,” she said. “You don’t need to do it all at once; if you want to get involved with AI, you can really break those costs down and do it a little piece at a time.”
For more information on Georgia AIM and the opportunities provided through its partner projects, visit: georgiaaim.org
This article was originally published by Georgia Pathways Magazine, Feb. 2024, a publication of the Technology Association of Georgia.
]]>That’s why faculty at Georgia Institute of Technology are partnering with the Technical College System of Georgia to provide TCSG students with experience and training in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. The collaboration between the institutions will bring students to Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility for internships and apprenticeships that prepare them for careers using advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics, AI and metals 3-D printers.
With this experience, students will help pave the way for advancing Georgia’s manufacturing economy.
“We are establishing workforce training programs that are at the frontier of technology. Students will train on the latest equipment and software and then be ready to enter companies as these new technologies are adopted instead of the traditional mode of waiting for the technology to arrive, and then training the workforce,” said Aaron Stebner, the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing.
Stebner initiated the workforce program through the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia-AIM) project, a collection of $65 million in federal grants aimed at enhancing Georgia’s AI manufacturing technology and workforce. “These jobs are coming, and we want the workforce to be ready at the same time the need arises.”
Faculty and students from Georgia Tech and TCSG recently met to discuss details and next steps for the program. This included discussing formats that would work for students, and how the opportunities at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility dovetailed with training students receive from their technical college programs.
The larger goal, said Stebner, is to leverage the developing technologies at the manufacturing facility to give TCSG students in-depth experience with a new technology before starting their own careers. For example, technical college students often have access to tooling and cutting machines as part of their training. But at Georgia Tech’s manufacturing facility, these machines are augmented with robotics or “digital twins”—advanced computer models that can be used to increase performance efficiencies and maintenance schedules of the machines.
By gaining experience with these new technologies, students can enter the workforce better prepared to take on advanced manufacturing solutions. This also translates to a higher-skilled workforce and better-paying jobs, added Stebner.
To drive this message home, the meeting also included several representatives from manufacturers who expressed a need for this kind of training. “We’re always looking for people who are willing to work with their hands,” said Chuck Boyles, president of Factory Automation Systems, a Georgia-based robotics company. “We’re always looking for good technical talent.”
The program can help bridge a “middle ground” between technical college training and the research and development taking place at Georgia Tech, said Steven Sheffield, senior assistant director of research at the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility.
“We have a lot of applications for these skills, like machine operators. But we want to advance that to, for example, robotic operators,” said Sheffield, who spoke with the 25 students in attendance about what they would like to get out of the program. “So, they would be more qualified to do other things as well and have a deeper understanding. And when we have employers who say they are interested in a latest technology, we can partner with them to provide that training.”
The students were receptive, noticing the robotics and artificial intelligence-infused technology during a tour of the facility. “I’ve seen a lot of equipment out there that I’ve never seen before,” said Javaski Dewberry, a Georgia Northwest Technical College student studying machining who also works at a manufacturing facility. “It would be a real good experience for me to see how it works.”
Other students were studying mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, robotics and industrial systems. These programs and more could find a place in the program, said Scott McWhorter, interim executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium. The consortium, which is based at the manufacturing facility, works to connect industry, academia and government to advance manufacturing technologies.
The next steps, he added, include ironing out opportunities that work with students’ schedules and training for TCSG faculty on the emerging technologies.
“We’re spending the next few months getting the program outlined, getting things formalized and working with instructors,” he said. “So, we’re working right now to collect a little more feedback to right-size the program and move forward from there.”
Story by: Kristen Morales, Georgia Tech
]]>The yearly event is led by Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems (FIS) Center and principal research engineer at Georgia Tech. Dugenske’s FIS Center focuses on advances in factory architectures, machine communication, cloud computing, edge devices, machine learning, artificial intelligence, overall equipment effectiveness, and cybersecurity. Over the past 25 years, the FIS Center has undertaken projects with dozens of companies on a wide array of technological topics.
This year, the symposium event featured 17 industry leaders as presenters. Presenters included: GTMI, Renishaw, AT&T, Siemens, Stephanini Group, Cirrus Link Solutions, Teradyne, Hive MQ and Mr. IIOT. Expert industry consultants also made presentations such as from Russ Waddell, who gave an entertaining, educational, and eye-opening presentation titled “The Six-figure Work from Home Machinist.”
Comments from 2023 IoTfM symposium attendees:
“This has been a fantastic event,” said Chris Bentivegna, principal architect (advanced wireless) with AT&T. “I really appreciate the opportunity to come in, talk about 5G with Georgia Tech, and look forward to AT&T and Georgia Tech partnering on some new technologies and advancing manufacturing. It’s been a joy to be here.”
“We are an MQTT platform. What that means is that we help provide the platform on which machines can talk to each other, and also plug into enterprise IT systems on a global level,” said Gaurav Suman, director of product marketing for HiveMQ. “Here at the symposium, I'm finding it great that I'm getting an understanding of where challenges and solutions to those challenges are born. I can see us and many other technology providers coming together to talk about those issues, how they're adopted across industries. It's quite fantastic to be here.”
“It's been great to present my research and show industry attendees some of our capabilities and some of the machines we have and what they can do,” said Robert Caraway, doctoral student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “What I'm doing is making metal powders out of nickel titanium alloys, trying to do some recycling and other things. I'm currently working with my lab team members on creating new metal alloys.”
“It's great to be at Georgia Tech sharing insights into manufacturing with a lot of industry professionals and some really great graduate students,” said Dan Skulan, general manager of industrial metrology for Renishaw Inc. “We're talking about creating good, traceable processes and using the power of the internet and computing to make really good advancements in the efficiency of manufacturing, reduction in manpower, and sustainable practices.”
It's very exciting to be here today with the amazing audience that we have here,” said Dago Mata, head of business development Americas for the Stefanini Group. “It's my fourth time participating, and we have great ideas to share for the manufacturing industry.”
“I think this is one of the best events at Georgia Tech connecting academia and industry,” said Kaveh Berenji, a postdoctoral fellow at GTMI. “This event fills the gap between what academia needs in terms of support from industry, and what industry needs in terms of scientific support from academia.”
Missed the symposium? You can download and view all presentations by visiting the 2023 IoTfM symposium webpage.
The event was sponsored by the state of Georgia’s innovation and manufacturing group, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, the Georgia Tech Factory Information Systems Center, and America Makes.
To learn more or to join next year’s invitation list, contact Andrew Dugenske at dugenske@gatech.edu.
]]>Several thousand engineers, technical professionals, sales, marketing and business development experts from all corners of the world took advantage of the CAMX expo and conference programming to increase their manufacturing and process knowledge, meet their supply chain, build new networks and collaborate on sustainable industry solutions in the aerospace, automotive, wind power and other markets.
As part of the event, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) hosted an onsite tour of its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) to a select group of industry expo attendees.
AMPF is a 20,000 square foot research and development high bay manufacturing facility located on the Georgia Tech campus supporting industrial, academic, and government stakeholders related to manufacturing research and also serves as a teaching laboratory to train the next generation of engineers, scientists and manufacturing experts. Made possible by a $3 million gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, this facility enables manufacturing innovation projects of almost all shapes from additive/hybrid manufacturing to composites, digital manufacturing, Industry 4.0, industrial robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Recently, Georgia Tech and the AMPF facility are supporting a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs.
The AMPF tour was led by Kyle Saleeby, research engineer in GTMI, who tailored the tour to feature manufacturing technologies related to metal composites and advanced manufacturing capabilities for 3D printed metals. This included additive, subtractive, and hybrid manufacturing technologies along with metal powder/alloy making capabilities that AMPF utilizes.
“CAMX is grateful to Kyle for presenting an informative tour of the impressive AMPF facility, said Raj Manchanda, chief technology officer of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE®). “Nearly 25 CAMX attendees who participated in the tour provided positive feedback not only on the state-of-the-art hybrid manufacturing equipment that AMPF houses from leading OEMs, but also the capability of the Georgia Tech AMPF faculty and brilliant graduate students who are developing adaptable manufacturing solutions integrating proven machining technologies with advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, additive manufacturing, and more.”
At the expo, GTMI was invited to host and lead a panel discussion of current digital manufacturing trends on day two of the CAMX show. Three industry experts from GTMI’s partner network participated in a discussion moderated by Kyle Saleeby. The panelists were Elaine Winchester from Plyable, Andre Wegner from Authentise and Rodney Elmore from Microsoft.
“At the advanced manufacturing pilot facility, we are always proud host so many great organizations, institutions and industry colleagues to share our advanced manufacturing research,” said Saleeby.
]]>The DoN S&T Board is a discretionary federal advisory committee that provides independent recommendations on matters relating to the Department of the Navy's scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine, and business management functions. These matters include, but are not limited to, the pressing and complex scientific and technological problems facing the Department of Defense in such areas as research, engineering, organizational structure and process, business and functional concepts, and manufacturing. The board will help to identify new technologies and new applications of technology in those areas to strengthen national security. Membership on the board consists of private and public leaders, with a diversity of background, experience, and thought in support of the DoN S&T Board mission.
Kurfess’ appointment to the board was confirmed by the secretary of defense in August.
]]>He also serves as the chief technology officer at the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. He served as the chief manufacturing officer and founding director for the manufacturing science division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2019 to 2021. He served as the assistant director for advanced manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America in 2012 and 2013, coordinating advanced manufacturing research and development.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (news release) >>
SME is a nonprofit association committed to advancing widespread adoption of manufacturing technologies and developing North America’s talent and capabilities. He was among seven 2023 SME International Honor Award winners are recognized for their significant contributions to manufacturing in the areas of manufacturing technologies, processes, technical writing, education, research and management, and service to SME. The 2023 SME International Awards Gala was held on June 5 at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan.
Melkote also serves as executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech and as associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. Melkote’s research focuses on the science and technology of manufacturing processes, industrial robotics for manufacturing, and data-driven methods for cyber manufacturing.
For over six decades, SME’s International Honor Awards have identified professionals whose bodies of work have led to critical breakthroughs and advancements in manufacturing technologies, processes, and education as well as honored members for their volunteerism.
“These seven professionals are among the most accomplished thought leaders in manufacturing, and I’m proud to acknowledge they also hold membership in SME,” said Bob Willig, executive director and CEO of SME. “Though their backgrounds are varied, all share a penchant for continuous improvement where status quo just doesn’t cut it.”
Melkote has published over 280 technical papers on these topics, has one U.S. patent and has successfully transitioned technology to industry. Melkote is a recipient of the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award and several best paper awards. He served as president of SME's North American Manufacturing Research Institution (NAMRI) from 2014-15, and as ASME Swanson fellow and assistant director for Technology at the Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office at NIST from 2015-16. Melkote is a fellow of SME, ASME and CIRP and has been a SME member since 1994.
SME 2023 International Honor Award Recipients:
Industrial innovation policy can be defined as involving governmental interventions at the post-research stages (including development, prototyping, testing, demonstration, pilot production, production, and market creation) to enable scale-up and implementation of new technologies.
Meetings such as this one held at Georgia Tech attempt to develop an understanding of emerging U.S. and global industrial innovation policies and identify remaining gaps. Thomas Kurfess, executive director of GTMI and the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control, are helping to strategize future manufacturing policies in the U.S.
“The Babbage team was enthusiastic to learn about all that we have happening in the U.S., Georgia and the Metro-Atlanta area,” said Kurfess. “Over the past several decades, we have been growing our manufacturing capabilities here and creating a substantial amount of high paying and high tech manufacturing jobs for a broad spectrum of our population. This has not only been wonderful for the State of Georgia, but also our efforts and successes have helped to boost the national economy and support national security.”
Forum participants examined regional industrial capabilities with a secondary focus on national industrial capabilities addressing both the innovation and industrial scale-up issues. Processes for moving from policy objective to implementation were reviewed including opportunities for experimentation, evaluation, and policy learning. Organizational structures across academia, government and think tanks as well as ecosystems and small-to-medium-sized enterprise engagement were analyzed. The group conducted an analysis of successful (and unsuccessful) industrial innovation policy interventions to identify effective practices and mechanisms in the southeast, Georgia, and the Atlanta area that ensure opportunities for a diverse set of workers, while fully engaging local communities. Such practices result in sustainable and equitable opportunities throughout the region.
“There's some pretty dramatic changes going on, in technology, in society, and indeed geopolitically,” said Sir Michael Gregory who attended the GTMI meeting. “And whereas a few years ago, industrial innovation policy was seen by some people not to be very relevant, now almost everybody thinks it matters.”
]]>Fellows represent expertise in a variety of areas of CPSS, which addresses risks where cyber and physical worlds intersect. That includes the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial systems, smart grids, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and more.
“As devices, systems, and the world continue to become more connected, cyber-related threats that were traditionally limited to the digital domain have made their way to physical systems,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College, Southern Company Chair, and a cybersecurity expert. “The College of Engineering has world-renowned cybersecurity and artificial intelligence researchers. This new cohort will continue to expand the College’s breadth of expertise and leadership in CPSS.”
The three-year fellowship was made possible by a gift from Kyle Seymour, a 1982 mechanical engineering graduate who retired as president and CEO of S&C Electric Company in 2020. Seymour wanted to help increase cybersecurity-related research and instruction within the College.
School chairs nominated potential fellows, who were evaluated and selected by a committee of senior cybersecurity researchers and College leaders.
Five faculty members will help grow the College of Engineering’s work in high-impact cyber-physical systems security (CPSS) as new Cybersecurity Fellows.
Fellows represent expertise in a variety of areas of CPSS, which addresses risks where cyber and physical worlds intersect. That includes the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial systems, smart grids, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and more.
“As devices, systems, and the world continue to become more connected, cyber-related threats that were traditionally limited to the digital domain have made their way to physical systems,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College, Southern Company Chair, and a cybersecurity expert. “The College of Engineering has world-renowned cybersecurity and artificial intelligence researchers. This new cohort will continue to expand the College’s breadth of expertise and leadership in CPSS.”
The three-year fellowship was made possible by a gift from Kyle Seymour, a 1982 mechanical engineering graduate who retired as president and CEO of S&C Electric Company in 2020. Seymour wanted to help increase cybersecurity-related research and instruction within the College.
School chairs nominated potential fellows, who were evaluated and selected by a committee of senior cybersecurity researchers and College leaders.
View the new Cybersecurity Fellows >>
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Walter Rich
Georgia Tech Research Communications
walter.rich@research.gatech.edu
Wang proposed a new course, Resilience of Biomanufacturing Supply Chains, which won his placement into the program.
“This Research Faculty Teaching Fellows Program will allow me to introduce important research topics in my research area to more Industrial Systems and Engineering (ISyE) students,” said Wang. “Case studies developed in my research projects and presented in the course will show students how to apply the knowledge learned from this course in actual industrial scenarios.”
Wang is also hoping that this teaching opportunity could help him better organize his own knowledge and research ideas in this area, and lead to new ideas that may develop into new collaborations between him and ISyE faculty. These collaborations could result in new research proposals and/or peer-reviewed papers. Plus, students taking his course would be provided opportunities to join new research projects in his lab.
According to Wang, cell therapy manufacturing is a nascent industry that will have critical workforce needs in five to ten years. He wants to expose more industrial engineering students into this emerging new industry.
]]>Novelis has partnered with Georgia Tech to collaborate on research and development, and promote the education of the next generation of engineers dedicated to making better products that lead to a more sustainable world. Novelis is headquartered in Atlanta with a global footprint, over 12,500 employees, and recorded $17.1 billion in net sales for its 2022 fiscal year. Novelis expanded its research partnership with Georgia Tech in 2021.
The 2022-2023 Novelis Scholars are:
Graduate
Undergraduate
Detailed profiles for this year’s 2022-2023 Novelis Scholars can be found here.
The Novelis Innovation Hub expects to issue its next call for Novelis Scholars for the 2023‐2024 Academic Year in late Spring/early Summer 2023.
]]>
“We are excited to have the resources that the NSF has provided,” Melkote said. “It’s the best type of resource because it allows us to do basic research.”
Cyber manufacturing looks to leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud technology and the expanding reach of the Internet-of-Things to reduce the cost and time of producing discrete parts. Presently, the manufacturing process is compartmentalized, with design, fabrication, and distribution heavily reliant on direct communication between the parties, and often involves multiple iterations of a design before the customer’s needs are met.
In a future cyber manufacturing ecosystem, the process is digitally unified across the supply chain and potential issues in fabrication can be flagged automatically and early in the design process, minimizing the need for multiple prototypes. The final design can then swiftly be routed to those best equipped to produce the product based on the specifications.
This vision of a fully automated, interconnected process has long been sought after and is considered the ‘holy grail’ of discrete parts manufacturing.
“It's an old problem,” Melkote said. “But we have new ways of potentially trying to solve it, and we have a critical mass of people and resources to help solve, or at least make a significant dent, in solving the problem.”
A crucial step in solving the problem requires digitizing and automating the complex series of decisions that begin when a new design for a product is completed. What are the manufacturing processes (and machines) required to produce the design? What processes create the most durable build, or the most cost-efficient? Can the design be altered for manufacturability without compromising functionality and quality?
For mass-produced discrete products or parts built to universal standards, these are questions to which suitable answers have been found through trial-and-error, but bespoke or new designs often require specialized knowledge about manufacturing processes and their capabilities. A company or individual will use their current level of understanding to discern how to move forward with a brand-new design.
“Fundamentally they are harnessing the knowledge derived from data they have tucked away somewhere and then using that to actually take a shot at figuring out how to make it,” Melkote explained. “But it would be great if they had all of these capabilities in an automated way. This grant is focused on how you generate the complex knowledge that individuals have acquired through experience.”
Melkote’s interdisciplinary approach will use generative machine learning and other artificial intelligence techniques to help automate this complex decision-making process. If a computer can infer the capabilities and limitations of an industrial manufacturing process and associated machines, then it should be able to make intelligent deductions about the entire manufacturing process, at least in theory. Extracting the data necessary to make this happen requires new methods that Melkote and his co-investigators will research.
“If I can teach a computer to be able to learn these things, the more data from successfully produced parts I can provide it, then its learning will improve and its ability to get close to telling me what all the types of things I can produce using a given process on a given machine will improve.”
The models and algorithms that would run this process could then be embedded in an automated cyber manufacturing service, which can analyze an uploaded design and provide a customer with instant feedback regarding recommended modifications, and projected costs, or even generate instructions and send them to the right machine. The work could see sweeping changes made to several manufacturing industries and democratize the way products are designed and made.
Alongside Rosen, Melkote will work closely with three other researchers, two of which have ties to Georgia Tech, including Matthew Gombolay, an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing, and Mahmoud Dinar, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Woodruff School and current Assistant Professor at California State University-Sacramento. Dr Gaurav Ameta, a research scientist at Siemens Corporate Technology will also work as co-principal investigator.
The grant is part of a wider national initiative that saw more than $30 million awarded to university-based research projects on advanced manufacturing and preparation of the manufacturing and STEM workforce for the future.
Article by Ian Sargent
]]>The yearly event was led by Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems (FIS) Center and a principal research engineer at Georgia Tech. Dugenske’s FIS Center focuses on advances in factory architectures, machine communication, cloud computing, edge devices, machine learning, artificial intelligence, overall equipment effectiveness and cybersecurity.
The event delivered fresh insights from more than 20 industry leaders. Speakers shared exclusive learnings from actual IoTfM implementations. Industry thought leaders, major manufacturers and respected experts participated in this year’s eighth annual symposium.
Presenters this year included representatives from Ford Motor Company, Kimberly-Clark, Autodesk, McKinsey & Company, Capgemini, ACS, QCells, Intuitus, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Georgia Department of Economic Development, University of New Hampshire, and researchers across Georgia Tech.
John Morehouse, director of manufacturing for the Georgia Center for Innovation commented, “Having companies present their use cases is so valuable to other manufacturers and the resources that want to support them.”
Missed the symposium? You can download and view all presentations by visiting the 2022 IoTfM symposium webpage.
The event was sponsored by the state of Georgia’s innovation and manufacturing group, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Georgia Tech Factory Information Systems Center.
To learn more or to join next year’s invitation list, contact Andrew Dugenske at dugenske@gatech.edu.
]]>The 21st Century Partnership, a Georgia nonprofit corporation, is the only community enterprise dedicated solely to preserving the military presence of Robins Air Force Base, while helping Middle Georgia communities prepare to avert potential efforts to marginalize the missions of the base. RAFB hires approximately 300 scientists and engineers each year.
The Eggs & Issues breakfast series, sponsored by the Robins Regional Chamber, focuses on timely topics of local interest related to their middle Georgia community. This event discussed the 21st Century Partnership’s priorities, progress, and engagement opportunities.
The panelists included:
Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and Greg King, associate vice president for economic development at Georgia Tech, were also representing Georgia Tech at the event. Kurfess, professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control, regularly visits Robins Air Force Base to support a long-standing relationship with Georgia Tech.
Stebner and Kurfess are leading a $65 million U.S. Department of Commerce economic development administrative award to create a Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing Technology Corridor with the vision of collaborative innovation and economic development across all regions of the state.
]]>The leader of this REVAMP REU education and work force development (EWD) program is Billyde Brown, Ph.D., EWD director at GTMI and senior research faculty member. Throughout the year, Brown’s role is to create strong partnerships among industry, government, and academia in manufacturing research, development, and deployment while acquiring and managing sponsored research programs. Chuck Zhang, the Harold E. Smalley Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and a GTMI-affiliated faculty, serves as the principal investigator of the REVAMP REU program.
Students in the 2022 summer cohort explored a variety of manufacturing research projects with faculty and graduate student mentors from Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering including ceramic 3D printing for bioabsorbable orthopedic implants, metal 3D printing of thixotropic alloys, wireless electrochemical biosensors for bioreactor process monitoring, machine learning and neural networks for optimization of 3D printing and maker-space utilization, slot-die process for large-area polymer coatings, nanowire production, wood composites for green and energy efficient buildings, and microfluidic devices for cell media replacement.
According to participant Valeria Carrasquillo, “I had the opportunity to be a student in the REVAMP Program where I worked with many amazing people and learned a lot through the research.” She is an undergraduate at the University of South Florida majoring in biomedical engineering.
Previous students have performed fundamental research projects in advanced manufacturing topic areas such as additive and hybrid manufacturing, composite joining and repair, cell therapy manufacturing, robotic machining, integrated computational materials engineering, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, data analytics for adaptive manufacturing, and nanoscale 3D printing.
REVAMP’s major program activities include a seminar series covering a broad array of manufacturing-related topics presented by Georgia Tech faculty and graduate students, external manufacturing plant tours, experiential learning classes on the fundamentals of evidence-based entrepreneurship provided by Georgia Tech’s VentureLab and/or Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a panel discussion from successful minority business enterprise clients of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Center in Atlanta, and three oral presentations delivered by students to demonstrate their research progress.
A new program element started in 2019 that offered a student veteran orientation, panel discussions, luncheon events, and tours of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) facilities both on the main campus and Marietta locations that were facilitated together with GTRI veteran faculty and the Georgia Tech Veterans Resource Center director. REVAMP is one of the premier REU programs in the nation for advanced manufacturing research and entrepreneurship training for undergraduate student veterans.
“For the past ten weeks, I have been a part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) REVAMP-REU [program] at Georgia Tech. I worked with Dr. Mark Losego, Dr. Nicolas Somers, and Dr. Alejandro Montón Zarazaga on optimizing the ceramic printing process. I also had the opportunity to work with Brandy Nagel on connecting research to entrepreneurship using the NSF I-Corp model. I am incredibly thankful that I was able to be part of such an amazing program,” said Betsy Moore, a student at Washington and Lee University studying integrated engineering with biology.
This year’s REVAMP-REU 10-week summer program was held from May 25 – August 3 at GTMI located on the Georgia Tech campus.
Students worked under the supervision of different faculty mentors to complete a research project centered on cutting-edge manufacturing science and technology. They also received entrepreneurship training by conducting customer discovery interviews to support a hypothetical product related to their research. As a bonus, eligible students received on-campus housing, $500 towards travel, and a $5,000 stipend.
Congratulations to these student graduates (in bold text) of the summer 2022 REVAMP REU program:
Angela Li
Project: “Mechanical Characterization of Silica Microcapsules for Nanowire Production”
Research mentors: Calib Lanier, Michael A. Filler
Shannan Merced Moore
Project: “Strain-induced Refinement of Grain Size in 3D Printed Zinc Alloys”
Research mentors: Sairam Jaishankar, Dongang Yao
Cobe Smart
Project: “Multi-functional Multi-layer Film Coating on Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing System”
Research mentors: Minwoo Jung, Tequila Harris
Elizabeth (Betsy) Moore
Project: “New Innovative Processes for Additive Manufacturing of Ceramics”
Research mentors: Nicolas Somners, Alejandro Montón Zarazaga, Mark Losego
Kweku White
Project: “Machine Learning to Improve Makerspace Safety and Accessibility”
Research mentor: Amit Jariwala
Owen Shi (and Luka M.)
Project: “Gaussian Mixture Model Multiphysics Simulation for Physics-constrained Neural Network in Additive Manufacturing”
Research mentors: Luka Malashkhia, Jungin Kim, and Yan Wang
Ruoyu (Carl) Li
Project: “A Biosensor for Automating Real-time Therapeutic Cell Growth”
Research mentors: Zhaonan (Zeke) liu, Chuck Zhang
Valeria Carrasquillo
Project: “Wireless Electrochemical Sensor Capsule for Real-time Monitoring in Bioreactors
Research mentors: Aekansh Goel, Eric Vogel, and Billyde Brown
Corinne Drabenstott
Project: “Analysis of Mixing in a Microfluidic Device for Cell Buffer Exchange”
Research mentors: Steven Swingle, Avi Gupta, Todd Sulchek
Tyrel Keener
Project: “Wood-Based Composite for Thermal Management of Buildings”
Research mentors: Yongsong Huang, Akanksha Menon, Kyriaki Kalaitzidou
For information gathering and community engagement, the committee will plan and organize three workshops on the following topics: (1) state of the art smart manufacturing and future directions and needs; (2) potential broader impacts of smart manufacturing; and (3) education, training, and workforce needs for smart manufacturing. Videos and materials from these public workshops will be posted online. The input received during these workshops will serve as input for the final consensus study report.
Committee members include:
CHAIR
Thomas R. Kurfess
Thomas R. Kurfess is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. During 2019-2021 he served as the Chief Manufacturing Officer, and the Founding Director for the Manufacturing Science Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. During 2012-2013 served as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America, where he was responsible for coordinating Federal advanced manufacturing R&D. He was President of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the ASME. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of ASME, AAAS, and SME.
He received his S.B., S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. in 1986, 1987 and 1989, respectively. He also received an S.M. degree from M.I.T. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1988.
MEMBER
Richard D. Braatz
Richard D. Braatz is the Edwin R. Gilliland Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is affiliated with the MIT Energy Initiative, the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Center for Biomedical Innovation, the Center for Computational Science and Engineering, and Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing & Operations. He was the Millennium Chair and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University before moving to MIT. His primary research expertise is in applied mathematics and control theory and their application to the smart manufacturing of complex chemical and biological products including lithium-ion batteries, advanced polymers, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies. Honors include the IEEE Control Systems Society Transition to Practice Award, the Technical Innovation Award from the International Society of Automation, the Engineering Research Council’s Curtis W. McGraw Research Award, and the American Automatic Control Council’s Donald P. Eckman Award. He is a Fellow of AIChE, AAAS, IEEE, and IFAC, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received the B.S. from Oregon State University and the M.S. and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology – all in chemical engineering.
MEMBER
Jian Cao
JIAN CAO is the Cardiss Collins Professor and the founding Director of NIMSI, the university research center on manufacturing science and innovation at Northwestern University. Cao considers manufacturing as an integration platform and specializes in innovative manufacturing processes and systems, particularly dieless incremental forming process and laser processes. Cao received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from M.I.T. Cao is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), ASME, CIRP, and SME. Her major research awards include the ASME Milton C. Shaw Manufacturing Research Medal, SME Gold Medal, DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, ASME and Pi Tau Sigma Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, and SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal. Prof. Cao is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Materials Processing Technology. She served as Associate Vice President for Research at Northwestern University, President of the SME North America Manufacturing Research Institute, and a program director at NSF. Dr. Cao is a board member of SME Board of Directors, and of mHUB, Chicago's first innovation center focused on physical product development and smart manufacturing.
MEMBER
Krystel K. Castillo-Villar
Krystel Castillo is an expert in building an intellectual bridge between modeling and optimization of complex smart manufacturing supply chains, integrating energy efficiency and cybersecurity. As Energy VP for DOE’s Cyber Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII, $130M), she leads development of Cybersecure Energy & Emissions Quantification (CEEQ), which captures embodied energy and emissions at the product level throughout the digital supply chain. CEEQ optimizes energy consumption and emissions in advanced manufacturing contributing to saving 1 quadrillion BTUs. These discoveries can revolutionize smart manufacturing and enable secure automated processes and supply chain networks. As professor she has executed 39 grants ($11M). She is the Director of the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute (since 2017) managing a ~$4.28M/yr. portfolio and a $50M Alliance with CPS Energy. She was inducted to the UTSA Academy of Distinguished Researchers (2021), received the GreenStar Endowed Professorship in Energy (2015), and selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s 2015 U.S. FOE and 2019 E.U.-U.S. FOE symposiums.She has taught manufacturing courses for more than 12 years and mentored 24 graduate students. She has served as principal investigator in 5 training grants. She is actively recruiting and mentoring next-generation minority leaders and educators in advanced manufacturing.
MEMBER
Lili Cheng
Lili Cheng is a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and manages the Emerging Technology Group at Microsoft, is responsible for Conversational AI and the Industrial Metaverse in Microsoft’s Cloud and AI division. She partners with start-ups to large-scale enterprises, to identify areas of collaboration, drive innovation and deliver AI driven products and experiences. Cheng has a long history of research and AI with Microsoft. Cheng founded the Social Computing Group and Future Social Experiences (“FUSE”) Labs in Microsoft Research and works with top universities, and researcher around the world to help develop design and social science curriculum via the Microsoft Design Expo and the Social Computing Symposium. She was the Director of User Experience for Microsoft Windows and has innovated on technical infrastructure in the areas of real time data, search, and AI tools for Microsoft Azure. Prior to Microsoft, Cheng worked in Apple Computer’s Advanced Technology Group on the User Interface research team, where she developed QuickTime Conferencing and QuickTime VR. Lili serves on the advisory board for AI4All, which partners with top universities to amplify diverse AI talent, and is on the board of Connected Camps, a learning organization focused on online learning, governance, and online social interaction. She has been recognized by Time Magazine (“Future of AI”), Forbes (“Women@Forbes 2018”), Fast Company (“Most Creative People 2016”), New York University (“Tisch 50th Anniversary Creativity Award”). She has given numerous keynotes and interviews including Wired, Forbes, O’Reilly Media, SXSW. Cheng was born in Tokyo, grew up in Omaha Nebraska, and lives in the Seattle area with her husband, and has three sons.
MEMBER
James F. Davis
As Vice Provost IT, Jim has broad responsibilities for data and technology solutions in support of UCLA’s digital research and scholarship mission. Within UCLA, Jim co-sponsors the Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE). He also has oversight of the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer and the campus Disabilities Computing Program. Nationally, Jim has program oversight and is vice chair of the Governance Board for DOE’s Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) and was a co-founder of the original Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition. He is currently on the Board of Governors of the Manufacturing Leadership Council. In Southern California he is program sponsor of Innovate@UCLA, a partnership with companies engaged in research exchanges and professional development programs in IT leadership. Jim is a Professor in UCLA’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering where he does research and consults on AI, machine learning, intelligent systems, monitoring/control, and data/modeling systems across manufacturing industries. Jim was formerly the CIO at UCLA and The Ohio State University and was Board Chair of the Corporation of Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). He has past work experience with Amoco Chemicals and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
MEMBER
Robert X. Gao
Robert Gao is the Cady Staley Professor and Department Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the Pratt & Whitney Chair Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut during 2008-2014. His research expertise includes signal transduction mechanisms, multi-resolution signal analysis, and artificial intelligence/machine learning for improving the observability of manufacturing processes and equipment to enhance product quality control. His work has led to the invention of multi-physics sensors and advanced signal processing methods for the in-situ monitoring of manufacturing processes such as plastic injection molding, sheet metal stamping, microrolling, etc. He has published 3 books, over 400 technical papers, including 190 journal articles, and received 13 patents. He is a Fellow of ASME, SME, IEEE, and CIRP, and received several awards from professional societies, including the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award, SME Eli Whitney Productivity Award, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Technical Award, IEEE Best Application in Instrumentation and Measurement Award, etc. In 2020, he was named by SME as one of “The 20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing”. Currently he is serving as Chair of the CIRP Collaborative Working Group on AI in Manufacturing.
MEMBER
Satyandra K. Gupta
Satyandra K. Gupta holds Smith International Professorship in the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is the founding director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Southern California. His research interests are computer-aided design, physics-informed artificial intelligence, computational foundations for decision making, human-centered manufacturing automation, and robotics. He has published more than four hundred technical articles in journals, conference proceedings, and edited books. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and Solid Modeling Association (SMA). He has received numerous honors and awards for his scholarly contributions. Representative examples include a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research, CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Invention of the Year Award from the University of Maryland, Kos Ishii-Toshiba Award from ASME, Excellence in Research Award from ASME Computers and Information in Engineering Division, and Design Automation Award from ASME. He has also received ten best paper awards at international conferences. He earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland. He is a member of National Materials and Manufacturing Board.
MEMBER
Susan N. Houseman
Susan Houseman is Vice-President and Director of Research at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. She is a labor economist whose recent research focuses on contract employment arrangements, domestic outsourcing, offshoring, manufacturing, and measurement issues in economic statistics.
She co-directs the Outsourcing Research Network, chairs the Technical Advisory Committee to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; co-directs the Labor Statistics Program at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) in Bonn, Germany; and chaired the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Consensus Study on Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements for Research and Policy.. She received her PhD in economics from Harvard University.
MEMBER
Jeannine Kunz
Jeannine Kunz is the Chief Workforce Development Officer for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. A recognized expert in the field of learning and development for over 20 years, Kunz is at the forefront of workforce management issues, providing forward-thinking learning and development solutions for companies, academia, and individuals. Kunz served on the executive committee of America Makes and is a board member for the National Coalition of Career Development, Chair for National Defense Industrial Association’s Manufacturing Workforce Committee, and sits on CESMII, the Smart Manufacturing Institute, and Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing’s (ARM) Workforce Committees. In 2020, she joined the industry advisory committee for Clemson University’s THINKER graduate program, and in 2022, she was appointed as Board of Director for the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group. “Crain's Detroit Business” recognized Kunz’s work when the publication selected her as one of its 2018 Notable Women in Manufacturing – in Michigan, as well as one of its 2019 Notable Women in Education. Kunz earned a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing with a concentration in economics from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan. She has served on EMU's Alumni Board and the Pittsburgh State University College of Technology Board of Directors.
MEMBER
Chinedum E. Okwudire
Chinedum Okwudire is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Prior to joining Michigan, he was the mechatronic systems optimization team leader at DMG Mori USA. He received a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2009. His research is in smart manufacturing, where he exploits fundamental methods from machine design, control, and computing to boost the performance of manufacturing automation systems at low cost. His research has found applications in 3D printing, machining and nanopositioning. He has received a number of awards and recognitions including the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation; the Young Investigator Award from the International Symposium on Flexible Automation; the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the SME (formerly, Society of Manufacturing Engineers); the Ralph Teetor Educational Award from SAE International; and the Russell Severance Springer Visiting Professorship from UC Berkeley. He has co-authored a number of best paper award winning papers on topics related to control, mechatronics and manufacturing. He participated in the 2014 Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium and has recently served on a NASEM committee for Infusing Advanced Manufacturing in Engineering Education.
MEMBER
Melissa Orme
Melissa Orme, PhD, Vice President, The Boeing Company, oversees Additive Manufacturing activity across the three Boeing business units: Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Boeing Defense, Space and Security; and Boeing Global Services; including metal and polymer flight hardware, as well as research and factory aids to enable product development and increase factory efficiency. Orme is also responsible for guiding the development of the digital thread across the Additive Manufacturing value chain, and the implementation of data driven models from extracted and archived data from the digital thread, utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence to drive efficiency, quality, and scale within the Additive Manufacturing end-to-end value stream. Other key responsibilities include the development of initiatives geared towards quantifying the positive sustainability trades associated with Additive Manufacturing.
Orme has a diverse professional background and began her career in academia, where she rose to the rank of Full Professor at the University of California, Irvine. In that capacity she developed her internationally renowned research program on net-form manufacturing, where her research resulted in numerous peer reviewed journal articles and 15 U.S. patents. Later, she transitioned to small business, where she served as Chief Technology Officer of Morf3D, a qualified supplier of Additively Manufactured flight hardware to Boeing and other Aerospace and Defense companies. Hence, she has deep experience in technology development through the diverse frameworks of academia, small business, and large corporations. Orme received her PhD, M.S., and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California.
MEMBER
Nancy R. Sottos
Nancy Sottos is the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She is leader of the Autonomous Materials Systems (AMS) group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and holds appointments in the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Science and Engineering at Illinois. Her research group develops polymers with biologically inspired autonomous functions such self-healing and regeneration, self-reporting, and self-protection to improve reliability and extend material lifetime. Current research focuses on new energy efficient methods to manufacture polymers and composites with sustainable end-of-life strategies. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. She joined the Illinois faculty in 1991 after receiving her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware.
MEMBER
William F. Spriggs
William Spriggs is a professor in, and former Chair of, the Department of Economics at Howard University and serves as Chief Economist to the AFL-CIO. In his role with the AFL-CIO he chairs the Economic Policy Working Group for the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and serves on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is currently, the president-elect of the Labor Employment Research Association, and serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of MDC Inc (Durham, NC). He serves on the Advisory Boards of WorkRise (of the Urban Institute) and the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. From 2009 to 2012, Bill was appointed by President Obama, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy at the United States Department of Labor. Some of Bill’s previous work experience includes serving as an Economist for the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress; and, as staff director for the independent, federal National Commission for Employment Policy. He is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and the National Academy of Social Insurance; and the 2016 recipient of NASI’s Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievement in Social Insurance
MEMBER
John W. Sutherland
John W. Sutherland is Professor and Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. Prior to assuming his present position in 2009, he was the Henes Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Sustainable Futures Institute at Michigan Technological University. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the application of sustainability principles to design, manufacturing, and other industrial issues. He has contributed pioneering research and education achievements, and provided leadership to advancing the field of environmentally responsible design and manufacturing. He has served as an investigator on numerous government and industry research projects and has mentored more than one hundred students to the completion of their graduate degrees. He has published over 400 papers in various journals and conference proceedings. Sutherland is a Fellow of SME, ASME, CIRP, and AAAS. His honors and recognitions include the SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, SME Education Award, SAE International John Connor Environmental Award, ASME William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award, SME Gold Medal, and AEESP Frederick George Pohland Medal.
MEMBER
Karen A. Thole
Karen A. Thole holds the title of University Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University where she directs the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Lab, which focuses on advancing gas turbines for power generation and for sustainable aviation propulsion. Her research is aimed at increasing turbine efficiencies through improving turbine cooling technologies. She uses additive manufacturing to more rapidly advance cooling technologies as well as integrate instrumentation to make measurements not previously possible. Dr. Thole formerly served as the Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State in which she led the initiation of an online Masters degree in Additive Manufacturing and Design. She is a Fellow of ASME and AIAA. ASME has recognized her impacts with the Heat Transfer Memorial Award and George Westinghouse Gold Medal. In addition, AIAA has recognized her with the Air Breathing Propulsion Award and Thermophysics Award. Dr. Thole holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She has served on NASA’s National Aerospace Committee and has been a member of two National Academy of Engineering studies including one on low carbon aviation and the other on identifying research needs to advance gas turbines.
In addition to the three faculty members, two additional alumni were honored. Nick Lappos (AE ’73), was also elected to the NAE Class of 2022. Lappos is a senior technical fellow (emeritus) of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp and serves on the Georgia Tech Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council (AESAC). He was honored for “improving rotary wing flight performance and serving as test pilot, engineer, inventor, technologist, and business leader.”
Nathan Meehan (Phys '75), a member of the College of Sciences Advisory Board, was also elected. He is president of CMG Petroleum Consulting Ltd. and was recognized for "technical and business innovation in the application of horizontal well technology for oil and gas production."
They are among this year’s 133 new members (including international selections).
“On behalf of Georgia Tech, I extend my sincere congratulations to Chris, Sandy, and Nick for this incredible honor, which highlights a lifetime of achievement,” said Raheem Beyah, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “Chris and Nick’s research have advanced their respective fields and left an indelible mark on their peers at Georgia Tech and around the world. Sandy, in addition to her service with NASA, is a tireless advocate of raising awareness of STEM and diversity within the aerospace industry in an effort to grow the next generation of the AE workforce. The College of Engineering is tremendously proud of this trio.”
Jones is the John F. Brock III School Chair in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE). He has been a faculty member at Georgia Tech since 2000, leading a ChBE research group that works in catalysis and adsorption, with a strong emphasis in materials chemistry. The NAE is honoring him for “contributions to the design and synthesis of catalytic materials and for advancing technologies related to carbon capture and sequestration.”
Jones is known in the field for his pioneering work on materials that extract carbon dioxide from ultra-dilute mixtures such as ambient air, which are key components of direct air capture technologies that have the potential to reverse climate change.
Magnus (MSE, 1996) is a professor of the practice with joint appointments in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs. She is currently a principal at AstroPlanetview LLC and is being recognized by the NAE for “national accomplishments in the U.S. civil space program and in Department of Defense engineering and technology integration.
As a NASA astronaut, Magnus flew to space three times and spent 157 days in orbit. Before joining NASA, Magnus worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company as a stealth engineer. After retiring as an astronaut, she served as executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She is now one of three Georgia Tech women in the NAE, joining Marilyn Brown and Susan Margulies.
Sahinidis is the inaugural Gary C. Butler Family Chair in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in ChBE. In the NAE announcement, Sahinidis was selected for “his contributions to global optimization and the development of widely used software for optimization and machine learning.” His research activities are at the interface between computer science and operations research, with applications in various engineering and scientific areas.
During his career, Sahinidis developed BARON (Branch-and-Reduce Optimization Navigator), a global optimization software system that solves challenging, nonconvex optimization problems, including continuous, integer, and mixed-integer nonlinear problems. Sahinidis also created ALAMO (Automated Learning of Algebraic Models), a black-box modeling tool that generates simple, yet accurate, algebraic models from data.
The Academy annual inducts new members, recognizing “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature.” The Academy also honors engineers for being instrumental in "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."
Georgia Tech now has 45 NAE members. This year's cohort will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting in October.
]]>“Chaouki Abdallah, executive vice president for research, and I are very excited about Tom taking on this role. Advanced manufacturing is a top federal priority as an ‘industry of the future.’ Tom’s experience and international reputation from his history in academia, industry, and the government will be a great complement to our existing vibrant community of students, staff, and faculty committed to manufacturing research and education—positioning Georgia Tech to meet regional, national, and global needs,” said Julia Kubanek, vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech.
“We’re grateful for the efforts of the search committee led by Professor Meisha Shofner and to the leadership of Professor Ben Wang as executive director of GTMI for 11 years until he stepped down at the end of May. We also appreciate Professor Shreyes Melkote for serving as interim director this month while we finalized Tom’s appointment.”
Kurfess first joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1994, and has taken on a variety of special assignments in addition to his teaching and research.
His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He was president of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
During 2019-2021, Kurfess was on leave serving as the chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where he was responsible for strategic planning for ORNL in advanced manufacturing. He was also the founding director for the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL.
He served as the assistant director for advanced manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the executive office of the President of the United States of America from 2012-2013, where he was responsible for coordinating federal advanced manufacturing research and development.
“For decades, Georgia Tech has led the Nation’s academic institutions in the advanced manufacturing sector. It is an honor for me to be tapped to continue our efforts in this area. I am excited to take the helm at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) in continuing its role as a technology leader in advanced manufacturing for the State of Georgia, the United States, and the world. We will be a conduit enabling the Georgia Tech community in their efforts to accelerate and develop manufacturing technologies and workforce capabilities, providing a forum in which they can openly collaborate, and facilities that are world-class for their efforts. I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society,” said Kurfess.
“Given that GTMI is one of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society.”
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) is one of Georgia Tech’s 10 interdisciplinary research institutes, and an integral part of the broader Georgia Tech research enterprise. In 2021, GTMI celebrated its 30th anniversary. GTMI's mission is to convene industry leaders, government partners, and top researchers to collaborate on the grand challenges facing the U.S. manufacturing industry today: accelerating technology development and deployment, creating quality jobs, ensuring global competitiveness, and advancing economic and environmental stability.
]]>Manufacturing of all types is soaring in the state, with over 11,000 companies employing an estimated 393,500 workers in 2021 – about 9% of Georgia’s workforce. Approximately three-quarters are production workers.
Today’s manufacturing is clearly not the old assembly line. Software and robots operated by highly trained technicians are driving America’s – and Georgia’s – maker resurgence. Even traditionally low-tech operations such as poultry plants are incorporating technology and robotics to automate dirty or dangerous jobs that are hard to fill.
Companies employing these advanced manufacturing practices had a total output of nearly $62 billion in 2019, representing approximately 10% of Georgia’s Gross State Product, according to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) data.
Georgia has a lot going for it as a rising star in advanced manufacturing. Its reputation as the best state to do business is the result of a host of assets for companies looking to relocate and grow, according to John Morehouse, director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). These assets include a pro-business climate, a trained workforce and a strategic location that allows companies to reach 80% of the U.S. market via truck, rail or plane. And the Port of Savannah is a gateway to (and from) the world.
One of the biggest draws is Georgia Quick Start, the nation’s No. 1 workforce training program that has provided customized training for more than 1 million workers. Another is the increasing flow of venture capital to the region.
Manufacturers are “recognizing this is where there’s a lot of value, and value is what they’re seeking,” says John Avery, director of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech.
Maintaining a technological edge doesn’t come cheap. Southwire Company, a maker of wire and cable, is in the midst of a $1 billion investment that is “putting a lot of money into our factories, making a difference for our customers and adding capacity,” says CEO Rich Stinson.
While the process of making wire and cable has changed little over the years, the technology has advanced.
“What has changed is the equipment and the control of the process to make wire and cable,” explains Southwire Senior Vice President William Berry. “We’ve developed better control of motors, better products such as servo motors [that rotate machine parts with high efficiency].”
To grow manufacturing, the state is channeling resources into helping companies get started and improve their processes and technology. GDEcD’s innovation center has “teams that work in agricultural technology, energy technology, information technology, logistics, manufacturing, in aerospace,” says Morehouse. “We talk to them about what their challenges are to growth, and then connect them to the right resources in the state, whether that be an expert in academia, or other companies, or government agencies.”
The center can gear up to assist an entrepreneur with a new product idea or a large company with a production-line challenge.
The state, along with its agencies and educational institutions, has been pushing adoption of Manufacturing 4.0 (or Industry 4.0), which is dramatically changing the ways companies improve, manufacture and distribute products. New technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) are being integrated into operations.
Georgia Institute of Technology has been at the forefront of research and development in this area. Its Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) is a 20,000-square-foot, reconfigurable R&D facility in Midtown Atlanta that provides space for industrial, academic and government agencies to develop innovative manufacturing projects. It also serves as a teaching laboratory for Tech graduate students.
Made possible by a $3 million donation from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, AMPF is a flexible facility that can house all kinds of advanced manufacturing innovation projects, including industrial robotics and additive, hybrid, composite and digital manufacturing.
Companies use the space to test new designs and get feedback about new ways of producing products, according to Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, who is working on research integrating data informatics and machine learning for development of new manufacturing processes.
The state is committed to helping Georgia companies acquire and develop such advanced technologies to increase efficiency and competitiveness. As part of this effort, Georgia Tech launched the Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium to work with businesses in defense and related industries. The Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 initiative “is about helping Georgia manufacturers adopt Industry 4.0 technologies. There’s a special emphasis on small manufacturers who may be overwhelmed about the latest software they should buy, or don’t even have time to think about how to put a sensor on a machine to help with uptime,” says Stebner. “Through those programs, we can actually provide them assistance with workforce training, as well as innovate with them.”
Gulfstream, for example, equips workers with wearable devices to provide remote step-by-step instructions in situations where a supervisor is not on hand, says Stebner. Augmented intelligence can provide that supervision and continuous reminders to the employee.
“The human workforce is going to move to higher value-added activities, as they always have, whether it’s in agriculture, whether it’s in manufacturing today, and mechanization or automation back in the day,” explains Shreyes Melkote, a mechanical engineering professor who is executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech. The partnership between Tech and the aluminum manufacturer and recycler focuses on basic and applied research related to sustainable processes.
Data is a key to adding efficiency to manufacturing operations. When ProcessMiner opened for business in 2014, its original goal was to optimize manufacturing processes for the pulp and paper industry.
Today, its platform predicts problems in real time using AI within the manufacturing process for companies in the pulp, paper and plastics industries. Pilot projects are underway for water treatment and energy sectors.
“We decided to go ahead and take on the challenge of solving this problem, not for one specific industry, but for manufacturing,” says Kamran Paynabar, co-founder and chief science officer at ProcessMiner.
The company’s focus is “leveraging AI, data science, machine learning, as well as domain knowledge for improving continuous manufacturing systems,” explains Paynabar. It can predict the quality of the product coming off the assembly line by collecting and processing data using machine learning and other technologies.
“Another thing that we really wanted to include in our offering and platform was the combined integration of domain knowledge and process experience plus data analysis to make sure that the solution that we provide actually works for the manufacturing system,” says co-founder and CEO Karim Pourak.
Lumber might seem like a simple business, but Rayonier Advanced Materials is developing decidedly high-tech applications for wood and its byproducts, such as purified cellulose. These substances are used in products that require absorbent materials like baby diapers and adult incontinence products. They’re also used in plastics, run-flat tires, sausage casings, timed-release pharmaceuticals and even LCD screens, according to Larissa Fenn, director of research and development into new high-purity cellulose (HPC) products at Rayonier’s Marketing and Research Center.
One recent project involved the use of wood byproducts to create prebiotics, or the food that fosters the growth of good bacteria in animals. Rayonier partnered with the University of Georgia’s poultry science department to test a product in chicken that was derived from wood extraction processes. “We wanted to see how it would perform in increasing their gut health and helping them to be resistant to disease,” Fenn says.
The state is also a good place for new companies to get up and running.
Carbice is an Atlanta-based start-up company dedicated to designing, developing and producing a unique thermal material to remove heat from electronic devices. It produces thermal tape that can be used in satellites, and the growing company needed assistance to take its manufacturing operations to scale.
Carbice spun out of a lab at Georgia Tech to address a long-standing problem within the space industry of how to control heat generated by satellite circuit boards. It is a prime example of academic research that has evolved into a growing company with a valuable product.
“It’s one thing to be able to do lab-scale demonstrations of technology, but I focused on how do you make the material so that it can be scaled up for manufacturing,” says CEO Baratunde Cola. “Each of these satellites has about 50,000 square inches of thermal glue that they use to put on all the different electronic boxes. And the problem with it is that that glue is a very challenging manufacturing process.”
The company created a first-of-its-kind Space Pad that can adhere to the heat source on a satellite or other device. “Then you can easily take it off and stick it on. It takes a process that used to take three weeks and turns it into a three-minute process,” says Cola.
This is a material that will “replace things like thermal grease and thermal paste or graphite pads and ultimately simplify manufacturing,” says Cola. “It will improve performance across space, power trains in electric vehicles, semiconductor manufacturing, data centers and cloud computing, graphics cards and high-performance gaming.”
Technologies such as 3D printing enable companies to produce products that can be geared to customers in ways that were not possible in the past.
The Atlanta Drone Group is using advanced manufacturing processes to build its unmanned aircraft for “public safety from the ground up,” says CEO Matt Sloane. The company just released a new drone that can be configured to carry different kinds of payloads depending on the need of the individual agency, he says.
“We’ve done a lot of 3D printing of prototype parts, and in some cases, production parts are going to be 3D-printed,” says Sloane. “We’ve done a lot of 3D scanning, looking at the various sensors and scanning them so that we can integrate them into the design. And then we’re using cutting-edge carbon fiber lay-up [lamination] methods, that you typically see in [Formula One] racing rather than traditional drone manufacturing.”
One of the biggest advanced manufacturing sectors is machining. This precision prototyping and manufacturing process creates parts that go into a wide range of products from farm equipment to airplanes.
Eastman’s Kencoa Aerospace, a supplier of multi-axis precision-machined and sheet metal-fabricated components, serves a customer list that includes Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace and Boeing, which is constructing NASA’s Space Launch System – the most powerful rocket ever built.
Aerotech Machining is part of a growing manufacturing sector springing up in Chatham County near the Port of Savannah. The firm opened decades ago to serve the aerospace, agricultural, power generation and rail industries. With the aid of CNC (computer numerical control) machine tools, the company designs and produces parts using preprogrammed software and code to control the movement of production equipment. Aerotech can fashion parts using detailed specs as well as create designs to meet a specific use.
“They may come to us with a need, not quite knowing what the part should look like, and we would design and give them a 3D rendering of the part for their approval,” says Aerotech President Joey Jones. “We would make them a prototype. If they accept the prototype, then we will send the part off into production and make them however many pieces they need – from two to 200, or a lot more than that.”
Advanced manufacturing companies like these are driven by the need for efficiency and the elimination of waste from production methods. Many companies have turned to production methods such as lean manufacturing to reduce process inefficiencies. Automation and other technologies are now also decreasing process times and costs.
“We started our lean journey in 2003 and so we’re working to eliminate waste in all areas of the business,” says Brandyn Chapman, CEO of PHX Holdings, which owns Phoenix Stamping Group. The company makes sheet metal and rod component parts. “We’ve utilized technology as another tool to assist to that end. It’s one way we’ve implemented an ERP [enterprise resource planning] system and then utilized that to streamline and automate specific functions through the use of information technology.”
New battery and electric-vehicle parts makers have gotten a lot of press lately in Georgia but one long-time corporate citizen is Saft America. A wholly owned subsidiary of France’s TotalEnergies, the company specializes in advanced technology battery solutions for industry. Its products are in everything from satellites to airplanes where reliability is a must. More than 500 batteries are in space “and we’ve been there since 1966, which I think makes a pretty big statement,” says Kirk Rosenlund, general manager at Saft America.
Across the state, advanced manufacturing is growing as the national economy expands and increasingly companies realize that the best place to make things is right here in Georgia.
This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Georgia Trend.
Written by RANDY SOUTHERLAND
AMPF open house activities included an informational session, tour, equipment demos, and networking reception. Attendees from more than 45 companies learned how to engage with the Georgia manufacturing community through workforce development programs, technology pilot programs, and research activities to innovate and accelerate secure integration of Industry 4.0 technologies into Georgia manufacturing.
The newly created Georgia 4.0 Manufacturing Consortium is an industry-academia-government consortium that advances and deploys manufacturing technologies into the market. By leveraging the latest in manufacturing developments and technologies, consortium members have unique opportunities to compete more effectively to become global leaders.
“Georgia Tech’s AMPF provides a world-leading proving grounds for developing, de-risking, and piloting new manufacturing technologies to make them ready for commercial adoption,” said Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the Woodruff School and Mechanical Engineering, and School of Materials Science and Engineering. “AMPF was enabled through Georgia Tech’s manufacturing research partnerships with Boeing and Delta. In it’s first two years, the mission has expanded to include collaboration with more than a dozen companies. Establishing the Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium provides a vehicle to include dozens more companies in each of the future years, with emphasis on growing the participation of small businesses supported through grant subsidies.”
The consortium will conduct research, offer workforce training, provide small manufacturers with the ability to use advanced manufacturing tools, gain information to drive product and material changeovers, innovate new products, provide economic diversification, accelerate product development cycles, and adopt Industry 4.0 technologies.
Georgia Tech’s AMPF was created by a $3 million gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation and was intentionally designed as a flexible space that can house future manufacturing innovation projects of almost all types, from additive/hybrid manufacturing to composites, digital manufacturing/industry 4.0, and industrial robotics. Current AMPF industry partners range from aerospace and automotive companies to materials manufacturing companies.
The AMPF is a flagship component of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and is a special, reconfigurable R&D high bay manufacturing facility where companies work alongside researchers and students to take early-stage concepts from idea to reality. With each new project and innovation, AMPF is where the factory of the future is being envisioned and created.
The Georgia 4.0 Manufacturing Consortium was created with funding from the Department of Defense (DOD) Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. This DOD office helps states and communities strengthen critical relationships with Department of Defense’s assets and installations. Small businesses (less than 100 employees) will be able to receive discounted consortium membership rates as a result of this DOD grant funding. While DOD funded the consortium, companies outside of the defense industry are also welcome to be part of the consortium.
“Creating a valuable advanced manufacturing pilot facility and holding this industry-focused open house has been a long-term key goal. Our new governance structure is allowing AMPF to incorporate industry partners as members of AMPF along with the establishment of this new consortium for small and medium companies to join at a discounted rate,” said George White, director for strategic partnerships in the Office of the Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research.
“I also want to thank Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, for his strong, unwavering support to build AMPF. With Ben’s support, we’ve been able to build a world-class R&D pilot facility to advance manufacturing technology and solve problems for a variety of industry partners over many years—and will continue to do so for many other industry partners.”
Companies interested in joining the Georgia 4.0 Manufacturing Consortium can contact George White or Aaron Stebner at Georgia Tech.
]]>The project plans to create the Robotics and Automation Decision Framework for Agility and Resilience (RADAR). This framework will allow small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) to systemically evaluate the cost-to-benefit ratio of integrating robotics and automation for aiding the response to supply chain disruptions due to public health crises like COVID-19 and additional economic threats.
“The RADAR end-to-end supply chain framework encompasses macro-scale and micro-scale modeling, along with physical demonstration, by bringing together interdisciplinary capabilities of elite partners from SAI and ARM — including the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, Georgia Institute of Technology, General Electric, Deloitte, and Morgan State University — to serve the requirements set by NIST,” said Eleftherios Lakovou, Ph.D., SAI’s manufacturing supply chain director and principal investigator on the project.
He sees the award as an exciting and potent validation of the unique footprint SAI has established and a way for the institute to provide innovative solutions to national priorities.
“The project is particularly valuable because it empowers SMMs, who form the backbone of the nation’s industrial base,” Lakovou continued. “Small manufacturers often lack the scale and human capital needed to increase their use of automation and robotics to position themselves favorably in the sophisticated, next-generation, cost-competitive, agile and resilient supply chains of America’s future.”
“We are delighted to work with the team at the SecureAmerica Institute on this important project,” said Arnie Kravitz, chief innovation officer at the ARM Institute. “Our work will help smaller manufacturers make better decisions in the face of the current and future pandemics.”
The Georgia Tech team will contribute to this initiative by providing already developed and validated supply chain simulation software and extending it to stress test supply chains so that small manufacturers can be better informed of what risks their supply chains might face, how these risks can be mitigated, and what role robotics and automation can play as a source of supply chain productivity and risk mitigation.
RADAR’s funding is provided by the American Rescue Act and is part of a larger $54 million initiative by NIST to award high-impact projects for pandemic response research and development across eight manufacturing institutes in the Manufacturing USA network.
]]>Bioindustrial manufacturing uses living organisms such as bacteria, yeast, and algae, to make new products or replacements for current products that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than current processes.
The simulation platform will be a customizable decision support system that will target disruptions that may be faced by supply chains in the biomanufacturing industry. Understanding the impact on performance of each disruption can lead to supply chain design and operations changes that will produce improved levels of supply chain performance when disruptions occur.
“Although this project is initially focused on supply chain productivity at the product or firm level, it is also intended to provide insight into how investments in the bioindustrial ecosystem can improve bioindustrial supply chain supply chain performance while ensuring the Nation’s public health, defense, and economic security,” said White.
Understanding how performance at the product- and firm-level throughout the industry contributes to industry ecosystem performance, and vice versa, will help to inform both future product- and firm-level supply chain design and the development of the Nation’s bioindustrial ecosystem.
Chip White holds the Schneider National Chair of Transportation and Logistics and is a professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Kan Wang, Ph.D., is a senior research engineer in the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). Ben Wang is executive director of GTMI, holds the Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems and is a professor in both the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Materials Science and Engineering.
]]>This seminar was sponsored by the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and was presented live on March 8, 2021. Stebner is also a faculty member of GTMI.
Below is AM Chronicle's short article with link to the original posting:
AM Chronicle content team brings to you the top 5 trending and informative videos on metal 3D printing.
Metal Additive manufacturing is one of the most trending sectors in the additive manufacturing industry. The technology was initially considered impossible due to the complex material science behind the melting and solidification of metals and its integration with the 3D printing layer-by-layer approach. But today, metal additive manufacturing is widely accepted in the industry and considered to be an essential part of Industry 4.0. Go through some of the interesting content presented by AM Chronicle on metal 3D printing videos.
Link to the full AM Chronicle article with the top 5 3D printing videos:
https://www.amchronicle.com/insights/top-5-informative-videos-on-metal-3d-printing/
Past Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute seminars can be found here:
https://research.gatech.edu/manufacturing/pastlectures
The Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech announced the launch of the Novelis Scholars Program during fall 2021. The program seeks to recognize and cultivate top graduate students conducting research in various aspects of sustainability, high-throughput materials discovery, surface functionalization, and artificial intelligence (AI)/data science applications in materials, manufacturing, and supply chain technology.
Novelis has partnered with Georgia Tech to collaborate on research and development, and promote the education of the next generation of engineers dedicated to making better products that lead to a more sustainable world. Novelis is headquartered in Atlanta with a global footprint, over 12,500 employees, and recorded $12.3 billion in revenue for its 2020 fiscal year. Novelis recently expanded its research partnership with Georgia Tech.
The Novelis Innovation Hub expects to issue its next call for Novelis Scholars for the 2022‐2023 Academic Year in Spring/early Summer 2022.
]]>Wang is the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing Systems, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech.
Wang became the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Center in January, 2012. Wang replaced Steven Danyluk, professor emeritus and Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Chair in Mechanical Engineering for Advanced Manufacturing Systems. Danyluk started his tenure as the director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Center in 1995.
At the 30th anniversary, Wang recalled the creation of Georgia Tech’s manufacturing center as a great example of a public-private partnership that started in 1991 when Georgia Tech, the Department of Defense, AT&T, Ford, Intel and Motorola helped to create a world-class research organization that started life known as the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Center who later became the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute.
At the event, Wang stressed the need for building a strong manufacturing base in the United States. “Technology-based innovation is the dominant driver of economic growth in the 21st century,” said Wang. “Our national security, high standard of living, and the rebuilding of the middle class all depend on a maintaining a strong manufacturing base.”
During his introductory remarks, Wang presented a short GTMI 30th anniversary video which can be viewed here.
When Wang became the executive director, his vision focused on what he called big “M” manufacturing. According to Wang, this included not only the creation of new materials, advanced composites, and biomaterials, but also included manufacturing processes as well as factory automation. It also incorporates supply chain management and enterprise transformation. Materials and manufacturing complement each other according to Wang. He emphasized manufacturing adds value and transforms raw materials into products we use daily.
The 30th anniversary event briefly highlighted the research being done in GTMI’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF). Both Boeing and Delta Airlines have made significant investments to be part of AMPF. This innovative facility allows faculty, students, and industry partners to work with emerging technologies to research new ideas and solve industry problems, and the facility is designed to be flexible with the ability to evolve as new technologies become available.
An introduction to the AMPF facility can be viewed here.
Capping off the 30th celebration event was GTMI’s annual distinguished lecture which was delivered by Naveed Hussain, chief technology officer, vice president and general manager of Boeing research and technology. Hussain presented an overview of the Boeing company, emphasized the value of the Georgia Tech-Boeing partnership, and discussed the future of manufacturing at Boeing.
A full recording of GTMI’s 30th anniversary event, a more in-depth look at AMPF, and the distinguished lecture delivered by Naveed Hussain can be found here.
Speakers during the 30th anniversary AMPF presentations included: Christopher Saldana, Ring Family Professor and associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems Center and principal research engineer at GTMI; Shreyes Melkote, who holds the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professorship in Mechanical Engineering and is the associate director of GTMI; Chuck Zhang, Harold E. Smalley Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering; and George White, interim vice president in the Office of Industry Collaboration at Georgia Tech.
The 30th anniversary event was organized by Paige Shee, strategic partners officer in GTMI.
]]>“Tech brings a strong expertise in applying their research knowledge to areas that are important to us, like vibration research, telemetry, and they know how to apply that knowledge to manufacturing,” said Lance Johnson, advanced manufacturing engineering manager at Moog. “What’s more, they know how we think, and they know what we need."
Having partnered for nearly a decade, lately, the two institutions have been collaborating in the arena of the Internet of Things for Manufacturing to help Moog keep abreast of the health, performance, and utilization of its assembly lines.
“GTMI’s work allows us to really understand the health and productivity of our machines, and more fundamentally, it allows us to optimize our processes, no matter what component we’re assembling at the time,” said Johnson.
For example, a company may want to run its machines at a high pace, but if they don’t understand how that would wear on the parts, they may cycle through them too quickly, or even worse, must shut the line down for maintenance at an inopportune time. If they go the opposite route and play it safe, they can minimize parts fatigue but not produce enough. They lose money in either scenario.
“You don’t want to have to shut down the line for repairs while you’re in the middle of creating parts that are critical to the consumer, nor do you want to push too hard and make bad parts,” explained Johnson.
Using its expertise and software to analyze the machines' vibrations and physical stress, GTMI helps Moog operate its lines at peak efficiency. This helps Moog keep its assembly lines healthy and maintains the quality of their wares.
The project involves using GTMI’s architecture as a universal translator to convert all of the assembly lines’ various protocols to a standard one. This ensures that all areas of the factory can talk to each other, which helps them cut costs.
“Integration costs to implement factory information systems are often underestimated, yet unexpected costs are a real pain point for companies,” said Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems Center and principal research engineer at GTMI. “Our decoupled digital architecture provides a clear advantage by reducing integration costs.”
When it comes to understanding the most complex issues in today’s manufacturing world, GTMI is on top.
“We’re an advanced company in terms of our manufacturing capabilities,” said Johnson. “Their work is invaluable in helping us bridge the divide between the classical core research and the new research being done on vibration. They can contextualize it to the areas that are important to us.”
One thing that distinguishes GTMI from other centers, said Johnson, is that they’re approachable. “They're easy to talk to and understand how to contextualize the research into solutions that work on the issues that we face,” said Johnson.
Another distinction is the insightful interns GTMI provides. "It's really amazing. The interns who come out of Georgia Tech already understand the problems we’re working on because they already understand manufacturing. So, when they arrive, they're able to hit the ground running,” he explained.
Nathan Devol was working at Hubble Lighting when he decided he was missing the research aspect of his career, so he decided to go back to school to get his Ph.D. at Tech. He’s been working with Moog since he arrived on campus two years ago.
"One of the things I've liked about working with Moog is that the problems we’re working on are continually evolving,” said Devol. “Another thing is that we’re not just working on tightly controlled projects, like one often does in a research environment. The solutions we deliver have to be able to scale up to work at the factory level.”
Devol experienced this when he was monitoring the vibrations of manufacturing equipment. The trouble came when they were collecting vibration data and sending it up to the cloud to process and observe it.
“We had this problem where we’re sampling the vibration data at around 10,000 samples per second, and the cloud just couldn’t handle it, so there were huge latencies,” said Devol. “I started looking and found that if we compressed the data before sending it to the cloud, we would be able to work with it without the backlog.”
It worked beautifully.
“They’re doing a great job,” said Johnson. “I really like how they can get up to speed quickly with what we’re doing and apply the research and problems they’re working on at Tech to our problems in manufacturing.”
It’s a win-win relationship that promises to deliver benefits to both institutions for years to come.
About Moog Inc.
Moog Inc. is a worldwide designer, manufacturer, and integrator of precision control components and systems. Moog’s high-performance systems control military and commercial aircraft, satellites and space vehicles, launch vehicles, missiles, automated industrial machinery, and marine and medical equipment. Additional information about the company can be found at www.moog.com.
Story by David Terraso
]]>The coordinator of this education and work force development (EWD) program is Billyde Brown, Ph.D., a senior research faculty and EWD director at GTMI. Brown's role is to create strong partnerships among industry, government, and academia in manufacturing research, development, and deployment, while acquiring and managing sponsored research programs.
Current and past students have performed fundamental research projects in advanced manufacturing topic areas such as additive and hybrid manufacturing, composite joining and repair, cell therapy manufacturing, robotic machining, integrated computational materials engineering, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and data analytics for adaptive manufacturing, and nanoscale 3D printing.
REVAMP’s major program activities include a seminar series on a broad array of manufacturing-related topics by Georgia Tech faculty and graduate students, external manufacturing plant tours (e.g. Kia Motors, Hyundai Mobis, Lockheed Martin, Textron Specialized Vehicles), experiential learning classes on the fundamentals of evidence-based entrepreneurship provided by Georgia Tech’s VentureLab and Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), a panel discussion from successful minority business enterprise clients of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Center in Atlanta, and three oral presentations delivered by students to demonstrate their research progress.
A new program element started in 2019 that offered a student veteran orientation, panel discussions, luncheon events, and tours of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) facilities both on the main campus and Marietta locations that were facilitated together with GTRI veteran faculty and the Georgia Tech Veterans Resource Center director. REVAMP is one of the premier REU programs in the nation for advanced manufacturing research and entrepreneurship training for undergraduate student veterans.
This year’s REVAMP-REU 10-week summer program was held from May 18 – July 24 at GTMI located on the Georgia Tech main campus. Students worked under the supervision of different faculty mentors to complete a research project centered on cutting-edge manufacturing science and technology. They also received entrepreneurship training by conducting customer discovery interviews to support a hypothetical product related to their research. As a bonus, eligible students received on-campus housing, $500 towards travel, and a $5,000 stipend.
Congratulations to these student graduates (in bold text) of the summer 2021 REVAMP-REU program and their faculty mentors:
Elizabeth Spahn
Faculty mentor: Tequila Harris, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Formation of Gradient Thin Film using Scalable Coating Method”
Jabari Acre
Faculty mentor: Sourabh Saha, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Two Photon Additive Manufacturing”
Anthony Whylie
Faculty mentor: Aaron Stebner, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Optimization of Process Parameters for Additively Manufacturing Nickel Titanium (NiTi)”
Pedro Alcolea
Faculty mentor: Krishnendu Roy, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Project: “Advanced Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Manufacturing
Allison Jung
Faculty mentor: Yan Wang, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Optimization of 3D Printing Head
Jacob Totri
Faculty mentors: Keat Ghee Ong & Bob Guldberg, professors at the University of Oregon
Project 1: “Magnetoelastic Sensors for Real-Time Tracking of Cell Growth”
Faculty mentor: Chuck Zhang, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Project 2: “Printed Sensors for In-situ Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Aircraft Structures”
Nathan Janda
Faculty mentor: Shreyes Melkote, professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Robotics and Hybrid Manufacturing”
Devon Phelps
Faculty mentor: Raghu Pucha, Ph.D., principal lecturer in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Project: “Modeling of Hybrid Composites with Nanofillers
More information about the Research Experience for Student Veterans in Advanced Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship (REVAMP) summer program can be found here.
]]>As Melkote assumes his appointment, Georgia Tech commends George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Regents Professor Surya Kalidindi’s service as the inaugural interim executive director during the Novelis Innovation Hub’s first two years.
Since its establishment in 2019, the Novelis Innovation Hub has set a bold vision to foster world-class partnerships and collaborated with the Institute on battery research, electronics, robotics, high-throughput research, and additive manufacturing.
Advancing Mobility and Sustainability Goals
With additional investment and a permanent leadership appointment to guide the Innovation Hub, Novelis hopes to further advance its position in the aluminum industry through innovation in new technology and application domains, including sustainable mobility, electronics, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain.
“Sustainability is an important element of what Novelis wants to accomplish,” said Melkote, noting Novelis’s target to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2026 and to be net carbon neutral by 2050. “Georgia Tech is focused on a lot of basic science, technologies, and business practices relevant to enabling a more sustainable enterprise.”
Melkote is uniquely qualified for the role, having led the Georgia Tech-Boeing Strategic University Partnership for the last eight years while serving as associate director of Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). He facilitated the establishment of the Boeing Manufacturing Development Center, an on-campus lab where students and faculty regularly collaborate with a resident Boeing engineer.
“I see this as an opportunity to leverage my experience and knowledge from the Boeing partnership and to expand it. Novelis is engaged in the entire lifecycle of innovation, from early-stage basic research, to applied research and commercialization that will impact society at large,” said Melkote, who also holds the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professorship in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. He will work closely with Dr. Raj Gopalaswamy, Novelis’ global technology director for new domains, who will lead Novelis’ engagement with Georgia Tech.
“To keep advancing the aluminum industry toward the circular economy, we must increase the pace of innovation and develop new solutions that demonstrate aluminum’s superior sustainability benefits,” said Gopalaswamy. “Through research partnerships with world-leading institutions like Georgia Tech, we can fulfill the growing needs for aluminum applications that help our customers meet their sustainability goals faster and more efficiently.”
Melkote agreed, adding, “What’s exciting is that Novelis wants to look at the cutting edge of research and see how they can leverage that knowledge to innovate and develop new products.”
“We’re thrilled to have Professor Melkote take on this leadership position in our growing collaboration with Novelis,” said Julia Kubanek, vice president for Interdisciplinary Research at Georgia Tech. “He brings substantial experience to this new role, having built Georgia Tech’s partnership with Boeing and served as associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute for several years.”
Kubanek added that Melkote is well positioned to help Novelis broaden its relationship with Georgia Tech faculty and students, while engaging in key research areas to accelerate Novelis’s product innovation. Additionally, the Innovation Hub intends to not only fund research, but also establish a Scholars Program to fund research fellowships for Georgia Tech graduate and undergraduate students.
“Novelis’s philanthropy commitment allows us to innovate on the educational front, where we can make investments that benefit both Georgia Tech and our educational mission,” said Melkote. “In doing so, we help train the next generation of engineers who will go on to work for companies like Novelis that are committed to sustainability.”
***
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 40,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
]]>Housed in the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI), the Center incorporates three university research teams from Georgia Tech, Oakland University (Detroit, Mich., U.S.) and University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). Each research and development partner are said to bring decades of composite and hybrid materials research focus in specific industries: Georgia Tech in aerospace, Oakland University in automotive composite systems and UT in infrastructure and medical devices.
“The study of the interface between composite, metallic and other electronic materials is really the future of manufacturing,” says Ben Wang, executive director of GTMI. “The Center amplifies the thought leadership of Georgia Tech advancement in composites. It also puts us in the nexus of three areas: advanced manufacturing, innovative materials and data analytics.”
Center director Chuck Zhang, Harold E. Smalley Professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), will drive CHMI’s vision to transform the current labor-intensive, experience-based joining and repair practice into fast, automated and reliable processes.
“Using advanced computation, experimental, data analytics and digital techniques and tools, we hope to reduce by 50% the overall cost, cycle time and variation of these processes in the next 10 years,” Zhang says.
Read the full article in CompositesWorld, August 2021.
Complete article also posted at Georgia Tech - written by Anne Sargent
]]>The panel’s topic: “Can the Biden Administration Improve the Manufacturing Sector?”
Other panelists included: David Cicilline, member of the U.S. House of Representatives; Monica Gorman, deputy assistant secretary, manufacturing industry & analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce; Elisabeth Reynolds, special assistant to the President for manufacturing and economic development, National Economic Council, the White House; Darrell West, vice president and director governance studies, the Brookings Institution; and John Hazen White, Jr., executive chairman, Taco Family of Companies Trustee, the Brookings Institution.
During the panel’s second session, Wang emphasized, “advanced manufacturing is foundational to our [nation’s] economic prosperity, resilience and the national security.” He was previously involved with President Obama administration’s advanced manufacturing partnership from 2011 to 2013.
“Building a strong manufacturing base in the U.S. is a national imperative,” said Wang. “We know that technology-based innovation is the dominant driver of economic growth in the 21st century. Our national security, standard of living, and rebuilding the middle class in our society all depends on a strong globally competitive manufacturing base.”
Wang stressed the need to have a vibrant innovation value chain tightly coupled with a strong manufacturing ecosystem. “We cannot separate innovation from manufacturing,” said Wang.
“Some policymakers believed that we could continue to innovate and leave manufacturing to other nations. As it turned out, not only did we lose our ability to produce high tech products, we began to lose our ability to innovate.”
“If we want to compete well globally, we must maintain both the technological innovation leadership and advance manufacturing leadership [in the United States],” said Wang.
The need was also stressed to support small and medium-sized manufacturers who contribute to the nation’s supply chain and overall GDP in a significant way, but lack resources to evaluate and adopt new, state of the art manufacturing technologies.
National and state Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP) can play a critical role in helping these smaller entities with technology adoption.
According to Wang, regional ecosystem actors must work together to identify common manufacturing challenges and common opportunities. And then co-innovate around those common challenges and opportunities. This type of regional approach will push local companies to rethink how they should interact with one another and help ensure that benefits are shared by all.
Ben Wang’s entire presentation and the full panel discussion which was sponsored and moderated by the Brookings Institution can be found here.
]]>White is the Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics, and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech.
“When demand is smooth and supply is balanced with demand, supply chains run well and inexpensively,” said White.
However, covid has caused dramatic drops and increases in demand, thus adding to supply disruptions. A rapid recovery in the United States has helped spike that dramatic increase.
In addition to dramatic demand flucuation, the supply side of this was also interrupted with shipping workers in China contracting covid, reducing the capacity to move goods out of major Chinese ports. With the dramatic rise in demand, congestion has been causing further delays even though the supply chains have plenty of capacity according to White.
White says some of this lack of smooth supply and demand is self-inflicted, “container ships have gotten much bigger, naturally causing surges all over the freight transportation system – ocean carriers, rail, and trucks. The tariffs kicking in caused ‘front loading,’ which we’re seeing now to ensure shelves will be stocked during the holidays at the end of the calendar year.”
“We’re finding out that the global freight transportation system is less resilient than originally thought,” said White. “My prediction for 2021 is there will be toys on the shelves for the Christmas holidays, but perhaps not as many toys and their prices may be higher.”
Chelsea White, along with other experts, were recently interviewed by CBS News in Atlanta, Georgia. You can view White’s interview and learn more about the supply chain crisis topic here: CBS46 News, Supply Chain Crisis Forcing Shoppers to Buy Early.
]]>“We help companies overcome barriers by applying researched technology and Georgia Tech's expertise to the problem,” said Andrew Dugenske, director of the Factory Information Systems Center and principal research engineer at GTMI. He just completed a major effort with Steelcase, a century-plus-old company that designs workspaces around the people who use them.
“We like to say we are students of the workplace,” said Paul Noll, senior researcher at Steelcase. “We watch how people work. We study their behaviors. We study the activity. We learn, and then we build our products and services to support what we see.”
Steelcase approached GTMI, Noll said, not only because of the Institute’s superior reputation in manufacturing but also because they’ve found everyone at Tech has a natural curiosity for both the task and the culture of their partners.
“It was very much the professional work environment at Tech as well as the expertise,” added Edward Vander Bilt, who leads the partnership at Steelcase.
Merging Expertise with Technology
Fundamental to their relationship is the Industrial Internet of Things, a term for using the information from the various sensors, computers, and robotic devices a company uses in manufacturing, to refine, even redefine the way the assembly line operates.
GTMI worked with Steelcase on an array of projects designed to improve the intelligence, responsiveness, and adaptability of their manufacturing lines. In one endeavor, they improved assembly lines by embedding them with Georgia Tech’s digital architecture. The digital systems move information from the lines into the cloud, where it can be processed. Then Steelcase uses the data to decide how to alter manufacturing processes.
“One of the big challenges of manufacturing is that some companies have legacy equipment, so it can't easily transfer the information about its activities into the cloud," said GTMI’s Dugenske. “We have developed a method to retrofit these lines so companies can use the Industrial Internet of Things to their advantage.”
Now the company has expanded this capability to all its lines throughout North America.
“We’ve been using our digital architecture with several companies, and it’s worked really well for them,” added Dugenske.
Collaboration is the Name of the Game
Helping a firm improve elements as indelible as production processes isn’t something that can be accomplished after just a few high-level meetings. It’s a mission that requires understanding the wisdom of employees working on the lines.
“It was extremely collaborative,” said Vander Bilt. “Andrew Dugenske visited all of our factories in North America, observing and talking with the plant managers and leaders in a whole variety of disciplines to better understand how we operate as a company.”
And when it came time to implement the findings, Dugenske headed back on the road to help put those recommendations into practice.
“It was quite intense,” added Vander Bilt, who said that one of the most valuable elements came from working with the graduate and undergraduate students.
Students built and installed prototypes in the factories and worked with Steelcase’s engineers to adjust to the conditions of each location. Vander Bilt said this gave the company high confidence that the solutions were the right ones.
Working at the Intersection of People and Technology
Steelcase and Georgia Tech have been working together since 2005 on projects around working environments and merging the physical and digital worlds.
“From the beginning of our relationship, they've described themselves as designing the future of how people interact with each other,” said Beth Mynatt, executive director of Tech’s Institute for People and Technology (IPaT).
Now, at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, that future looks a little different than it did at the start of 2020, and remote working looks like it will be part of everyday life, added Mynatt.
Siva Jayaraman, IPaT’s strategic partnerships director, introduced Steelcase to GTMI. He has been working with the company for years on combining the physical and digital worlds through projects like telemedicine booths and spaces fostering collaboration and anonymity to help workers avoid the sometimes stultifying norms of business hierarchies.
“They’re trying to understand the evolving needs of workers and the new modalities, whether that’s remote, in the office, or both," said Jayaraman. “Nobody knows clearly what that is going to look like, but we are helping them to understand it.”
Noll said he values the opportunity to explore the emerging thinking around human-centered technology that happens at GTMI, IPaT, and elsewhere at the Institute.
“Technology is integral to the work, but at the end of the day, we're still human, and we want to be sure the decisions we make about bringing technology into our work are smart, responsible, and human-centered,” said Noll. “That’s why we like working with Tech.”
And when Noll says he likes working with Tech, he means it. Steelcase is also collaborating with the Scheller School of Business, the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines, the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and the School of Aerospace Engineering, to name a few.
It may be the Institute’s exceptional reputation that brings some companies to engage. Still, in the end, it's the quality of the people that solidifies those relationships for years to come.
“We’ve found the more we invest in our relationships, the collaboration, the cooperation, the energy, expertise, and engagement, the more we value that partnership,” said Vander Bilt.
In this case, Steelcase had a hunch their manufacturing lines held information that would help them become more agile and efficient. And from their history working with Georgia Tech, they had a hunch that GTMI had the best people to do it. They were right.
Writer: David Terraso
Media Contact:
Walter Rich
Research Communications, Georgia Tech
walter.rich@research.gatech.edu
]]>
In a study published this week in Advanced Materials, engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Irvine (UCI) describe the creation of a new class of mechanical metamaterials that delocalize deformations to prevent failure.
The team turned to tensegrity, a century-old design principle in which isolated rigid bars are integrated into a flexible mesh of tethers to produce very lightweight, self-tensioning truss structures.
Professor Julian Rimoli, faculty member in the School fo Aerospace Enginering and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, and his team were developing structural configurations for planetary landers when they discovered that tensegrity-based vehicles could withstand severe deformation – or buckling – of its individual components without collapsing, something never observed in other structural solutions.
“This gave us the idea of creating metamaterials that exploit the same principle, which led us to the discovery of the first-ever 3D tensegrity metamaterial,” explained Rimoli, aerospace engineering professor and co-author of the study.
Starting with 950 nanometer-diameter members, the team used a sophisticated direct laser writing technique to generate elementary cells sized between 10 and 20 microns. These were built up into eight-unit supercells that could be assembled with others to make a continuous structure.
The researchers then conducted computational modeling and laboratory experiments and observed that the constructs exhibited uniquely homogenous deformation behavior free from localized overstress or underuse.
The team showed that the new metamaterials feature a 25-fold enhancement in deformability and an orders-of-magnitude increase in energy absorption over state-of-the-art lattice arrangements.
“Tensegrity structures have been studied for decades, particularly in the context of architectural design, and they have recently been found in a number of biological systems,” said senior co-author Lorenzo Valdevit, a UCI professor of materials science and engineering who directs the Architected Materials Group.
“Proper periodic tensegrity lattices were theoretically conceptualized only a few years ago by our co-author Julian Rimoli, but through this project we have achieved the first physical implementation and performance demonstration of these metamaterials.”
Made possible by novel additive manufacturing techniques, extremely lightweight yet strong and rigid conventional structures based on micrometer-scale trusses and lattices have been of keen interest to engineers for their potential to replace heavier, solid substances in aircraft, wind turbine blades and a host of other applications.
Though possessing many desirable qualities, these advanced materials can – like any load-bearing structure – still be susceptible to catastrophic destruction if overloaded.
“In familiar nano-architected materials, failure usually starts with a highly localized deformation,” said first author Jens Bauer, a UCI research scientist in mechanical and aerospace engineering. “Shear bands, surface cracks, and buckling of walls and struts in one area can cause a chain reaction leading to the collapse of an entire structure.”
He explained that truss lattices begin to collapse when compressive members buckle, since those in tension cannot. Typically, these parts are interconnected at common nodes, meaning that once one fails, damage can quickly spread throughout the entire structure.
In contrast, the compressive members of tensegrity architectures form closed loops, isolated from one another and only connected by tensile members. Therefore, instability of compressive members can only propagate through tensile load paths, which – provided they do not rupture – cannot experience instability. Push down on a tensegrity system and the whole structure compresses uniformly, preventing localized damage that would otherwise cause catastrophic failure.
Tensegrity Metamaterial
According to Valdevit, who’s also a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCI, tensegrity metamaterials demonstrate an unprecedented combination of failure resistance, extreme energy absorption, deformability and strength, outperforming all other types of state-of-the-art lightweight architectures.
“This study provides important groundwork for design of superior engineering systems, from reusable impact protection systems to adaptive load-bearing structures,” he said.
This research was made possible by funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation, as well as research conducted by Georgia Tech aerospace engineering graduate student, Julie Kraus and Cameron Crook, a UCI graduate student in materials science and engineering.
]]>Water separation by evaporators is effective but uses large amounts of energy. That’s significant given that the United States currently is the world’s second-largest producer of paper and paperboard. The country’s approximately 100 paper mills are estimated to use about 0.2 quads (a quad is a quadrillion BTUs) of energy per year for water recycling, making it one of the most energy-intensive chemical processes. All industrial energy consumption in the United States in 2019 totaled 26.4 quads, according to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
An alternative is to deploy energy-efficient filtration membranes to recycle pulping wastewater. But conventional polymer membranes — commercially available for the past several decades — cannot withstand operation in the harsh conditions and high chemical concentrations found in pulping wastewater and many other industrial applications.
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have found a method to engineer membranes made from graphene oxide (GO), a chemically resistant material based on carbon, so they can work effectively in industrial applications.
“GO has remarkable characteristics that allow water to get through it much faster than through conventional membranes,” said Sankar Nair, professor, Simmons Faculty Fellow, and associate chair for Industry Outreach in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “But a longstanding question has been how to make GO membranes work in realistic conditions with high chemical concentrations so that they could become industrially relevant.”
Using new fabrication techniques, the researchers can control the microstructure of GO membranes in a way that allows them to continue filtering out water effectively even at higher chemical concentrations.
The research, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy-RAPID Institute, an industrial consortium of forest product companies, and Georgia Tech’s Renewable Bioproducts Institute, was reported recently in the journal Nature Sustainability. Many industries that use large amounts of water in their production processes may stand to benefit from using these GO nanofiltration membranes.
Nair, his colleagues Meisha Shofner and Scott Sinquefield, and their research team began this work five years ago. They knew that GO membranes had long been recognized for their great potential in desalination, but only in a lab setting. “No one had credibly demonstrated that these membranes can perform in realistic industrial water streams and operating conditions,” Nair said. “New types of GO structures were needed that displayed high filtration performance and mechanical stability while retaining the excellent chemical stability associated with GO materials.”
To create such new structures, the team conceived the idea of sandwiching large aromatic dye molecules in between GO sheets. Researchers Zhongzhen Wang, Chen Ma, and Chunyan Xu found that these molecules strongly bound themselves to the GO sheets in multiple ways, including stacking one molecule on another. The result was the creation of “gallery” spaces between the GO sheets, with the dye molecules acting as “pillars.” Water molecules easily filter through the narrow spaces between the pillars, while chemicals present in the water are selectively blocked based on their size and shape. The researchers could tune the membrane microstructure vertically and laterally, allowing them to control both the height of the gallery and the amount of space between the pillars.
The team then tested the GO nanofiltration membranes with multiple water streams containing dissolved chemicals and showed the capability of the membranes to reject chemicals by size and shape, even at high concentrations. Ultimately, they scaled up their new GO membranes to sheets that are up to 4 feet in length and demonstrated their operation for more than 750 hours in a real feed stream derived from a paper mill.
Nair expressed excitement for the potential of GO membrane nanofiltration to generate cost savings in paper mill energy usage, which could improve the industry’s sustainability. “These membranes can save the paper industry more than 30% in energy costs of water separation,” he said.
Georgia Tech continues to work with its industrial partners to apply the GO membrane technology for pulp and paper applications.
This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Institute (#DE-EE007888-5-5), an industrial consortium comprising Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, SAPPI, and WestRock, and the Georgia Tech Renewable Bioproducts Institute. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.
CITATION: Zhongzhen Wang, et al., “Graphene Oxide Nanofiltration Membranes for Desalination under Realistic Conditions.” (Nature Sustainability, 2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00674-3.
]]>Research News
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The project aims to create the first simulation-based supply chain model for the rapidly evolving and future facing TEMPs industry, to minimize manufacturing and logistics costs and risks, incorporate Department of Defense (DOD) and other stakeholders’ perspectives into supply chain modeling, inform standards development, and support workforce development.
“Having a supply chain model will be instrumental in helping new and existing companies plan for the most efficient process flows, resource usage, and cost savings,” said Stephanie Robichaud, technical project manager with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute. “Many startup companies do not realize some of the intricacies in managing their supply chain and many established companies realize the importance of it after experiencing inefficiencies. Having a model that these companies can use will help advance the field of tissue engineering as they plan for scale-up.”
According to Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) and professor in the Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, “hundreds if not thousands of patients are waiting for tissues and organs in order to have a normal healthy life. Our project is a bold initiative to democratize distribution of replacement tissues and organs by streamlining national supply chains. This project will develop simulation-based tools to enhance the efficiency and resilience of the TEMPs supply chain, making these personalized medicines more affordable and more accessible.”
The growth of the TEMP industry is going to change the supply chain of medical tissues disruptively. To embrace this change, a system-level decision support tool is essential for adopting more cost-effective manufacturing processes and making better investment decisions. To ensure successful commercialization and adoption of this new supply chain decision support tool, the project team will engage multiple stakeholders including DOD, government, regulatory bodies, standards setting organizations, patients, industry, academia, policy experts, education and workforce development experts.
Georgia Tech project leads include Ben Wang, Ph.D., Chelsea C. White III, Ph.D, and Kan Wang, Ph.D. Ben Wang is Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems, professor in the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. In addition, he serves as executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). Chelsea C. White III is the Schneider National Chair in Transportation and Logistics and professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Kan Wang is lead researcher of additive manufacturing in the Bio-Engineering Research Laboratory at GTMI.
Leading the project for Akron Biotech is Ezequiel Zylberberg, Ph.D, who is vice president of product development and planning. According to Ezequiel, “the future of regenerative medicine depends on more than our ability to address the scientific challenges of generating the next generation of advanced therapies. Advancing these novel treatments in a way that is scalable will require significant advances in manufacturing innovation. We are eager to collaborate with our colleagues at Georgia Tech, at BioFab USA, and throughout the regenerative medicine industry to confront the challenge of scalability and supply chain resilience through this modelling effort.”
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the nation’s leading research universities — a university that embraces change while continually Creating the Next. The next generation of leaders. The next breakthrough startup company. The next lifesaving medical treatment.
Georgia Tech provides a focused, technologically based education to more than 36,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The Institute has many nationally recognized programs, all top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked among the nation’s top five public universities by U.S. News & World Report. It offers degrees through the Colleges of Computing, Design, Engineering, Sciences, the Scheller College of Business, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business. https://www.gatech.edu/
About Akron Biotech
Akron is a leading materials manufacturer and services provider to the regenerative medicine industry, accelerating the development and commercialization of advanced therapies. Founded in 2006, Akron is an ISO 13485-certified company that operates in line with cGMPs and international standards, enabling advanced therapy developers to de-risk their supply chains and facilitate regulatory approval. The company's unique business model emphasizes knowledge, flexibility and unparalleled service—from development through to commercialization. For more information, please visit www.akronbiotech.com.
About BioFabUSA
BioFabUSA, is a DOD-funded Manufacturing USA Innovation Institute (MII) sustained by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) is a non-profit organization located in Manchester, New Hampshire. ARMI's mission is to make practical the scalable, consistent, cost-effective manufacturing of tissue engineered medical products and tissue-related technologies, to benefit existing industries and grow new ones. https://www.armiusa.org/
Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
813 Ferst Drive, NW
Atlanta, GA 30332 USA
Media Relations Contact: Walter Rich (walter.rich@research.gatech.edu)
]]>Billyde Brown, the project's principal investigator, explained, “we are addressing this challenge by working with BioFabUSA, our partners at the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering, the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing, as well as Rockwell Automation, to develop a fully integrated, wireless, 3D-printed sensor ‘capsule’ to be used for in-situ multiplexed monitoring of critical quality attributes (CQAs). The targeted CQAs include pH, glucose, lactate, and select secreted biomarker concentrations from human mesenchymal stem cells – one of the most common cell types used in tissue engineering.”
In both biopharmaceutical and regenerative medicine industries, an urgent need remains for in-line sensor technology for quantitative real-time bioprocess monitoring and control. Unfortunately, many key CQAs are still monitored off-line or at-line using destructive testing or technologies of significant complexity and cost. In at-line measurement, the sample is typically withdrawn from a single location in the bioreactor and analyzed in close proximity to the process stream, whereas in off-line measurements, the sample is taken to a laboratory and the results are usually not returned in a timely manner for process control.
The Georgia Tech team has previously developed potentiometric sensors based on an extended gate field-effect-transistor (FET) topology whereby a separate gold electrode surface is functionalized with an analyte-specific layer that selectively reacts or binds with the chemical or biomolecule of interest. The charge associated with the attached analyte results in a potential change of the gold electrode. These sensors have previously been used to detect chemicals such as pH and lactate, as well as specific proteins/antibodies in a laboratory environment with accuracy and dynamic range equivalent to Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). One of the unique aspects of this system is that each sensor surface can be individually functionalized permitting multiplexed (simultaneous) detection of almost any number of different chemicals/biomolecules of interest.
In this project, the Georgia Tech team will integrate these sensors into a “capsule” device smaller than the size of a golf-ball and packaged in a 3D-printed waterproof and biocompatible polymer. The capsule will contain a multiplexed sensor chip, with sealed opening to facilitate interaction between the sensor chip and tissue culture environment, Li-polymer battery, and electronics for micro-control, data acquisition and wireless transmission of sensor data to the smartphone of a technician in charge of monitoring the bioreactor process. In addition, Georgia Tech will work with Rockwell to develop an IoT platform such that other permitted internet-connected devices can securely access the data via a cloud server. Another unique aspect of this technology is that multiple “capsules” could be deployed within a stirred tank bioreactor during high volume production of medical products with the ability to move efficiently throughout the bioreactor due to the mechanical forces of the impellors. This would allow for unprecedented simultaneous measurements at various points within the bioreactor, giving accurate representations of the homogeneity of key parameters over time thus achieving in-situ monitoring of CQAs with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Georgia Tech project leads include Billyde Brown, Ph.D., Kan Wang, Ph.D., and Eric Vogel, Ph.D. Brown is research faculty and director of manufacturing education programs at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). Wang is lead researcher of additive manufacturing in the Bio-Engineering Research Laboratory at GTMI. Vogel is a professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering and deputy director for the Institute of Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech. The Georgia Tech project leads will also receive support and assistance from Carolyn Yeago, Ph.D., and Krishnendu Roy, Ph.D. whom are directors of the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing (MC3M). Leading the project for Rockwell Automation is Wayne Charest, who also serves as a liaison between Rockwell and BioFabUSA.
“Being able to obtain real-time data on relevant biomarkers will be critical in advancing the field of tissue engineering,” said Stephanie Robichaud, technical project manager with the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute. “Getting this important information and being able to react to it quickly will result in more consistent manufacturing of a final product that meets its critical quality attributes.”
About the Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, is one of the nation’s leading research universities — a university that embraces change while continually Creating the Next. The next generation of leaders. The next breakthrough startup company. The next lifesaving medical treatment.
Georgia Tech provides a focused, technologically based education to more than 36,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The Institute has many nationally recognized programs, all top-ranked by peers and publications alike, and is ranked among the nation’s top five public universities by U.S. News & World Report. It offers degrees through the Colleges of Computing, Design, Engineering, Sciences, the Scheller College of Business, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech has more than 100 centers focused on interdisciplinary research that consistently contribute vital research and innovation to American government, industry, and business. https://www.gatech.edu/
About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation is the largest company in the world that is dedicated to industrial automation and information and is committed to enabling the next generation of smart manufacturing. Rockwell’s mission is to improve the quality of life by making the world more productive and sustainable.
https://www.rockwellautomation.com
About BioFabUSA
BioFabUSA is a DOD-funded Manufacturing USA Innovation Institute (MII) sustained by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), a non-profit organization located in Manchester, New Hampshire. ARMI's mission is make practical the scalable, consistent, cost-effective manufacturing of tissue engineered medical products and tissue-related technologies, to benefit existing industries and grow new ones. https://www.armiusa.org/
Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
813 Ferst Drive, NW
Atlanta, GA 30332 USA
Media Relations Contact: Walter Rich (walter.rich@research.gatech.edu)
]]>The people behind the mics at the Georgia Tech Sci Fi Lab are deep in discussion. It’s Two-Minute Madness time on the WREK radio show. The hosts and special guests speed-talk through mentions of Dr. Who, iPhones, Lance Armstrong, Luke Skywalker, Neanderthals, the Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Terminator and zombies — all in the quest of determining, what, specifically, makes something a cyborg.
“We can say that this week's topic is ‘cyborgs,’ for example, but that can mean different things to different people: from Darth Vader, to Google Glass, to Daft Punk,” said Adam Le Doux, program manager and a host of the show. When not on the air, he’s a computational media major, a joint studies program between the College of Computing and the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. LMC is one of the coordinators of Sci Fi Lab along with the Georgia Tech Library and WREK 91.1 FM.
Since 2006, Sci Fi Lab has taken to the radio waves to discuss all things science fiction. Every Thursday at 7 p.m. a group of culture studies researchers and computer thinkers gather to discuss the spectrum of science fiction. The show has been picking up traction with the science fiction community, both locally and nationally.
"Six years into the program, we find that now we're approached by authors and artists who want to appear on the show, and we've even been studied in the University of Liverpool's grad program in Science Fiction Studies as an example of living science fiction," said Lisa Yaszek, a professor in LMC and a behind-the-scenes Sci Fi Lab organizer.
October’s guests included players from the Atlanta Radio Theater Co., the director of an independent zombie apocalypse film, Georgia Tech computing professors and actor Frank Langella from “Robot and Frank.”
“We try to cover the best in current and popular science fiction from all media — literature, film, television — and we try to tie that in with the real science and research that occurs on campus every day,” said Justin Ellis, who shares hosting duties with Le Doux.
Ellis serves as associate producer for the show and works at the Georgia Tech Library. His time on the development committee for the science fiction collection connected him with Yaszek. She thought there was a strong role for the library to provide academic foundations for the show, so Ellis signed on.
“I think the fact that we try and tackle both the ‘pop’ side — literature and entertainment — and the real science, research side is one way to bridge the gap between the sciences and the liberal arts,” said Ellis. “Many of the topics discussed in Sci-Fi literature and media are extrapolated from, or have some root in, real science.”
At the start of two-minute madness during the cyborg hour, Ellis shares his enthusiasm for wearable computing. He muses that he would be game for a cybernetic implant in his arm.
Le Doux quickly counters that that could be problematic in a light saber battle.
It’s a discussion that underscores how Le Doux describes the show, as “a living laboratory for the intersection of liberal arts and science.” It’s a concept with which he identifies personally.
“My studies are evenly split between computer science and the liberal arts — communication, culture, design — so this kind of cross-pollination is something I'm into,” said Le Doux.
It’s also something that’s unique to Georgia Tech and its students. Sci Fi Lab is one way to expand that intersection beyond the campus and into the greater community.
“In the wider culture we tend to have a gap between the arts and the sciences, but both sides would gain a lot if they worked more closely together, and I like to think there is an increasing awareness of this,” said Le Doux. “I think what makes the Sci Fi Lab unique are the combined perspectives of the participants.”
During the cyborg hour, Ellis interviewed Georgia Tech faculty about their work. In a telling demonstration, Thad Starner, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, challenged Clint Zeagler, a research scientist in the College of Architecture, to a picture race. Starner tapped his Google Glasses and secured a photo nearly instantaneously. Zeagler was forced to wait for his phone to turn on before launching a photo app.
Then they talked about getting inspiration from fashion design and Terminator movies. The intersection of arts and science is unavoidable. Sci Fi Lab serves as the petri dish for deeper investigation.
Sci Fi Lab airs weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m., WREK 91.1 FM. Archived shows can be found at www.wrek.org/scifilab. Photos courtesy Jason Ellis.
]]>The people behind the mics at the Georgia Tech Sci Fi Lab are deep in discussion. It’s Two-Minute Madness time on the WREK radio show. The hosts and special guests speed-talk through mentions of Dr. Who, iPhones, Lance Armstrong, Luke Skywalker, Neanderthals, the Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Terminator and zombies — all in the quest of determining, what, specifically, makes something a cyborg.
“We can say that this week's topic is ‘cyborgs,’ for example, but that can mean different things to different people: from Darth Vader, to Google Glass, to Daft Punk,” said Adam Le Doux, program manager and a host of the show. When not on the air, he’s a computational media major, a joint studies program between the College of Computing and the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. LMC is one of the coordinators of Sci Fi Lab along with the Georgia Tech Library and WREK 91.1 FM.
Since 2006, Sci Fi Lab has taken to the radio waves to discuss all things science fiction. Every Thursday at 7 p.m. a group of culture studies researchers and computer thinkers gather to discuss the spectrum of science fiction. The show has been picking up traction with the science fiction community, both locally and nationally.
"Six years into the program, we find that now we're approached by authors and artists who want to appear on the show, and we've even been studied in the University of Liverpool's grad program in Science Fiction Studies as an example of living science fiction," said Lisa Yaszek, a professor in LMC and a behind-the-scenes Sci Fi Lab organizer.
October’s guests included players from the Atlanta Radio Theater Co., the director of an independent zombie apocalypse film, Georgia Tech computing professors and actor Frank Langella from “Robot and Frank.”
“We try to cover the best in current and popular science fiction from all media — literature, film, television — and we try to tie that in with the real science and research that occurs on campus every day,” said Justin Ellis, who shares hosting duties with Le Doux.
Ellis serves as associate producer for the show and works at the Georgia Tech Library. His time on the development committee for the science fiction collection connected him with Yaszek. She thought there was a strong role for the library to provide academic foundations for the show, so Ellis signed on.
“I think the fact that we try and tackle both the ‘pop’ side — literature and entertainment — and the real science, research side is one way to bridge the gap between the sciences and the liberal arts,” said Ellis. “Many of the topics discussed in Sci-Fi literature and media are extrapolated from, or have some root in, real science.”
At the start of two-minute madness during the cyborg hour, Ellis shares his enthusiasm for wearable computing. He muses that he would be game for a cybernetic implant in his arm.
Le Doux quickly counters that that could be problematic in a light saber battle.
It’s a discussion that underscores how Le Doux describes the show, as “a living laboratory for the intersection of liberal arts and science.” It’s a concept with which he identifies personally.
“My studies are evenly split between computer science and the liberal arts — communication, culture, design — so this kind of cross-pollination is something I'm into,” said Le Doux.
It’s also something that’s unique to Georgia Tech and its students. Sci Fi Lab is one way to expand that intersection beyond the campus and into the greater community.
“In the wider culture we tend to have a gap between the arts and the sciences, but both sides would gain a lot if they worked more closely together, and I like to think there is an increasing awareness of this,” said Le Doux. “I think what makes the Sci Fi Lab unique are the combined perspectives of the participants.”
During the cyborg hour, Ellis interviewed Georgia Tech faculty about their work. In a telling demonstration, Thad Starner, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, challenged Clint Zeagler, a research scientist in the College of Architecture, to a picture race. Starner tapped his Google Glasses and secured a photo nearly instantaneously. Zeagler was forced to wait for his phone to turn on before launching a photo app.
Then they talked about getting inspiration from fashion design and Terminator movies. The intersection of arts and science is unavoidable. Sci Fi Lab serves as the petri dish for deeper investigation.
Sci Fi Lab airs weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m., WREK 91.1 FM. Archived shows can be found at www.wrek.org/scifilab. Photos courtesy Jason Ellis.
]]>The people behind the mics at the Georgia Tech Sci Fi Lab are deep in discussion. It’s Two-Minute Madness time on the WREK radio show. The hosts and special guests speed-talk through mentions of Dr. Who, iPhones, Lance Armstrong, Luke Skywalker, Neanderthals, the Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Terminator and zombies — all in the quest of determining, what, specifically, makes something a cyborg.
“We can say that this week's topic is ‘cyborgs,’ for example, but that can mean different things to different people: from Darth Vader, to Google Glass, to Daft Punk,” said Adam Le Doux, program manager and a host of the show. When not on the air, he’s a computational media major, a joint studies program between the College of Computing and the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) in Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. LMC is one of the coordinators of Sci Fi Lab along with the Georgia Tech Library and WREK 91.1 FM.
Since 2006, Sci Fi Lab has taken to the radio waves to discuss all things science fiction. Every Thursday at 7 p.m. a group of culture studies researchers and computer thinkers gather to discuss the spectrum of science fiction. The show has been picking up traction with the science fiction community, both locally and nationally.
"Six years into the program, we find that now we're approached by authors and artists who want to appear on the show, and we've even been studied in the University of Liverpool's grad program in Science Fiction Studies as an example of living science fiction," said Lisa Yaszek, a professor in LMC and a behind-the-scenes Sci Fi Lab organizer.
October’s guests included players from the Atlanta Radio Theater Co., the director of an independent zombie apocalypse film, Georgia Tech computing professors and actor Frank Langella from “Robot and Frank.”
“We try to cover the best in current and popular science fiction from all media — literature, film, television — and we try to tie that in with the real science and research that occurs on campus every day,” said Justin Ellis, who shares hosting duties with Le Doux.
Ellis serves as associate producer for the show and works at the Georgia Tech Library. His time on the development committee for the science fiction collection connected him with Yaszek. She thought there was a strong role for the library to provide academic foundations for the show, so Ellis signed on.
“I think the fact that we try and tackle both the ‘pop’ side — literature and entertainment — and the real science, research side is one way to bridge the gap between the sciences and the liberal arts,” said Ellis. “Many of the topics discussed in Sci-Fi literature and media are extrapolated from, or have some root in, real science.”
At the start of two-minute madness during the cyborg hour, Ellis shares his enthusiasm for wearable computing. He muses that he would be game for a cybernetic implant in his arm.
Le Doux quickly counters that that could be problematic in a light saber battle.
It’s a discussion that underscores how Le Doux describes the show, as “a living laboratory for the intersection of liberal arts and science.” It’s a concept with which he identifies personally.
“My studies are evenly split between computer science and the liberal arts — communication, culture, design — so this kind of cross-pollination is something I'm into,” said Le Doux.
It’s also something that’s unique to Georgia Tech and its students. Sci Fi Lab is one way to expand that intersection beyond the campus and into the greater community.
“In the wider culture we tend to have a gap between the arts and the sciences, but both sides would gain a lot if they worked more closely together, and I like to think there is an increasing awareness of this,” said Le Doux. “I think what makes the Sci Fi Lab unique are the combined perspectives of the participants.”
During the cyborg hour, Ellis interviewed Georgia Tech faculty about their work. In a telling demonstration, Thad Starner, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, challenged Clint Zeagler, a research scientist in the College of Architecture, to a picture race. Starner tapped his Google Glasses and secured a photo nearly instantaneously. Zeagler was forced to wait for his phone to turn on before launching a photo app.
Then they talked about getting inspiration from fashion design and Terminator movies. The intersection of arts and science is unavoidable. Sci Fi Lab serves as the petri dish for deeper investigation.
Sci Fi Lab airs weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m., WREK 91.1 FM. Archived shows can be found at www.wrek.org/scifilab. Photos courtesy Jason Ellis.
]]>Chen won Best Student Paper Award in the Quality, Statistics, and Reliability track for “Adaptive Design for Gaussian Process Regression under Censoring.” This paper presented an experimental design and modeling method for censored physical experiments. Censoring is commonly encountered in experimentation due to the limits in a measurement device, safety considerations of the experimenter, and a fixed experimental time budget. To tackle this, he proposed a novel adaptive design method, which first estimates the possibility of censoring and then adaptively chooses design points to minimize predictive uncertainty under censoring. He demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method in two real-world applications on surgical planning and wafer manufacturing.
Chen won Best Student Paper Runner-up Award in the Data Mining track for “APIK: A Physics-Informed Kriging Model with Partial Differential Equations.” This paper presented a learning framework that combines limited data and the auxiliary partial differential equations. One of the key challenges in applying state-of-the-art machine learning methods in real-world engineering applications is that the available measurement data is scarce. In this work, he proposed to incorporate the auxiliary partial differential equations in the learning model and therefore improve the predive performance. The proposed APIK model can leverage linear and nonlinear PDEs and enjoy simple and closed-form prediction and uncertainty quantification. He applied the proposed method to two real-world applications on flow dynamics and thermal processes.
Chen’s advisors for both papers were Georgia Tech ISyE professors Chuck Zhang and Roshan Joseph.
“I’m honored to have won best student paper award in the quality, statistics, and reliability track at INFORMS 2020, and to have another paper win second place in the data mining track,” said Chen. “My research focuses on engineering-driven learning methodologies, and data-driven modeling for complex engineering and manufacturing systems. The two awards are a great encouragement for me and inspire me to accomplish more in-depth and impactful works in the future. I would like to express my highest gratitude to my supervisors, professors Chuck Zhang and Roshan Joseph. I would also like to thank the support and assistance from GTMI, which helped to make the two projects possible.”
]]>Chen’s research interests are in statistical modeling, machine learning, and experimental design with applications to mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare. He is especially interested in engineering-driven data analytics for real-world challenges.
One of Chen’s research topics is to improve the surgical success rate of a common, yet severe heart disease called aortic stenosis. Specifically, he developed a 3D-printing-enabled “virtual patient” framework for in-vitro studies as pre-surgical planning. In order to make the “virtual patient” pathologically identical to the actual patient, he proposed to use a bio-inspired metamaterial design and a statistical emulation model for structure optimization. With the proposed method, the printed heart can mimic both the geometry and the mechanical property of a specific patient.
He previously worked on chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy with the goal of developing new impedance sensing hardware and software.
Chen’s current research focuses on tackling two healthcare challenges resulting from COVID-19 by developing novel methodologies in the fields of statistics, quality engineering, and advanced manufacturing. The healthcare problems he is addressing include how to improve the recovery rate of a treatment, and how to reduce the cost to make the treatment available to everyone.
]]>The manufacturing and industrial sector consumes about 25% of the Nation’s energy. The DOE estimates that the adoption of automated controls and sensors could improve energy efficiency up to 15% in this sector. However, such a high level of integration and automation across the supply chain increases its vulnerability to cyber-attacks. The SecureAmerica Institute is proposed to help US industry in enhancing cybersecurity in manufacturing which will minimize risk, reduce costs, and efficiently scale up to accelerate industry adoption of best cybersecurity practices and technologies.
The thought leadership from GT (including GTMI, GTRI, and other academic units), TAMU, and other academic and industry partners were the driving force behind a strong proposal team and a comprehensive effort. The DOE is sponsoring up to $70M over five years for the establishment of the new institute. This unique public/private model will require a cost share from industry of approximately 20%. Georgia Tech’s role is to develop and coordinate the proposed Institute’s road-mapping activities, which will be especially critical for the first year of operations. Professor Chuck Zhang, Harold E. Smalley Professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and a GTMI-affiliated faculty, will serve as the Chief Technology Officer for the Institute. A final decision is anticipated by the end of 2019.
]]>Respected members of the composite industry, associated with aerospace, automotive, materials and infrastructure sectors attended the D-CJAR IUCRC planning meeting. The 90+ attendees included managers and subject matter experts from over 30 industry and government organizations including Boeing, Delta Airlines, Ford, John Deere, Lockheed Martin, Solvay, and the United States Air Force, along with an equal number of university researchers. Pending final NSF approval, the IUCRC would open early next year. The D-CJAR IUCRC proposal was successfully submitted on June 18th, and the decision from NSF is expected by the end of 2019.
]]>The program is made up of four major thrusts. The GTMI facilitates a course on advanced manufacturing topics in which students attend technical seminars along with tours of relevant Georgia Tech research labs. The group also attends manufacturing plant tours, such as the Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis manufacturing plants in West Point, GA.
A part-time, non-credit English language course is offered by the GTLI called “American Popular Culture.” This course gives the students a point of reference for their time in the U.S., which can be disorienting for some. Experiencing American culture first hand is very different than learning about it from halfway around the world. This class can show students the ropes in a comfortable way with their peers.
A relatively new component to the program is the small group design and manufacturing project. Students work in small groups to apply what they have learned to generate a unique prototype using CAD software, 3D printing, and machining tools with guidance and facilities provided by the Georgia Tech Invention Studio.
The final thrust is the underlying student experience of life on the campus of a top American university in a major U.S. city. The program interweaves aspects of cross-cultural exchange, living in on-campus housing, and participating in several local extracurricular activities (e.g. CNN Center, World of Coca-Cola, river tubing, outlet shopping in Helen GA, Delta Airlines flight museum, Atlanta Braves baseball game, and Atlanta United soccer game at Mercedes-Benz stadium, etc.). These activities allow students to network, learn about American culture, and practice English among their peers.
The program winds up with group presentations that the students use to highlight the new manufacturing knowledge they acquired, their favorite cultural experiences or activities, and the challenges encountered to develop their finished prototypes.
]]>The GTMI team includes Dr. Ben Wang, executive director of GTMI; Dr. Chuck Zhang, professor, Georgia Tech H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering; and GTMI Research Engineer II Dr. Kan Wang.* Their collaboration on “3D Printed Patient-Specific Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms for Surgery Planning” won them the honor.
This innovative technology integrates the latest developments in advanced materials design and multi-material 3D printing to create patient-specific, soft tissue-like medical phantoms/models that can imitate mechanical behaviors of human tissue/organs. These models can be used for planning of surgeries such as the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure in cardiologic treatment and intervention.
According to Dr. Ben Wang, “Patient-specific tissue-mimicking phantoms have a wide range of biomedical applications including validation of computational models and imaging techniques, medical device testing, surgery planning, and medical education and training.” Although 3D printing technologies have demonstrated promise in fabricating patient-specific phantoms, the current process of 3D printing phantoms is only able to generate a geometrically accurate specimen. This cannot be used for applications where biomechanical accuracy is needed such as pre-surgery testing of implanted medical devices. To answer this challenge, the GTMI and Piedmont Heart Center researchers developed an innovative materials design and manufacturing technology that allows 3D printed phantoms to mimic mechanical strain stiffening behaviors of soft tissues. The process uses multi-material 3D printed meta-materials with micro-structured reinforcement printed in a soft polymeric matrix. The efficacy of this method has been demonstrated in optimum heart valve surgery planning for the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure. Dr. Chuck Zhang said, “With evolving additive manufacturing technologies, it will be possible to fabricate ‘plastic tissues’ with both accurate anatomical and biomechanical properties unique to each patient’s biomechanical & pathological characteristics.” “This process provides high value for advanced medical device development and surgery planning,” added Dr. Kan Wang. Due to the innovative nature of the research work and product, a U.S. patent is pending and the team also received a 2018 TechConnect Innovation Award.
R&D 100 Awards recipients include established Fortune 500 companies and federally funded research institutions, as well as academic and government labs. Award Winners were selected by an independent panel of more than 50 judges representing R&D leaders in a variety of fields. Winners were recognized across five major categories—Analytical/Test, IT/Electrical, Mechanical/Materials, Process/Prototyping, and Software/Services and Other. The full list of winners can be found at www.rd100conference.com.
GTMI brings together industry leaders, government partners and top researchers to collaborate and find solutions for the greatest challenges facing U.S. industry today: creating quality jobs, ensuring global competitiveness, and advancing economic and environmental sustainability. For more information, please go to www.manufacturing.gatech.edu.
*GTMI Researchers:
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Zhang, who is a professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and an affiliated faculty member with GTMI, K. Wang, a GTMI research engineer, and Ben Wang, the Executive Director of GTMI and a professor and Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems in ISyE, have been working a few years on perfecting ways to 3D print tissue-mimicking heart valves, also called phantoms, from an individual patient’s heart scan. The valves can emulate the disease and conditions that are present in the patient’s aorta. This can help doctors and surgeons explore treatment options and develop an optimum plan for surgery. The project also involves collaborators from Piedmont Heart Institute. The following offers technical information on the winning project:
3D Printed Meta-Material Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms
Patient-specific tissue-mimicking phantoms have a wide range of biomedical applications including validation of computational models and imaging techniques, medical device testing, surgery planning, medical education, doctor-patient interaction, etc. Although 3D printing technologies have demonstrated great potential in fabricating patient-specific phantoms, current 3D printed phantoms are usually only geometrically accurate. Mechanical properties of soft tissues can be mimicked at small strain situations, such as ultrasonic induced vibration. Under large deformation, however, the soft tissues and the 3D printed phantoms behave differently. The essential barrier is the inherent difference in the stress-strain curves of soft tissues and 3D printable polymers. Georgia Tech inventors have developed technology that demonstrates the feasibility of mimicking the mechanical strain stiffening behavior of soft tissues using dual-material 3D printed metamaterials with micro-structured reinforcement embedded in soft polymeric matrix. Although the two base materials are strain-softening polymers, both finite element analysis and uniaxial tension tests indicate that two of those dual-material designs are able to exhibit strain-stiffening effects as a metamaterial. Additionally, the design parameters have an effect on the mechanical behavior of the metamaterials. This system can fabricate patient specific tissue-mimicking phantoms with both geometrical and mechanical accuracies with dual-material 3D printed metamaterials.
Invention Information
“3D Printed Metamaterial Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms,” U.S. Patent Application No. 15/804,737, Inventors: Kan Wang, Zhen Qian, Chun (Chuck) Zhang, Changsheng Wu, Ben Wang and Mani Vannan.
Innovation Awards
For over 20 years the TechConnect has connected top applied research and early-stage innovations from universities, labs, and startups with industry end-users and prospectors. TechConnect has published over 10,000 technical papers, connected over 20,000 innovations with industry partners, provided prospecting to most all Fortune 500 technology companies, and supported most every U.S. Science and Technology agency including the National Nanotechnology Initiative since its inception. To learn more, visit: http://techconnectworld.com/World2018/participate/innovation/awards.html. Awards were presented at a conference in Anaheim California, May 13-16, 2018.
]]>Zhang, who is a professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) and an affiliated faculty member with GTMI, K. Wang, a GTMI research engineer, and Ben Wang, the Executive Director of GTMI and a professor and Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems in ISyE, have been working a few years on perfecting ways to 3D print tissue-mimicking heart valves, also called phantoms, from an individual patient’s heart scan. The valves can emulate the disease and conditions that are present in the patient’s aorta. This can help doctors and surgeons explore treatment options and develop an optimum plan for surgery. The project also involves collaborators from Piedmont Heart Institute.
]]>According to presenters at the 2017 GTMI Internet of Things for Manufacturing (IoTfM) Workshop on November 8, 2017, most people have a general idea of what IoT is, but there still exists challenges in how to effectively implement an IoT plan. Why?
The reason according to several presenters points to deciding what data to collect and how to use the data to improve efficiencies in process and quality in products. Several speakers also called for improved collaboration between IT departments, engineering staff and those on the shop floor to successfully implement an IoT strategy.
Here is a rundown of some of the points speakers made:
For those who missed the workshop, all of the materials for the meeting, including speaker presentations, can be found at: http://ws17.iotfm.org/
The workshop also included ample time for attendees to network and get to know their peers in other areas of industry. In fact, the day after the workshop, representatives of various manufacturing sectors were invited to a roundtable to share issues and ideas on how to move IoT to the next level. Several who attended the roundtable agreed to help organize next year’s workshop agenda and suggest speakers.
Next year’s workshop is already in the planning stages and is tentatively set for November 7, 2018.
]]>
For those who missed the 2017 IoTfM Workshop, all of the materials for the meeting, including speaker presentations, can be found at: http://ws17.iotfm.org/
]]>Ben Wang was recently selected as chair of the National Materials and Manufacturing Board (NMMB), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Wang is executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Gwaltney Chair & professor in Industrial & Systems Engineering, and professor in Materials Science & Engineering.
The NMMB is the principal forum at the U.S. National Academies for all national issues related to innovative materials and advanced manufacturing, and has oversight responsibility for National Research Council activities in these technology areas.
The NMMB was created in recognition of the increasing importance of materials science to innovations in engineering and manufacturing. The NMMB combines the charges of two preexisting boards: the National Materials Advisory Board and the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design. Its mission is to build on the past achievements of its parent boards by providing objective, independent assessments of the current state of materials and manufacturing research - including at the atomic, molecular, and nano scales - and the applications of new and existing materials in innovative ways, including pilot-scale and large-scale manufacturing, the design of new devices, and disposal.
Previous studies by NMMB have covered diverse, timely and consequential topics including global supply chains and national security, real-time detection of damage to materials in aerospace applications and of threat agents, integrated computational materials engineering, and management of existing U.S. materials resources. Under the sponsorship of U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, and the National Science Foundation, NMMB will be responsible for the strategic planning, program development, and administrative oversight of studies and other activities that expand this existing body of work.
]]>According to the Proclamation of Collaborative Partnership proffered by Robins Air Force Base, “The leadership of Robins Air Force Base (RAFB) and the Georgia Institute of Technology proclaim their desire and intention to work collaboratively, not only for the mutual benefit of their institutions, but also for the citizens of Georgia and the United States.” The proclamation also sets out guidelines for the partnership whereby the entities will collaborate on “defense-related projects and further development in aerospace research and technology, including materials, information technology, computer science, flight dynamics, aero propulsion and power, electronics, avionics, aging aircraft issues, manufacturing and environmental issues.”
"GTMI and the Georgia Tech community are proud to welcome the Robins Air Force Base to our manufacturing innovation neighborhood," said Ben Wang, executive director of GTMI. "This partnership begins a new phase in our working relationship and is sure to bring about new and exciting research and solutions to the manufacturing challenges we face."
In addition to the proclamation, officials also signed an Industrial Partners Program Membership Agreement between Robins Air Force Base and GTMI.
Transforming world-class research into real-world value for industry partners is one of Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s most important goals. Much of our success comes from active collaboration with industry partners who help drive research outcomes to produce results that are readily implemented into the industrial sector.
GTMI works with companies of all sizes on short- and long-term projects, ranging from several months to a few years. Research projects are defined in association with partner companies and when initiated, ongoing project interaction is maintained between personnel at the sponsoring company and our team. More information is available on the GTMI website at www.manufacturing.gatech.edu.
]]>“We’re really excited about the partnership with Delta,” said Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson. “This facility is a little different. Our students, faculty, staff and researchers will be able to develop products, and it provides Delta an opportunity to collaborate with its partners.”
Made possible by a $3 million gift from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, the facility was designed to be an integrated physical and cyber manufacturing technology testbed as well as a demonstration and teaching facility. The Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) will be a flagship component of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute as a location where early-stage concepts can go from idea to reality.
“Over the last two years, inspired by insights gained from our close collaboration in manufacturing research with industry partners, faculty members from the schools of Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Interactive Computing came together to define the requirements for a learning and research facility that will provide the foundation for future innovations in digital manufacturing,” said Don McConnell, Georgia Tech’s vice president of Industry Collaboration.
Peterson said the building had been part of the Atlantic Steel plant and before it was converted to house Delta’s AMPF and Boeing’s Manufacturing Development Center, the building had served as a warehouse for Georgia Tech’s Housing department to store and repair furniture for residence halls and on-campus apartments.
“Georgia Tech is a world-class institute, and we’re really blessed to have you in our hometown,” said Gil West, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer for Delta.
Back on May 2, Delta and Georgia Tech held a ribbon cutting for an innovation center called “The Hangar” in Tech Square, which is now home to 20 such innovation centers. The AMPF establishes Georgia Tech as a national leader in advanced manufacturing.
]]>Awards and Grants
National Science Foundation, Innovation Corps: $50,000 - July 2016
Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing, Student Startup Funds: $8,000 - May 2016
Georgia Research Alliance, Phase 1 Funding: $50,000 - Mar 2015
1st Place, TIECON Southeast Young Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition - Apr 2017
Semifinalist, University of Oregon New Venture Championship - Apr 2017
Runner-up, Georgia Tech Venture Lab Pitch Competition - Feb 2017
2nd Place, Georgia Bowl Business Plan Competition - Feb 2017
Finalist, Georgia Tech Start-up Competition - Feb 2016
Patents
Oberste, C. et al. 2016. System and Methods for Continuous Fabrication of Woven Composite Materials. WO. Patent Pending
Oberste, C. et al. 2015. Interlaced Three-Dimensional Printed Composites and Method for Fabricating the Same. United States. Patent Pending.
Fellowships
TI:GER Doctoral Fellowship - Aug 2015-Dec 2016
Cytec Engineered Materials Doctoral Fellowship - Aug 2014 - Present
Georgia Institute of Technology Presidential Fellowship - Aug 2013 – Present
Congratulations, Chris!
Latanya Buckner - Ms. Buckner was accepted into the Georgia Tech Inclusive Leaders Academy, a professional leadership and legacy development program for managers at Tech. The goals of the program are two-fold:
Ms. Buckner is the assistant director of business operations at GTMI.
Dr. Richard E. Cowan - Dr. Cowan was one of up to 40 Georgia Tech faculty honored in 2016 as recipient of the Class of 1940 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award. The criteria for selection included a CIOS response rate of at least 85% for Fall and/or Spring semesters with a class size of at least 40 students, and a CIOS score for the question that reads “Overall, this instructor is an effective teacher” of at least 4.9 (out of 5.0). Dr. Cowan is a senior research scientist and the director of the Laboratory for Extreme Tribology & Diagnostics at GTMI.
Dr. Ben Wang - Dr. Wang recently recently served as a panelist for a session at the Airodef Conference held in Texas in early March 2017. Dr. Wang joined in a panel discussion to explore how the Air Force’s Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program can be responsive to future warfighting game changers such as directed energy, hypersonics, and autonomy, as well as “third offset” technologies.
The panel included discussion of technology, emerging trends, workforce development, public policy, and legislation required for Air Force ManTech to improve warfighting capability and to reduce acquisition and sustainment costs.
Dr. Wang, who serves as the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, was joined by John Russell, Air Force Research Laboratory; Lane Ballard, Boeing Research and Technology; Michael Maher, Maher & Associates, LLC; Ralph Resnick, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining; and Charles Wessner, Georgetown University.
]]>IISE is the premier professional organization for industrial and systems engineers, and the Fellow Award recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial engineering. Becoming a fellow is the highest classification of IISE membership.
Zhang said, “I consider the elevation to IISE Fellow, the highest classification of IISE membership, to be an honor and an acknowledgement of the accomplishments in my career.”
As a researcher at GTMI, Zhang has helped to lead and collaborated on numerous major initiatives, including the Consortium for Accelerated Innovation and Insertion of Advanced Composites (CAIIAC). As a professor in ISyE, Zhang's current research interests include additive manufacturing (including 3D printing and printed electronics), cyber-physical systems, scalable nanomanufacturing, and multifunctional composites/nanocomposites. His research projects have been sponsored by numerous federal agencies including the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Laboratory, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, and Office of Naval Research, as well as industrial companies such as ATK Launch Systems, Cummins, Delta Air Lines, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and Siemens Power Generation. Zhang has published over 170 refereed journal articles and 200 conference papers. He also holds 23 U.S. patents.
Zhang received his Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from the University of Iowa, an M.S. degree in industrial engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China. Prior to joining ISyE, Zhang served as a professor and chairman of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the Florida A&M University - Florida State University College of Engineering.
According to AERODEF, the poster session showcased the next generation of manufacturing researchers, engineers and industry professionals in the following categories:
Jarod says, "The combination of attending an aerospace/defense conference, and participating in the competition proved both exciting and rewarding. I was able to absorb the direction of funding and industry, while connecting and competing against my peers. It was an excellent experience."
Jarod Weber is a USAF veteran (electronic warfare & integrated avionics systems), and a former robotics/automation field engineer. He is currently working as an undergraduate researcher at Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute within the fields of advanced composite structural health monitoring of pressure vessel/piping, and aerospace applications, while using his GI Bill to pursue an Electrical Engineering undergraduate degree with a minor in Computer Science at the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.
GTMI first came to know Jarod through the REVAMP/REU program, which stands for Research Experience for Student Veterans in Advanced Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship (REVAMP) and Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU).
]]>In early March 2017, the interns met with GTMI, WGTC and GDEcD officials to explain the program and their participation in it. The presentations were meant to be a status update for GDEcD.
The TCSG-GTMI Internship Program is funded by the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Workforce Division. The primary goal of the program is to enhance the preparation of technical college students for the advanced manufacturing workforce. Specifically, by challenging technical college students to complete complex, real-world, mission-critical manufacturing research and commercialization projects, the program aims to develop:
For more information contact:
Ben Wang, who serves as the executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, was joined by John Russell, Air Force Research Laboratory; Lane Ballard, Boeing Research and Technology; Michael Maher, Maher & Associates, LLC; Ralph Resnick, National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining; and Charles Wessner, Georgetown University.
]]>On September 2-3, 2016, about 70 students gathered at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) for the Sustainability Design-a-Thon sponsored by Engineers for a Sustainable World, Autodesk, GTMI and GT's Serve-Learn-Sustain. On the first evening, students were treated to dinner while learning about Autodesk Fusion 360. Next was a workshop on sustainable design thinking. Finally, students were given a prompt for beginning the design competition.
Students were asked to design a more sustainable breakfast product that helps support a better product lifecycle. They had 24 hours and had to build the design in Fusion360.
Teams worked throughout the day on Saturday getting ready for presentations and judging at 6 p.m. Judges had to pick three winners from all of the stellar work done by students.
And…the winners were:
First Place - The Hawdaire Stove, a universal kitchen attachment for pellet stoves. Designed by Atticus Huberts, Royal Dcunha and Varun Nambiar, the Hawdaire Stove directs heat from a pellet stove through a stove-like appliance that can be used for cooking.
Second Place - Tom's Cooking Pot, a utensil for outdoor cooking with propane or a wood fire. Students Matthew Brasselle and Trevor Brasselle designed the pot to be multifunctional, have efficient heat transfer, be compact and able to operate with one hand.
Third Place - Auto Breakfast, an appliance that can make pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, tea, smoothies and more, all in a coffee maker-sized, eco-sustainable device. Students Joel Cheng, Adam Shah and Ayush Agrawal designed it to be multifunctional and high tech, with wifi features and the ability to program it with a smart phone or laptop.
According to Jeff Smith of Autodesk, "GTMI has been a wonderful partner with Autodesk. This was our third event working with GTMI." He added, "Holding these competitions are a great way to get students to think fast and act on their designs."
]]>Program leader Tina Guldberg says that the goal now is to identify companies that need talented students and want to "sponsor" a student (scholar). Manufacturing scholars will be selected according to a rigorous application process with input from GTMI, the sponsoring company and GT faculty. Once selected, manufacturing scholars will complete a nine-month (two-semester) paid manufacturing-related project, as well as a three-month manufacturing-related paid summer internship at the sponsor site. The project will be designed by the sponsoring company, in collaboration with GTMI and a GT faculty member, and carried out at GT under the guidance of the faculty member. The internship will be carried out at the company site, with a focus on implementation of project results.
"Companies can, and are encouraged to, support multiple manufacturing scholars," said Guldberg, who is also the director of strategic partnerships for GTMI. "By supporting multiple scholars, companies can accomplish multiple technical projects, while simultaneously attracting more top-performing GT students with a manufacturing background to their organization."
Companies interested in sponsoring a manufacturing scholar should contact:
Dr. Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor at Ohio State University, put together Dr. Cowan’s nomination for the Fellow grade. He wrote the following in support of Dr. Cowan, “For over three decades, Dr. Richard S. Cowan has been an accomplished Project Manager, successfully leading high-profile multidisciplinary programs of basic and applied research, while envisioning, designing and equipping a Laboratory for Extreme Tribology & Diagnostics. The Lab is internationally recognized for advancing electromagnetic launcher longevity and equipment health management. He has been an advocate for the mechanical engineering profession, assuming a variety of leadership roles, including Segment Lead of the ASME Technical Events & Content Sector (2014-16), ASME-appointed delegate to the International Tribology Council (2011-14), and subject matter expert to the U.S. House of Representatives as an ASME-sponsored Congressional Engineering Fellow (1998).”
Dr. Cowan has also held engineering and management positions at TRW Bearings Division (presently SKF Aeroengine North America) and Cummins Engine Company. He is a professional engineer, registered in the state of New York. In 2012, he received the Donald F. Wilcock Award from the ASME Tribology Division for distinguished service to the tribology community throughout his professional career.
]]>
John Morehouse, Director of Manufacturing Education Programs and Partnerships, GTMI
Dr. Chuck Zhang, Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering
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For additional information on the workshop or next generation additive manufacturing at Georgia Tech, contact Suman Das at suman.das@me.gatech.edu or 404-385-6027.
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Dugenske also announced that the GTMI annual Internet of Things for Manufacturing Workshop will be held in November 2016.
On April 4-5, 2016, about 75 representatives of government, industry and academic organizations met in Washington, D.C., for the National Materials and Manufacturing Board meeting. Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute Executive Director Ben Wang helped organize the focus session on the grand challenges associated with bio-manufacturing cell therapies and possible solutions in order to move current research forward. Dr. Wang, also the Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems and a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is a member of the Board.
“Our purpose for the meeting was to inform government, academic and industry stakeholders on the latest developments in this field,” said Dr. Wang. “Session topics addressed three of the major challenge areas: scalable cell manufacturing, manufacturing for regenerative medicine, and bioprinting.”
Dr. Wang indicated outcomes of the workshop included informing national policy and sharing information on federal programs and independent research and development.
Also from Georgia Tech, Krishnendu Roy presented “Manufacturing Cells for Cell-Therapy, Regenerative Medicine and Bioprinting: Findings and Recommendations of The NIS/AMTech Roadmap.” Dr. Roy directs the Marcus Center for Cell-Therapy Characterization and Manufacturing (MC3M), and also the Center for ImmunoEngineering. He is also the Robert A. Milton Chair and professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
The NMMB is the principal forum at the U.S. National Academies for issues related to innovative materials and advanced manufacturing, and has oversight responsibility for National Research Council activities in these technology areas.
]]>Next week on February 1, Tom Carstensen, chief engineer of Sikorsky's Aerostructures Product Center, will address innovation at Sikorsky. Carstensen and a colleague will also lead a student recruitment session the same day from 5 to 7 p.m. Both sessions will occur at GTMI in Room 114. No registration is required. Food will be available.
]]>Who: All students, industry partners, faculty and staff are invited
What: Enjoy a complimentary lunch with colleagues while listening to speakers covering manufacturing related topics. The schedule for the 2015 Fall Manufacturing Lunch Seminar Series includes:
When/Where: All sessions begin at 12 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, 813 Ferst Drive, NW, Room 114. Registration is not required.
404-385-4950
]]>According to Jeff Smith, education program manager for Autodesk, there were four major elements considered in judging the entries:
Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of 3D software for global markets. Fusion 360 is a 3D CAD/CAM, cloud-based tool.
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute brings together industry leaders, government partners and top researchers to collaborate and find solutions for the greatest challenges facing U.S. industry today: creating quality jobs, ensuring global competitiveness, and advancing economic and environmental sustainability.
]]>
The list is based on data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Georgia Tech ranked No. 25 with 78 patents. Other Georgia universities on the list are: Emory ranked No. 58 with 35 patents and UGA ranked No. 73 with 30 patents.
The top 15 universities:
TI:GER is housed at the GT Scheller School of Business. According to the school’s website:
TI:GER teaches students that the main hurdles to commercializing research are seldom technology-related. More often they involve legal issues and problems interfacing with the public and market.
TI:GER takes an interdisciplinary approach to surmounting those obstacles, assembling students who win acceptance into the highly competitive program into five member teams. These teams include two MBAs and two law students who focus on the commercialization of a PhD student’s research. Students from the science, engineering and computing disciplines at Georgia Tech are eligible to apply for TI:GER, which is housed at Georgia Tech College of Business.
TI:GER teams work together in the classroom and research lab to learn how to:
TI:GER students benefit from assigned business and legal mentors as well as meeting with industry representatives at biannual advisory board meetings. They also engage in consulting projects for startup companies associated with ATDC, Georgia's business incubator located at Georgia Tech. The program has received funding from a variety of sources including a National Science Foundation IGERT grant, the Alan and Mildred Peterson Foundation, the Hal and John Smith Chair in Entrepreneurship, and others.
]]>On April 20, Dr. Christian visited the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). He met with GTMI Executive Director Ben Wang and toured the following labs:
“Visits like this are important because they are opportunities to demonstrate and showcase the important work of our researchers,” said Dr. Wang. “I appreciate the efforts of our researchers and students in sharing their work.”
]]>Ford filmed several videos on the Georgia Tech campus featuring some of the ME students working on the projects.
Parking Spotter
This experiment leverages driver-assist sensors that most Ford vehicles already have, including sonar and radar, by putting them to work for everybody. The sensors search for open parking spaces while the driver looks for spots around the city, and share the information with a cloud database other drivers can access. The system makes it easier for a driver to locate an open spot, reserve it and navigate to the space. It also reduces fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
The Parking Spotter video, which was shot on the Tech campus, was part of a CNET interview with Fields.
Remote Repositioning
Being done in conjunction with electrical and computer engineering faculty member, Ghassan AlRegib, is testing remote control repositioning technology using vehicle-mounted cameras and real-time streaming video. Using Georgia Tech-owned golf carts to prove out the technology, a person sitting in a remote location can access real-time video streamed over LTE to drive the carts. The outcome could be a more affordable and effective way to share or park vehicles using a remote “valet.”
See videos on ME website at link below.
]]>Ford filmed several videos on the Georgia Tech campus featuring some of the ME students working on the projects.
]]>However, there’s good news to share. The lower costs associated with reshoring are driving more local manufacturing activity; technological developments are drastically changing the way plants operate; and capital investments are on the rise.
As the director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing, I consult with manufacturing companies of all shapes and sizes on a wide range of projects. Over the past year, I’ve been privy to a convergence of activities that suggest to me that 2015 will be a landmark year for American manufacturing. Among my predictions:
1. Reshoring will continue, but at a slower pace
Manufacturers typically evaluate seven critical areas when it comes to operational decision making: transportation and energy costs; market demand for their products; rising labor costs in China and other developing nations; access to talent, tax, and regulatory policies; availability of capital; and currency trends.
In 2015 we will see jobs continuing to come back to America as trends around these divergent areas continue to work favorably for bottom lines. But this reshoring will happen in a more targeted way, with natural gas use serving as a driving factor in some cases.
The growing abundance of natural gas in the U.S. provides more affordable energy for factories, as well as new opportunities for products and services. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that high shale gas recovery and low prices could add 1 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and reduce natural gas costs by up to $11.6 billion annually through 2025. In fact, one particular U.S. steel manufacturer has already invested more than $100 million in a Midwest plant to help meet demand for tubes and pipes used in shale gas extraction activities.
The U.S. shale gas boom has prompted some chemical producers – such as Dow Chemical (IW 500/21), which began construction on a Freeport, Texas plant in 2014 – to construct ethylene production plants in the southeast to take advantage of more affordable feedstock.
Then there are the manufactured goods themselves. Heavier goods equal higher shipping costs, a value-to-weight ratio that expands in concert with the distance between where they’re made and their market destinations. Higher transportation costs, combined with increasingly expensive labor rates in distant regions such as China, are leading manufacturers of heavy equipment and steel products to move production from overseas back to the U.S., where these products are also sold. Shortening the supply chain has become a significant value proposition.
2. A manufacturing boom will hit the United States
Manufacturing growth over the past several years has been minimal. 2015 will launch a new wave of domestic manufacturing, as the industry sees broader growth. One reliably strong trend has been the national Purchasing Managers Index, which stood at 58.7 in November 2014. Rooted in a solid expansion of manufacturing activity, this index allows us to look forward and reasonably expect between 4% and 5% growth in domestic manufacturing.
However, manufacturing employment won’t grow at that same rate because facilities and operations have become far more productive and efficient.
3. Big data will drive big efficiency
According to the CSC Global CIO Survey: 2014-2015, 81% of manufacturers feel big data has a positive effect on production and efficiency, and 65% believe big data will be a strategic business driver moving forward.
That trend will continue, but the lynchpin in 2015 will be the widespread introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT). The Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech, one of the world’s top technology incubators, hosts a wide range of IoT companies, and a recent Verizon Enterprise Solutions report stated, “The IoT market reared its head last year, and we have seen an increase in interest from companies worldwide over 2014.” In addition, a November 2014 Forbes.com article entitled "Two High-Tech Stories To Watch In 2015: Digital and Industrial Internet of Things," stated that, “IIoT will no longer be an intriguing, over-the-horizon concept.”
Sensor technologies will drive the concept of connected factories, and will fuel the introduction of mobility-based manufacturing. Web browsers will be used as dashboards to control equipment, identify snags, and make quick decisions that would have previously taken entire teams of people to handle.
As connected factories go online, myriad amounts of data will be collected. But 2015 will see that data put to use in a smarter way that makes things operate more efficiently.
4. Increased investments in predictive maintenance technologies
U.S. manufacturers will increase investments for predictive maintenance technologies in 2015. The proliferation of better and cheaper sensor technologies combined with the trend of connected factories will allow for greater opportunity to implement predictive maintenance technologies that will cut downtime and boost bottom lines.
Over the past four years I have been involved in an array of different predictive maintenance technology projects. Two such companies are Dahlonega, Ga.-based Polymer Aging Concepts, which has developed sensors that predict when to replace the insulation in motors, generators, or dry transformers before failure occurs, and Atlanta-based Jeneer Group, which developed an integrated down well sensor system that signals pump conditions for on and off cycles in landfills. These companies serve rapidly growing markets, and customers are lining up to do business with them.
A recent article in Reliable Plant entitled “Global machine condition monitoring equipment market to reach $2.1B by 2015” stated, “The need for eliminating catastrophic breakdowns and unnecessary maintenance costs in production processes has and will continue to drive the adoption of condition monitoring solutions across several industries.”
5. Increased investment in capital equipment
With the convergence of several predictions outlined above, such as the increase in applications of sensor technologies and general industry growth, 2015 will be the year in which we will see a true renaissance in domestic manufacturing.
Improved bottom lines will drive replacement of aging legacy equipment and investment in new capital equipment that performs better, more efficiently and more reliably. Software will also assist in making current equipment more efficient.
6. Manufacturing will grow at a higher rate than GDP
U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) historically has been a marker against which industries peg their overall performance.
A report issued in December 2014 by the Institute of Supply Management stated that manufacturing revenues are expected to increase in 15 different manufacturing industries in 2015. It also asserted that capital expenditures, a major driver in the U.S. economy, are expected to increase by 3.7% in the manufacturing sector. Additionally, 67% of respondents to the ISM survey expect revenues to be greater in 2015 than in 2014, and the panel of respondents – all purchasing and supply executives – expect a 5.6% net increase in overall revenues for 2015, compared to a 3.6% increase reported for 2014 over 2013 revenues.
This momentum, combined with the factors outlined above, will contribute to a boom in manufacturing in 2015, helping the industry outpace the GDP for the first time in a long time.
]]>But things have been changing in the last few years. The Associated Press reported that U.S. manufacturing grew in November 2013 at the fastest pace in two and a half years. And according to White House blogger Jason Miller, surveys show that more than half of all manufacturers are or are actively considering reshoring production to the United States
None of this is news to Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing Systems for the university’s College of Engineering. But Wang’s interests go beyond traditional manufacturing, or manufacturing 1.0, returning to the U.S. He and his colleagues at GTMI are working toward a new kind of manufacturing rooted in innovation and systems thinking. Whether you call it advanced manufacturing or manufacturing 2.0, the bottom line is a focus on innovation to create high value-add products. The approach will require looking at the entire system instead of discrete events.
"In the past, manufacturing was really assembly or machining within four walls of a factory, but in advanced manufacturing, we have to look at manufacturing as the whole value stream from design, machining, assembly, distribution, logistics, workforce – the whole infrastructure," says Wang.
And who is more qualified to look at the whole system than industrial engineers?
"We are trained to look at everything as a system as opposed to individual components. So IEs really have an advantage and would fit in well in manufacturing 2.0."
Wang's views might seem biased when you learn he has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in industrial engineering (as well as a Ph.D. from Penn State) and serves on Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering faculty. But even though Wang is a proponent of IEs leading the charge in advanced manufacturing, he knows such a broad initiative requires all types of engineers as well as public policy professionals.
GTMI’s mission as of its 2012 inception is to produce cutting-edge interdisciplinary research for today’s manufacturers in order to work on grand challenges.
The grand challenges are articulated by Wang in an impressive video on the GTMI website. First, he asks, how do we accelerate innovation? How can we move research results from the lab to the marketplace and create economic value? Wang says this concept is often referred to in research circles as "crossing the valley of death." The second grand challenge is ensuring that what is invented in America is made in America.
A critical component in achieving such goals is to have the government facilitate them. Fortunately for GTMI, a government initiative was already in the works to push advanced manufacturing forward.
In 2011, President Barack Obama created the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) to facilitate industry, academia and government working together to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector. Partly due to the work conducted at GTMI, Obama selected Georgia Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson to serve on the AMP steering committee.
Myriad recommendations came out of the first phase of AMP, but Wang says three major recommendations stood out: creating a friendly business climate in the U.S., including public policy, tax systems and innovation incentives; driving innovation to create commercial value or societal impact out of basic research; and developing the workforce pipeline.
In September 2013, the White House announced the second phase of AMP – AMP 2.0 – which will focus on implementing the plans laid out in the first phase of the initiative. Once again, Peterson is on the steering committee, and this time Wang was asked to serve on the operations committee.
Wang also served on the Roundtable on Strengthening U.S. Advanced Manufacturing in Clean Energy at the White House in 2012. He was one of only a few people from academia asked to participate along with representatives from various public policy groups and research centers. There were also more than 35 company reps promoting their products in fuel cells, wind energy and other clean energy sources.
But Wang believes the government’s role in the process is not to endorse energy forms but to create a good infrastructure or business climate for companies to excel in the marketplace based on what they do. GTMI’s position is that the government should examine workforce, infrastructures, transportation, the investment community and the material/supplier base.
"Whether it’s the state government, local government or the … federal government, they should really care about creating those cross-cutting enablers so that companies are willing to do the best they can," says Wang.
In March 2013, the Aspen Institute, an education and policy studies organization, released a report titled "A Manufacturing Resurgence," but Wang thinks a better title would have been "A Manufacturing Renaissance." Wang says the report is the result of a study that lays out two scenarios for U.S. manufacturing. In the baseline scenario, the country will continue the status quo of the last two to three decades. The second scenario is prompt facilitation of a manufacturing renaissance.
"Amazingly, if we continue the baselines, if we look at the imports and exports, the trade deficit will become about a trillion dollars a year," Wang asserts. "A trillion dollars is a lot of money. But if we begin to do something now and act decisively, the renaissance scenario in about 10 or 12 years, we’ll begin to see that exports will exceed imports, meaning we have a trade balance. So we close a gap of a trillion dollars a year."
GTMI’s goals are right in line with these government initiatives, and the institute is focused on working with companies like Boeing, Caterpillar and Siemens on high-level research projects in advanced manufacturing.
The researchers work on projects in various areas, including biotechnology, additive manufacturing (3-D printing) and nanomaterials science, an area in which Wang is widely considered a pioneer.
One project GTMI is working on for U.S. Veterans Affairs is called SOCAT, which stands for socket optimized for comfort with advanced technology. According to the research summary, researchers are improving amputees’ comfort, functionality, gait and mobility by leveraging innovative materials, advanced manufacturing and printed electronics to build a better integrated prosthetic socket system.
Wang’s colleague and fellow industrial and systems engineering professor Chuck Zhang is leading SOCAT, among other printed electronics projects.
"For AMP or advanced manufacturing to work, you need to develop new technologies for manufacturing," says Zhang. "[It’s] not only the software operations research, but also the hardware. We call it the real manufacturing, like the materials, the machines, [et cetera]. Georgia Tech in general is doing very well."
Wang came on board at Georgia Tech in January 2012 after spending nearly 20 years at Florida State University building the school’s industrial engineering master’s and doctoral degree programs from the ground up. He also led the development of the High Performance Materials Institute and the Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials for the state of Florida.
He was so contented at FSU that he could only be lured away to Tech by the potential for creating the go-to place for advanced manufacturing and high value-added innovation.
"Our aspiration at GTMI is [to be] the leader in advanced manufacturing globally," Wang says. "And I think the ultimate goal is to make sure that we have substantial impact to create wealth, to elevate the standard of living of the U.S. citizens, to drive innovation and to create really good high-paying jobs, especially middle-class jobs. ... It is a lofty goal, but it is not unreachable."
Monica Elliott is the director of communications for the Institute of Industrial Engineers.
]]>But things have been changing in the last few years. The Associated Press reported that U.S. manufacturing grew in November 2013 at the fastest pace in two and a half years. And according to White House blogger Jason Miller, surveys show that more than half of all manufacturers are or are actively considering reshoring production to the United States
None of this is news to Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Eugene C. Gwaltney Jr. Chair in Manufacturing Systems for the university’s College of Engineering. But Wang’s interests go beyond traditional manufacturing, or manufacturing 1.0, returning to the U.S. He and his colleagues at GTMI are working toward a new kind of manufacturing rooted in innovation and systems thinking. Whether you call it advanced manufacturing or manufacturing 2.0, the bottom line is a focus on innovation to create high value-add products. The approach will require looking at the entire system instead of discrete events.
]]>But today, Fondarific has a 10,000-square-foot factory and ships internationally. The company in 2011 sold $2.5 million worth of fondant, a creamy confection mostly used in decorating cake. The rollable icing covers the cake with a smooth layer, almost like wrapping paper, which allows for elaborate decorations.
“We really couldn’t have done any of this without Georgia Tech,” said Ms. Judy of the university’s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership “They have a friendly attitude, really knew what we needed and how to help us. Their confidentiality was important. I was getting the quality help I needed by people who were impartial, had nothing to gain and wouldn’t go in competition with me.”
The story behind Fondarificreads like a classic American tale of entrepreneurship. Ms. Darnall and Ms. Judy struck up a friendship watching their children play soccer. Ms. Judy was a nurse; Ms. Darnall was kindergarten teacher who had developed an edible product she called “candy clay dough” for her students to use as an art project.
“Laura was always into crafts and candy making and she went to the largest cake show, which is in Oklahoma. One of the judges, who was from the Food Network, told her to turn her product into fondant,” Ms. Darnall recalled. “We weren\'t even sure what fondant was but we thought that we should take the advice.”
With their children mostly grown, in 2008 the women started Candy Craft Creations, which does business as Fondarific, marketing the fondant at trade shows. The product was an immediate hit because “most of the fondants on the market tasted bad and cracked,” said Ms. Judy.
“Our product didn’t crack and it tasted great. That’s what separates us from the competition. We have 16 products and our fruit flavor fondants taste like Skittles and Starburst, which is great for the cupcake industry and children’s parties,” she said.
The two friends made the fondant in a small building in Ms. Darnall’s backyard and handled all aspects of the growing business. A month after opening, they sold 3,000 pounds of fondant. When sales hit $250,000 they added employees and moved into a 1,500-square-foot space, then doubled it. But even with 3,000 square feet the design wasn’t efficient.
The women knew they needed professional assistance and turned the the Small Business Development Center, who referred them to GaMEP’s Coastal Region, which stepped up to help the company\'s production flow, select the right equipment and provide market research and a plan for growth. GaMEP is a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and has offices in nine regions across the state.
Danny Duggar, a project manager with GaMEP’s Lean Services Group, worked on the new facility. He helped design the building’s layout and automate its processes, which reduced labor costs by 18 percent.
They also worked with Matthew W.Oxley III, GaMEP’s strategic business manager, who tackled growing their marketing, both nationally and internationally.
“I helped them with their marketing strategy and make sure their strategy worked from a financial standpoint,” said Mr. Oxley, who also helped mentor the women and assisted them in interviewing key sales players. “I’ve owned about 12 businesses and I know what they’re going through and can see where their strengths are and help fill in their weaknesses. I essentially teach entrepreneurship 101.”
Now Fondarific’s main challenge is getting a greater “slice of the marketplace,” he said. “They’re going up against big companies, but I have no doubt they can do it.”
Fondant is a $100 million market, and Fondarific’s products are sold as a private label product in Michael’s craft stores. It recently landed a test contract at Walmart for 500 stores to sell the fondant under the Fondarific name, which is also available in other craft stores, baking stores and online.
Fondarific is also dipping into the international market and is sold in Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Guatemala and the United Kingdom.
“I think the sky is the limit internationally but I see our major growth right now in this country,” Ms. Judy said. “Plus, when you export you have to deal with all these rules, regulations, labeling, exporting issues. Some countries have a tax on sugar so pricing is a little touchy. It’s not hard; it’s just tedious. Georgia Tech helped us on that too.”
Fondarific was featured at the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Go Global” reception in February, where it won a GLOBE award for expanding into a new market overseas. In 2012, the duo were honored as top businesspeople by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Fresh with a $2.5 million loan from a local bank, the Fondarific team is looking to expand. They are also going back to GaMEP for more advice.
“I couldn’t afford to get such expertise elsewhere. As a small business you have to watch every penny and we honestly would be where we are with Georgia Tech and we’ll continue working with them.”
Learn more about Georgia Tech\'s Manufacturing Extension Partership at www.gamep.org.
]]>But today, Fondarific has a 10,000-square-foot factory and ships internationally. The company in 2011 sold $2.5 million worth of fondant, a creamy confection mostly used in decorating cake. The rollable icing covers the cake with a smooth layer, almost like wrapping paper, which allows for elaborate decorations.
]]>Chipped teeth, damaged vocal chords, cuts to the throat — all are the unfortunate results of intubations gone awry. That’s mostly because intubation requires the person performing the procedure to see the trachea and thread a breathing tube through vocal chords, avoiding the esophagus. When that view is obstructed or misinterpreted, injuries or even death can occur.
A student team competing in the 2011 InVenture competition came up with a way to minimize such injuries during intubation. Their product, called MAID, won second place, and it went on to capture top honors in Georgia Tech’s Business Plan Competition as well as a $50,000 grant from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). Today, it remains a viable candidate for commercialization.
Intubations are currently performed using a laryngoscope, a device that pries open the passage to the trachea so a breathing tube can be inserted. MAID — which stands for magnetically assisted intubation device — guides the tube in place using magnetic force. A removable, magnet-tipped stylet is placed within a breathing tube, and a strong magnet is placed outside the body, by the Adam’s apple. The pull from the magnet steers the tube into proper position.
“This device has the potential to make quite an impact,” says Shawna Hagen (BME ’12), one of the four students behind MAID. “We get very positive feedback from people in several areas of medicine. Paramedics find it intriguing. So do neonatal respiratory nurses, because intubating an infant can be especially difficult.”
The challenge, says fellow team member Alex Cooper (BME ’12), is getting the market to embrace a new approach to a familiar procedure.
“Everyone who does intubation thinks they’re better than the failure rate,” Cooper says. “It’s amazing how many people have told us that it’ll be great for people who are bad at intubation, but that they’d never mess up the procedure.”
Overcoming such a challenge, he says, will require a business partner with experience in marketing and commercialization. Securing that help as well as venture capital now falls primarily to Hagen, who is employed with GTRI. Cooper and their other teammates, Jacob Thompson and Elizabeth Flanagan, are employed full-time elsewhere.
“We’re currently working with Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Institute to create prototypes of MAID to be used in efficacy testing,” she says. Further proof of MAID’s value may just get medical practitioners to take a second look.
]]>
For more information about the Georgia Tech College of Engineering, visit the website at www.coe.gatech.edu
]]>There is, in fact, a close link between modern manufacturing and the advent of the Internet of Things.
The European Union as a Benchmark
The Factories of the Future (FoF) multi-annual roadmap for the years 2014-2020 under Horizon 2020, the European Union (EU) Framework Program for Research and Innovation, sets a vision that echoes similar projects worldwide. In particular, it “outlines routes towards high added value manufacturing technologies for the factories of the future, which will be clean, highly performing, environmental friendly and socially sustainable.” The EU FoF roadmap sums it up clearly: the factory of the future will be lean, agile and totally integrated.
However, this evolution will not take place in a vacuum. Thanks to the timely convergence of technological, regulatory and societal trends, the communications space is progressively absorbing a new class of denizens, i.e., “things” of all forms and purposes, which are central to what is now being dubbed the “Internet of Things or IoT”.
The Internet of Things as a Catalyst and Purpose
The Internet of Things, following the definition of the International Telecommunication Union, is “a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on, existing and evolving, interoperable information and communication technologies.” It is in the process of being brought to life by many enabling technologies (sensors and actuators, [wireless and wired] networks, [high performance] computing, energy harvesting and storage, encryption [cybersecurity], modeling & simulation, software analytics, etc.). The IoT-related technologies will be accelerating the arrival of the Factory of the Future.
These technologies, when combined together into a system, are best described as “Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)”. According to the US National Science Foundation (NSF), “Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that are built from, and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components. Advances in CPS will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability that will far exceed the simple embedded systems of today.”
Fraunhofer, Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization, made the connection between the “factory of the future”, CPS and IoT while exhibiting their “factory of the future” concept at the last Hannover Messe in April 2014: “The industry needs new solutions for cost-efficient production processes that also preserve resources. The "Integrated Industry" sector has, thus, been in the focus of many research activities at Fraunhofer for some time. Cyber-physical systems link the virtual world to objects of the real world. This creates the "Internet of things" where real products and production processes are linked to the Internet. This accelerates processes and helps to better utilize resources.”
Therefore, the Internet of Things will be at the same time a catalyst as well as a goal of the industrial automation currently underway.
Critical Facets of the Factories of the Future
Future factories will be shaped by the Internet of Things. As this evolution unfolds, several critical features and challenges will emerge such as the ones presented below, which do not necessarily make up an exhaustive list:
Lesser importance of location
Thanks to the immersion of IoT technologies, some functions that are integral to manufacturing need no longer to be co-located while some can be controlled and monitored from faraway places. This is the case for example with additive manufacturing or 3D printing, as it is often called, which allows decoupling of design and prototyping.
Non-vanishing impact of the human factor
Paradoxically, increased automation requires additional manpower, modifying the nature of the demand for labor, e.g., growing requirements for information technology proficiency.
Need for new business models
With the rise of platforms and overwhelming software content (see “That thing looks like hardware, but it’s software now - Building great software on time is at the heart of more and more "hardware" projects, “ by Jim Stogdill at O’Reilly Radar – March 25, 2014), manufacturers will increasingly partner with other suppliers that have a different set of skills and expertise, calling for a rejuvenation of their business model (from a one-time hardware sale to ongoing service as a result of two converging trends, i.e., product “servitization” and software-as-a service.)
Environment-friendly mandates for production and products
IoT technologies will provide the tools to optimize the energy consumption and limit the emission of pollutants. Also, tracking solutions embedded in newly manufactured products, relying on Location-Based Services (LBS), will help lessen the damaging consequences on the environment of e-waste.
Role of standards and international collaboration
IoT Standards should facilitate industrial automation. There are many initiatives (too many to list here), in the IoT standardization arena currently underway. Of special interest to the manufacturing industry given the crucial role of timing and synchronization, in June 2014, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced its support of a CPS-centered research project (“RoseLine”), which is “to develop new clocking technologies, synchronization protocols, operating system methods, as well as control and sensing algorithms.” The NSF press release indicates that this research activity is “to improve the accuracy, efficiency, robustness and security with which computers maintain knowledge of time and synchronize it with other networked devices in the emerging "Internet of Things" (June 13, 2014).”
Beyond interoperability and application, standards will be needed at the product level. This is not lost on many product-focused groups such as IPC (a.k.a. “the Association Connecting the Electronics Industries”, a not-for-profit trade association and standards-developing organization, which represents all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test).
For instance, the program of the IPC TechSummit in October 28-29, 2014 makes room for the Internet of Things. In particular, one of the keynote sessions will examine “the packaging building blocks and emerging technologies required to enable the Internet of Things,” while another one will review key market and industry structural changes that are reshaping the supply chain such as “the emerging "Internet of Things", [which] will also drive significant volumes of low-cost wireless modules and sensors that adapt technologies spawned initially within the mobile and automotive sectors.”
Regarding the need for international cooperation in this area, let’s note a recent initiative (i.e., the Coalition for the Advancement of MicroElectronic Systems Technology (CAMEST)), which is dedicated to the identification and dissemination of the critical technology application knowledge needed for the further development of the electronics industry. This new group identifies gaps in design, manufacturing, test and reliability across all aspects of electronic component assembly and subsystem manufacturing from semiconductor to final assembly. It is an independent organization aimed at fostering collaboration among the global electronics industry, academia, and government. It arose from the efforts of JISSO North America (JNAC), which serves as a forum for members to share information. The Japanese term jisso, for which there is no English word, is not an abbreviation; it evokes the idea of total solutions.
The Pivotal Role of Manufacturing in the Realization of the Internet of Things
In his recent book on IoT architecture, Rethinking the Internet of Things, Francis daCosta summarizes well the impact of IoT technologies on factories: “With the increasing automation of the factory floor, the autonomous or semiautonomous lower–level control and feedback loops made possible through distributed intelligence within the Internet of Things may allow for higher production and better use of human resources. If integrator functions can handle lower-level adjustments and controls of operating machinery, human eyes and minds may be freed for longer-term analysis and optimization, based on exception and historical data collected at a higher level. (p. 135).” What Siemens calls “Totally Integrated Automation or TIA” represents, for all intents and purposes, the ultimate outcome of the IoT insertion in the manufacturing process.
However, factories of the future will not only be molded by IoT technologies but also become an essential building block of the Internet of Things.
Smart Manufacturing is but one facet of the intricate relationship between IoT and the production process. GTMI Executive Director Dr. Ben Wang succinctly and compellingly underscores this fundamental two-way connection: “Smart Manufacturing and Manufacturing Smart are two symbiotic emerging trends that are central to both the radical transformation of the entire manufacturing industry and the development of the Internet of Things.”
Indeed, manufacturing will be expected in a not-too-distant future to incorporate “intelligence readiness” in all products as society will progressively be relying on an IoT-supported infrastructure. This is true both in the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) markets. In this regard, it's worth noting that Internet of Things technologies are one of the Physical Internet (Pi, π) key pillars. The Physical Internet is a groundbreaking, comprehensive logistics system that aims at optimizing the way physical objects are transported, handled, stored, realized, supplied and used throughout the world. As Dr. Benoit Montreuil who has conceived and developed this innovative concept explains: “the Physical Internet is to exploit as best as possible the Internet of Things to enable the ubiquitous connectivity of its π-containers and π-systems.”
“Manufacturing Smart” is a non-trivial challenge since building the Internet of Things straddles a wide range of disciplines. Adrian McEwen and Hakim Cassimally in their must-read guide on Designing the Internet of Things eloquently make this very point: “The Internet of Things is, or should be, the “Internet of Beautiful Things”, and every object, as well as being a crafted, designed, and engineered object, is, or could be, the work of an artist also. Of course, it is a rare Renaissance individual who covers all these disciplines with the fluency and ease that are conducive to creating a truly successful product (p. 19).” As a result, priority will have to be given to the education and training of the future and current industrial workforce that support and effectively foster the IoT-led manufacturing transformation.
About the authors
Andrew Dugenske is the Director of the Factory Information Systems (FIS) Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”) Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). He is also founder and C.E.O. of Factory Right LLC, a software company that provides information technology solutions to manufacturing enterprises and was co-founder and president of Great Technological Collaborations Inc. He is a member of the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) FIS working and implementation groups, the NEMI road mapping team, several IPC technical committees, the JISSO International Council and the joint NEMI-IPC CAMX standardization committees.
Alain Louchez is the Managing Director of the Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies (CDAIT) at Georgia Tech. He chaired the Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference, on “Internet of Things: Trends and challenges in standardization” held in Geneva at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 18, 2014, and will be chairing the IoT standards session at the Second Annual Internet of Things Global Summit to be held in in Washington, DC, USA, on October 27-28, 2014.
]]>Innovation, advanced technology, and balancing competition and collaboration play crucial roles in helping manufacturers thrive today and prepare for the future. Manufacturers increasingly must not only use efficient and productive technologies but also continuously adapt and innovate in the context of finite resources and greater awareness of environmental impacts.
The 2014 Georgia Manufacturing Survey looks at how Georgia manufacturers deploy information, quality management, and production technologies. It also examines the benefits of competing on innovation rather than on low price and indicates the extent of engagement of manufacturers in innovation. The use of outsourcing and in-sourcing is depicted and workforce and training practices are presented. The 2014 Survey also highlights the top concerns of Georgia manufacturers.
Key Findings
STRATEGIES – 14% of Georgia manufacturers chose low price to compete in the marketplace compared to 6% that compete through innovation or new technology.
PROFITABILITY – Profits of Georgia manufacturers generally increased between 2012 and 2014, by 13% on average.
OUTSOURCING – In 2014, 11% of manufacturers were affected by outsourcing, that is, work transferred from a Georgia facility, and 13% gained from in-sourcing, or work transferred to a Georgia facility. These percentages are below those reported in the 2012 survey.
EXPORTING – Nearly half of Georgia manufacturers had export sales, with 20% of manufacturers increasing their export sales in 2013 over 2011 levels. These percentages are below those reported in the 2012 survey.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT – Georgia manufacturers who conducted R&D compare well with manufacturers across the country. However, only 27% of Georgia manufacturers conducted R&D in-house. Only 2% used public loans or grants to pay for R&D and only 16% used R&D tax credits.
MANUFACTURING CONCERNS – 32% of the respondents identified marketing and sales as their top concern. Concerns about the lack of basic and technical workforce skills show the most growth over 2012 levels.
SUSTAINABILITY – Only 9% of Georgia manufacturers have produced a carbon footprint inventory of their facility. While nearly half of large manufacturers produced an emissions inventory, just 2% of small manufacturers have tracked carbon emissions.
TRAINING – More than a quarter (28%) of respondents said technical skills were a top concern. Yet, 29% reported not spending any funds on employee training, whether it involved routine tasks or new capabilities.
INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY – More than half of manufacturers reported using enterprise resource planning, computer aided design, and preventive/predictive maintenance. Plans for investing in new technologies were most common for bar code readers (15%). Plans to invest in new technologies were below 2012 levels.
Overall, as the economy has improved, Georgia manufacturers are reaping current benefits in higher profitability levels but they are not yet expanding innovation, training, and manufacturing technologies.
]]>The 2014 Georgia Manufacturing Survey looks at how Georgia manufacturers deploy information, quality management, and production technologies. It also examines the benefits of competing on innovation rather than on low price and indicates the extent of engagement of manufacturers in innovation. The use of outsourcing and in-sourcing is depicted and workforce and training practices are presented. The 2014 Survey also highlights the top concerns of Georgia manufacturers.
]]>504 Georgia manufacturers with 10 or more employees participated in the survey. The survey was undertaken from February to June 2014. Results were weighted by industry and employment size to represent the population of manufacturers.
Industry groups were as follows:
• Food/Textiles includes food and beverage production, animal feed, apparel and leather.
• Material encompasses industries in wood, pulp and paper, plastics and non-metallic minerals.
• Machinery also includes fabricated metals.
• Electronics/Transportation includes electrical appliances and vehicles.
• Science includes petro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.
]]>Manufacturing Day surveys, completed by more than 41 percent of the event hosts, project that more than 35,000 people participated in this year’s Manufacturing Day program and more than 23,000 of them were students. That is a 500 percent increase over the previous year!
The average length of an event was nearly four hours and 56 percent of the host companies that responded to the survey said that they collaborated with other manufacturers or regional organizations in the planning and execution of their event. So, in addition to community awareness generated with the non-manufacturing segment of each community, these events helped build collaborative relationships with others in the manufacturing sector.
One item event hosts said that they would do differently next year would be to “start planning earlier.” Manufacturing Day 2013 co-producers the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the NIST-MEP program of the Department of Commerce and the Industrial Strength Marketing (ISM) are committed to helping next year’s hosts do just that. Year-round communications and resources will be made available months earlier. In addition, more new resources will be offered to serve community organizations such as chambers of commerce, economic development groups, regional and state manufacturing associations, and MEP centers as well.
To learn more, visit Manufacturing Day 2013’s video here.
Hosts’ videos can be seen here.
Next year’s event is scheduled for October 3. To learn more about this effort, please visit the Manufacturing Day Web site at www.mfgday.com.
AMP 2.0 builds on President Barack Obama’s original AMP initiative that was announced in 2011. This renewed national effort aims to secure U.S. leadership in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality jobs and enhance America’s global competitiveness in the manufacturing arena. During the Feb. 3 meeting, participants will be asked to focus on rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing ecosystem by bringing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) into the advanced manufacturing mix. By providing SMEs access to cutting-edge physical and virtual advanced manufacturing tools, they will be able to support and grow U.S. original equipment manufacturers. Topics to be discussed include:
Advanced manufacturing will sustain U.S. competitiveness in the 21st Century. To ensure that the United States attracts manufacturing activity and remains a leader in knowledge production, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recommended that the nation build a fertile environment for innovation and make investments to ensure the new technologies and design methodologies are developed in the United States and that technology-based enterprises have the infrastructure to flourish here. By attending these regional meetings, attendees can provide the needed feedback to help the United States maintain its edge in the global manufacturing arena.
For a full agenda or to register, please click visit: http://advancedmanufacturing.gatech.edu/
]]>Georgia Tech’s Capstone Design Expo features projects from undergraduates’ senior design courses, in which they work in teams to research problems, create prototypes, and offer solutions. During the four-hour event, about 3,800 people strolled through the facility to check out an automated toy sanitizer, a hair dye that can be safely used by pregnant women, and a robotic hand that mimics a user’s movement via a Microsoft Kinect. Because each major present has its own award category, several top creations can shine.
The most heavily represented fields at the Fall Expo are typically ME, biomedical engineering (BME), electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and industrial design. This semester, though, students studying industrial and systems engineering (ISyE) participated too, making the Fall event one of the largest capstone expos at any university.
“It’s so wonderful to see the Georgia Tech community coming together to celebrate the inventive and entrepreneurial spirit in our graduating seniors,” said Assistant Professor Craig Forest, who helps coordinate the event.
Seniors spend an entire semester working on their projects, often partnering with industry and research sponsors to seek solutions to real-world challenges. By studying doctors’ schedules, for example, a team of ISyE majors helped the Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center boost patient satisfaction and save money.
Some of the work on display was supported by local entrepreneurs. ME’s Team Chill, supported by Tim Harrington, developed a product for serving wine at the proper temperature of 62 degrees. This team is now considering partnering with Harrington and taking their product to market.
A few projects were conceived in an interdisciplinary course that paired ME students with architecture and industrial design majors. The Eye in the Sky team – two ME and two industrial design majors – presented work on body-gesture control for unmanned aerial vehicles. The interdisciplinary award winner, Inovein, was Georgia Tech's first ever ME-BME-ECE team (also supported by entrepreneurial firm, DKF Investments, LLC.)
“The whole class,” said The Eye in the Sky team member Rajitha Siyasena, “revolves around the fact that we can make anything we want.”
Some teams came together for fun! The 3+1 team (consisting of three MEs and one architecture student), which presented a musical tile floor. The group members, who all play instruments, said they came together through their mutual love of music. These students were enrolled in an interdisciplinary course called Design/Think/Make/Do, and while they weren't officially competing in the Expo, they presented and explained their projects at McCamish as well.
Other Expo winners include:
Grand Prize: All Torqued Up
Jeremiah Roberts, Pill Alexander, Chris Gintoli, Jordan Mazaira, Eric Vande Ven and Jeremy Wooten
A lug nut starter that can quickly place a lug nut on a tire so that workers can use a more powerful torque gun to tighten it. (Supported by General Motors).
Industrial design prize: Team Okabashi
Andrea Hunt, Taylor Johns, Josh Mittelman
A system for assembling 2 part sandals, supported by Okabashi, a local sandal producer who currently assembles them by hand
Electrical and computer engineering prize: Tube Amp Group
Adam Bowen, Matthias Denu, Nathan Minor, Anup Omprakash, David Turner
An analog amp combing the authentic sound of a fully analog tube guitar amplifier with the versatility and programmability of a digital guitar amplifier
Industrial and systems engineering prize: To be determined at an ISyE competition, finalists include -
Team Coca-Cola Refreshments
Erinn Manby, Drew Downey, Meredeth Freeman, Kevin Jamison, Sahil Ramakrishnan, Natalie Souther, Max Tanski
optimizing inventory levels at three bottling plants by implementing new ordering policies for the raw materials (supported by Coca-Cola Refreshments)
The Home Depot
Lauren Kley, Drew Keller, Michael Gilkenson, Bryce Ferguson, Robert Faulk, Silvana Vivanco, Jing Mei Ho, Melanie Ostis
improving labor allocation and process flow at The Home Depot paint desk through a simulation model and labor scheduling tool
United Soft Plastics
Yash Dabriwal, Po-Hsian Wang, Patrick Koehler, Chang Woong Yoon, Patrick Chen, Dylan Arnold, Cathy Nguyen, John Kincheloe
improving the order fulfillment process by eliminating quality issues, late shipments, and improving internal processes
Biomedical Engineering prize: Tie between -
Motor Mouth
Charles Kane, Robert Kretschmar, Tim Leigh, Maggie Matheny
a dynamic jaw repositioning device that uses biofeedback to help sufferers of sleep apnea
Thoracic Park
Hilary Lynch, Keval Tilva, Arun Kumar, Harrison Bartlett
a minimally invasive method for repairing mitral valve deformation in the heart, a contributing cause of heart failure
Interdisciplinary prize:Inovein
Virginia Lin, Doug Derito, Chris Harless, Andy Lustig, Rachel Moore
device aids nurses in placing needles into neonatal infants for IV line installation and blood draws (supported by DKF Investments, LLC)
People’s Choice prize: The Home Depot
Lauren Kley, Drew Keller, Michael Gilkenson, Bryce Ferguson, Robert Faulk, Silvana Vivanco, Jing Mei Ho, Melanie Ostis
improving labor allocation and process flow at The Home Depot paint desk through a simulation model and labor scheduling tool
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With the “instant manufacturing” possibilities offered by 3D printing, everyone is considering getting on the bandwagon. “McDonald’s may soon be printing the toys in Happy Meals because kids aren’t happy with the toys they are getting,” explained Dr. Chip White, Schneider National Chair of Transportation and Logistics, Georgia Tech School of Industrial Systems and Engineering. “And a 3D printer has been put in a library in the Baltimore area to allow people to come in and print anything they want. So there is a lot of interest in this manufacturing process.”
But 3D printing is a completely different form of manufacturing, which can drastically impact the supply chain system.
Additive manufacturing processes currently include extrusion, granular, laminated and light polymerized. These processes use materials such as thermoplastics and thermoplastics powders, metal alloys, paper, liquid resins and more. Typically, 3D printing is used for rapid prototyping and manufacturing for automotive, aerospace and medical industries to produce parts, jigs, tools, etc., as well as for manufacturing mass customization products such as art, jewelry, and toys. Because it is more of an “on demand” process, the raw materials, or feedstock, need to be close at hand.
So how will this impact the supply chain and logistics? It will accelerate a shift from “push supply chains” to “pull supply chains.” With 3D printing, the long production runs for mass production will often give way to limited production runs for customer-driven mass customization and build-to-order products. 3D printing is not yet conducive to mass production due its typically higher cost per unit and slower production time per unit. However, with 3D printing, manufacturing will become more agile and better able to react to customer demands. This means there will be less work-in-progress and finished product in transport and in stock and less obsolescence of existing stock. Although the cost per unit may be higher, with reduced storage and less outdated product, the overall supply chain system costs may be lower than that of traditional manufacturing supply chains.
“Products can be made closer to the consumer,” said Dr. White. “3D printing supports a build-to-order, mass customization environment, and in some cases it will allow for product differentiation to be postponed in the supply chain process. There will be a dramatic increase in information transmission. The feedstock, often very versatile and useful for several products, becomes the inventory. This process is ideal for small batches and uncertain demand.”
Instead of manufacturers producing products based on forecasted demands, 3D printing allows for manufacturing based on real-time demand. This results in shorter lead times from order to delivery. “The supply chain will be much more flexible in order to accommodate surges in product demand,” said Dr. White. “This is applicable in many areas, but it certainly has military implications.”
Dr. Ben Wang, Chief Manufacturing Officer for Georgia Tech, said that this trend provides a lot of opportunity for the Southeast. As Dr. White pointed out, 3D printing already is used by industries such as aerospace and automotive. These industries have a large manufacturing presence in the Southeast United States. In fact, Dr. Wang presented a map of the U.S. Southeast with 31 original equipment manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace and power generation sectors – all potential users of 3D printing technology. “These industries have a large presence in the Southeast already,” Dr. Wang explained. “Each of these industries has a supply chain, so we have a great opportunity to collaborate and face the challenges for these supply chains.”
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“It’s sort of the Rodney Dangerfield of research disciplines,” joked Dr. Richard Cowan, Senior Research Scientist and Director at the Georgia Tech Laboratory for Extreme Tribology and Diagnostics, at his Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute Brown Bag Seminar. And like comedian Dangerfield, tribology doesn’t get the respect it deserves, because “people don’t realize the benefits,” added Dr. Cowan.
Tribology is, in fact, the science of interacting surfaces. It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear and, according to Cowan, it involves a variety of disciplines including material science, heat transfer and fluids engineering, to name a few.
And when you think about it, almost every area of research touches on interacting surfaces. Take for example the biomedical field. When developing replacements for body parts, synthetic materials come in contact with natural tissues. Screws and plates interact with bone in fracture repair, and contact lenses are synthetic materials that not only come in contact with human tissue, but are free to glide around the surface of the eye. These are just a couple of examples of how interacting surface research can affect a human’s quality of life.
Traditionally, however, tribology has focused on the wear, corrosion and friction of industrial equipment in manufacturing facilities, and this alone can have a huge impact. In fact, Dr. Cowan explained, “It is estimated that direct and consequential annual loss due to wear is equal to 1 percent to 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product.”
But looking at the basic description of tribology, the science of interacting surfaces goes far beyond industrial equipment. Dr. Cowan encouraged the students and faculty in attendance to consider how minimizing friction and wear in some research areas could be beneficial, while maximizing friction and wear may be productive in others.
To help accommodate research, Dr. Cowan listed the equipment available in his lab:
“The tribosimulator is the core of our research,” said Dr. Cowan. “Much of what we’re doing uses it, including work being done on behalf of the Department of Defense.”
In a nutshell, the Georgia Tech tribosimulator is a unique device that uses electricity to move an object relative to a stationary one versus propelling the object chemically at a very high rate of speed. For the Department of Defense, this means electromagnetic launcher research. Upon reviewing other current research around the world, tribosimulators of a similar nature have been used to measure the coefficient of friction in hot stamping and to improve lubricants of wire films in the production of fasteners. Dr. Cowan closed his presentation by saying, “Our current research may be specific to the Department of Defense’s needs, but try to see the connections that can be made from its use in other areas, such as the high-speed removal of material in subtractive manufacturing.”
Dr. Cowan’s presentation was part of the GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series, which takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
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]]>Dr. Brown recently joined GTMI as a Research Associate with a focus on manufacturing deployment for nanotechnology. Carbon nanomaterials, he noted, are used in energy storage devices to improve energy storage capacity, provide faster recharge, minimize self-charge, provide lighter weight components and offer longer cycle life. In fact, Dr. Brown noted, research in carbon nanomaterials for energy storage is being driven by the environmental benefits offered by electric vehicles. “According to the U.S. Department of Energy, vehicle electrification reduces our dependency on foreign oil by more than 60 percent and greenhouse gases by 40 percent,” he said.
One focus of current research is the use of supercapacitors in electric vehicle powertrains. Supercapacitors bridge the gap between conventional capacitors and rechargeable batteries. “We are always trying to match the energy and power density of the internal combustion engine,” said Dr. Brown. “By developing hybrid storage systems consisting of supercapacitors and lithium batteries, we can help bridge that gap.”
“Batteries have electro-chemical reactions where charge is transferred across the electrode/electrolyte interface but, in supercapacitors, there is no chemical reaction, charge is simply accumulated at the interface,” Dr. Brown continued. “Batteries have problems with the decomposition of electrolyte and electrode corrosion, so the cycle life of a battery is much less than supercapacitors.”
The current electrode material for supercapacitors, Dr. Brown explained, is activated carbons, but research in new materials for supercapacitors is focused on advanced carbon nanomaterials (ACN). ACNs are not currently on the market because they have a much higher cost than activated carbons. But they offer many advantages over the current materials in that they provide an ultra-low resistivity, lower pore resistance, lower contact resistance, higher specific capacitance, and enhanced chemical stability. That is why there is a “trend toward using nanostructured carbons such as carbon nanotubes and graphenes in supercapacitors; and these same materials as supports for new sulfur and silicon electrodes in lithium batteries,” Dr. Brown said. “These materials can ultimately improve driving range, fuel economy, cost, performance, and reliability of electric vehicles.”
But moving these materials into mainstream manufacturing processes will take some time. “Tens of billions of dollars have been invested in nanomaterials because they offer great promise,” said Dr. Brown. “But they have shown little return. Scalability and manufacturing methods for easy incorporation into products are the two major stumbling blocks.”
Dr. Brown’s presentation was part of the GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series, which takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
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]]>To make agile manufacturing a reality, he explained, manufacturers are utilizing a robot coworker platform. But robots are expensive and the cost to install and support them increases the costs. For small to medium-sized (SME) manufacturers, especially in the United States, that is a hard pill to swallow. According to Dr. King, U.S. SME production is 50 percent compared to 58 percent in the European Union, and “robots are part of the reason the EU is outpacing the US,” he said.
The nature of SME manufacturers is to have a low to medium production volume, but with a high product mix and customization. Because of their smaller size, SMEs have limited money for equipment investment and limited engineering staff. This explains why SMEs have not typically incorporated robots into their manufacturing processes.
DTI Robotics wants to encourage adoption of robots in SME manufacturing. To do this, they are focusing research on developing robots suitable for SMEs. That means the robots must be:
They should also require lower set up times and reduce costs related to operation changes.
Affordability is a key hurdle for SMEs. To address this issue, DTI has identified three key areas that can greatly reduce the cost of robot deployment: the robot itself, the auxiliary equipment for stabilizing the robot when it is installed, and the software integration. “A company may be able to afford the cost of the robot but not to deploy it,” said Dr. King. “To work in the factory, it requires an additional 40 percent for the software and another 30 percent to make sure it is stabilized and installed properly.”
Unfortunately, for now, there is “no abstraction of knowledge to translate work into robot language,” added Dr. King. DTI Robotics has developed a Robot Operating System (ROS) for industrial purposes. The ROS pulls data from hardware, provides real-time control, offers simulation and visualization tools, and supports a developers’ community with vast libraries of data. Of course, the ROS has its challenges. “Network security is a question,” said Dr. King. “And robustness is also an issue. If the system works 90 percent of the time, that means manufacturing is down for 13 minutes. You need at least 99 percent robustness.”
Flexibility of the robot is also crucial. DTI research has targeted haptic manipulation, reactive grasp vs. planned grasp, and flexibility vs. performance vs. cost. “We need to look at it holistically to really reduce the costs,” said Dr. King. “If it costs $100,000, is it plausible to deploy it? Probably not. You have to look at the amount of flexibility versus the cost.”
Flexible configurations being studied by DTI will allow users to replace “attachments” on the robot to pick up various types of parts. In addition, users will be able to use a tablet to change the program for particular parts and actions. DTI is also trying to develop a three-finger robot, which typically costs $20,000, for a mere $5,000. Other improvements include using 3D scanning technology on the robot to allow it to conduct random bin picking. This means the robot can scan the contents of a bin to find the part it needs and retrieve it from the bin although there are other types of parts in the same bin.
In addition to reducing costs and increasing flexibility, bin picking “has been consistently identified as a key process for agile assembly robots,” said Dr. King.
Dr. King’s presentation was part of the GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series, which takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
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]]>After providing a brief overview of Georgia Tech, GTMI and his Factory Information Systems lab, Dugenske explained that GTMI and FIS use web applications to help companies reduce cycle times and decrease costs in their manufacturing operations. “We use the YUI Javascript Framework in a variety of Georgia Tech projects,” he added. “A few years back, FIS benchmarked Javascript frameworks and YUI came up on top.”
Dugenske had plenty of opportunity to present Georgia Tech’s capabilities at the event. He first spoke in the lightening demos portion of the conference and described the challenges of implementing software systems in factories and communicating with manufacturing equipment vs. “the very well-defined systems that most of the audience works with.” In addition, he worked with Yahoo! engineers to analyze some of the YUI code.
“As the Internet of Things makes its way further into the manufacturing field, it is critical to continue improving human-machine and machine-to-machine interaction,” said Dugenske. “This event provided a wonderful opportunity to explain how GTMI and FIS can assist manufacturers move in the right direction.”
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]]>The symposium brings together policymakers, business leaders, scholars and journalists to define and advance innovative, nonpartisan, and action-oriented ideas and policies to help rebuild the American Dream. The first year will focus on renewing middle class jobs, and three commissions will examine topics in manufacturing, entrepreneurship and self-employment, and infrastructure investment.
The program is co-chaired by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh. Other members of the commission on manufacturing include:
“For generations, small- and medium-sized manufacturers have provided stable, good-paying jobs for middle-class Americans,” said Bayh. “As we move rapidly into the 21st-century global economy, we need fresh thinking to ensure that these companies can continue to grow and put people to work.”
Barbour said, “The public has understandably lost confidence in Washington’s ability to generate common-sense, bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges. This commission will bring together policymakers, scholars, industry leaders and other stakeholders to craft those solutions – the type of people that can achieve broad consensus and develop actionable ideas, not just more rhetoric.”
The commission is expected to release recommendations in February.
Funding for this initiative was provided by philanthropist, business and civic leader Howard P. Milstein.
More information on the Milstein Symposium is available at http://millercenter.org/conferences/2013/milstein.
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Communications Manager
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]]>Soneter has developed a product and service that extends the smart grid technology to water and gas meters. The firm initially targeted multi-family residential customers, but has since expanded to commercial/industrial and public sector groups through the help of ATDC.
Compared to current water and gas monitoring technologies, the unique aspects of Soneter’s technology are that it is lower cost and non-invasive – i.e., doesn’t require cutting pipes. The company uses ultrasonics to monitor low-flow pipes using off-the-shelf, low-cost software. “The software costs approximately $750 compared to the thousands of dollars you will spend on meters,” Duggar explained. “And we’re adding wireless communications to provide information to the end user whether that is the property manager, resident, or facilities manager. That is all tied back into the Web.”
Soneter’s product-enabled service does more than simply capture the data, however. It also reports analytics such as how much time the resident spends in the shower or how much water is used in the manufacturing process. In addition to flow-specific analytics, Soneter also offers back-end billing software.
In terms of manufacturing the product, again ATDC has proven to be of great assistance. “Currently we are producing these through contract manufacturing,” said Duggar. “ATDC put us in contact with those manufacturers, and have developed a lot of interest with other industrial partners who have an interest in the technology.”
Duggar also clarified the difference between Georgia Tech’s VentureLab and ATDC incubation services. “VentureLab is focused on faculty and students,” Duggar explained. “ATDC is focused more on entrepreneurs with established start-up businesses looking to expand. VentureLab helps someone become a company but they move to ATDC once they are a company.”
The biggest challenge Soneter has faced in developing its business, Duggar said, “is bridging that gap between prototype to production-level product.”
Duggar’s presentation was part of the GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series, which takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
]]>Director, Strategic Partnerships
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]]>The reason for this emphasis on assisting manufacturers in Georgia is the impact the sector has on the state’s economy. Manufacturing makes up the second largest sector of Georgia’s Gross Domestic Product. It employs more than 350,000 Georgians or about 8.5 percent of all jobs in Georgia. But more importantly, it makes up 84 percent of exports out of Georgia, and manufacturing in the state pays 15.8 percent higher than the state average wage.
The GaMEP has about 50 employees located throughout the state to help provide services in commercialization, entrepreneurship and extension services for a variety of industries. “This is what the state wants us to do,” said Fite. “The manufacturing services has been around the longest, but we also serve healthcare, procurement, diversity and economic development.”
On the national level, MEPs assist approximately 34,000 firms each year and complete 10,000 projects annually. MEPS were developed in the early 1990s, and now there is one in each state. GaMEP has representatives located throughout nine regions across the state to assist primarily small and mid-sized manufacturers.
The National Institutes of Standards and Technology have given the MEPs the mission to focus on five key areas of manufacturing assistance:
GaMEP touches all of these areas, but because of the work of the state’s technical college system, they do not focus their efforts too much on workforce development. One way it has found to best assist Georgia manufacturers, however, is to survey them every two years. “It is one thing to assume we know the challenges,” said Fite, “but it is another to ask Georgia manufacturers what their challenges are.”
Fite highlighted a few of the key findings from the most recent survey. Marketing and sales, for example is always among the top needs identified by Georgia manufacturers. On the other hand, product development and design is low on their list of challenges. “The interesting news is that insourcing is starting to exceed outsourcing,” Fite explained. “This is the first year insourcing is higher. Georgia manufacturers are starting to say, ‘How can we grow our business and bring more work in?’ ”
For most survey respondents, when presented with four strategy options, the majority (56.1 percent) of Georgia manufacturers said that they expect to grow their business by focusing on high-quality product. The other strategy options broke down as follows:
Fite pointed out, however, that the firms who can help the Georgia economy the most are those who focus on innovation and technology. This strategy provides a higher return on sales and employee salaries are higher, thus having a more positive impact on the state’s economy.
The challenge is that Georgia firms typically do not invest in R&D as much as their counterparts around the nation. Manufacturing R&D intensity, or R&D expenditures as a percentage of sales, on the national level is 4.5 percent. In Georgia, however, it is only about 1 percent.
Unfortunately, as Fite previously pointed out, this can ultimately impact our economy by reducing the return on sales and lowering manufacturing wages. “We try to explain to them that they need to innovate,” she said. “If you aren’t innovating, you are losing ground.”
A unit of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, GaMEP is a cost-effective alternative to traditional manufacturing consulting. To learn more about GaMEP, please visit: http://gamep.org/.
Fite’s presentation was part of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s weekly Brown Bag Seminar Series. The seminars take place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu
]]>Director, Strategic Partnerships
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]]>The question is, how do you get the product out the door? According to Casteel, one way is to participate in the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Castell manages the SBIR/STTR program for ATDC. The federally funded SBIR/STTR programs are potential sources for funding research that enable small companies to compete for and conduct scientific/technical research with the potential of commercialization. The only caveat being that the research should lead to a commercial product for the company.
These programs were established in the late 1970s/early 1980s as research began to show that large companies were no longer the dominant job producers. When job creation shifted to small companies, the Federal government wanted to establish programs to help the development of new companies. The program undergoes reauthorization from Congress every seven years, and last year the programs received reauthorization. Some agencies capped awards at $1 million at this time.
Government agencies that currently participate in SBIR/STTR include:
Most programs have $100 million in the budget for SBIR. Those marked with asterisks have $500 million in the budget for SBIR and STTR. Each agency and sub-agency has its own criteria for awards, and some offer contract work while others offer grants.
“Be aware of the difference, and know the agency and its interests,” said Casteel. “That is key. No two agencies are alike. No two SBIR/STTR agency programs are alike.”
To understand their interests, Casteel recommends studying the various agencies’ issue solicitations. She noted that some agencies request proposals one time a year, while others have multiple requests throughout the year. Typically, she explained, you have 30-90 days to prepare the proposal, but it is important to note that these agencies do not accept unsolicited proposals.
Generally speaking there are three phases related to SBIR/STTR awards. Phase One is the proof of concept/feasibility portion, which takes 6-9 months for SBIR and 12 months for STTR. Phase II in both programs takes approximately 2 years and this is the phase in which the award recipient conducts research and development toward prototype and scale-up. Both programs have funds for the first two phases. However, there are no SBIR/STTR funds available for Phase III, or the commercialization phase.
To qualify for SBIR/STTR awards, a company must meet the following qualifications:
These programs can be beneficial to manufacturing, especially since the primary focus is to produce a product. “SBIR/STTR is more than a research project,” said Casteel. “You must demonstrate you have a plan to actually get the innovation produced and to market if you are successful in your research.”
For more information on ATDC’s SBIR/STTR, please visit www.atdc.org/?SBIR or contact Connie Casteel at connie@atdc.org. Casteel also offers updates on various agency RFPs via twitter: @CCasteel2.
Casteel’s presentation was part of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s weekly Brown Bag Seminar Series. The seminars take place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu
]]>Director, Strategic Partnerships
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“This is a really important partnership for Georgia Tech,” said Dr. Steve Cross, Executive Vice President for Research, Georgia Tech. “We are trying to work on the Georgia Tech culture so that we are an industry-friendly research university.”
Cross explained that the university has streamlined its contracting system to enable industry to more easily engage Georgia Tech researchers. Georgia Tech has put in place four contract mechanisms including Basic Research, Applied Research, Demonstration and Specialized Training. The goal is to offer various levels of assistance at all stages of R&D.
According to Rob Stoker, Boeing Senior Manager, Collaboration, this has been a good move. “We are focusing a lot on the transition from R&D to production,” he explained. “We need to make sure that we are communicating our needs to drive the research. The contract instruments you were talking about, [Steve] are a big part of that.”
Don Mottaz, Director of Assembly and Integration, Boeing Research and Technology, reiterated Stoker’s thought. “This relationship is going to be very important moving forward for many reasons including, obviously, competition reasons,” he said. “We need to easily put in place contracts and in the long term, we want you to be a partner for us. This [process] is really key and the partnership will help us build exciting new products and accelerate innovation.”
Results of this win-win partnership were highlighted throughout the 1.5-day program. Principal Investigator Dr. Shreyes Melkote, Associate Director of GTMI, kicked off the meeting by explaining that this strategic partnership focuses on basic and applied research to produce “next generation manufacturing technologies, including design and materials.”
Ongoing projects in the variation analysis and hardware and software integration arenas, were highlighted on the first day. The Boeing visitors also participated in tours of the GTMI Boeing Lab, Wind Tunnel Lab, and the Techway Robotics Lab. Some were even allowed to operate the latest in crane technology during one of the lab visits.
The program also promoted student work. On the first day, 13 students participated in a lunch-time poster session. Students are a key part of this program, according to Stoker, who reported that the company has hired 30 Georgia Tech students throughout the program. In fact, since 2011, the program has generated 25 PhD students, 21 master’s students, 18 undergrads, and two post-docs.
“We try to leverage the strengths that we have at Georgia Tech, and match those to the needs at Boeing,” said Dr. Melkote. “And most importantly, you recruit the product we make best – our students.”
]]>Communications Manager
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]]>The purpose of this meeting was two-fold. “First, this meeting is to help guide the long-term strategy of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute so that it is a world leader in critical areas of manufacturing research,” said Theresa Kotanchek, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Evolved Analytics and Chair of the GTMI External Advisory Board. “Second, the meeting is to educate the board members on the research taking place at GTMI.”
GTMI board members in attendance included:
The day-long event included research presentations on additive manufacturing, bio-inspired design, next generation fibers, model-based systems engineering, printed electronics, and sustainable manufacturing from key research leaders at Georgia Tech. Board members also heard a panel discussion on Georgia Tech’s involvement in the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation, and panelist sought ways to further engage industry in the process. Panel moderator and Georgia Tech Research Institute Executive Director, Industry Strategy and Communications, Don McConnell, also posed the question of which areas of research should be the focus of the federal Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 program based on the 16 recommended topics named by AMP 1.0. Advanced manufacturing and testing equipment; advanced sensing, measurement and process control; sustainable manufacturing; and biomanufacturing and bioinformatics were among the top-listed research areas among GTMI’s board.
]]>Director, Strategic Partnerships
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]]>As part of this new role, Dr. Wang participated in the kick-off meeting for AMP 2.0 on Sept. 30. The goal of the call was to outline the AMP 2.0 structure and provide a statement of work for the initiative.
“It is an honor to represent Georgia Tech in this role,” said Dr. Wang. “The inaugural AMP laid the groundwork for a renewed manufacturing sector in the United States, and version 2.0 will help re-establish the United States as the world leader in manufacturing. This is an exciting time for manufacturing, and I am happy to be a part of this initiative.”
Dr. Peterson also named GTMI Associate Director Dr. Shreyes Melkote and Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships Tina Guldberg to the subject matter expert and external engagement working teams, respectively.
AMP 2.0 encourages approaches that sustain and grow U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing, making the United States a magnet for jobs and investment; fostering broad, long-term collaboration among industry, academia, and government partners to drive advances in U.S. innovation and work force capabilities. The inaugural AMP program issued 16 recommendations across enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline, and improving the business climate.
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]]>“Exports are one of the few ways to increase wealth and quality of life for citizens,” said Dr. Wang. “And we must produce to export.”
He also stressed the importance of new technologies such as 3D printing. This technology has applications in a wide variety of industries, such as aerospace, automotive, bio-medical, repair and maintenance. “It can reduce lead times from 28 months for spare parts to less than two months,” he explained.
More importantly, however, it is critical for the United States to face two grand challenges in order to improve global competitiveness. First, it currently takes approximately 20 years to move a new technology from the research lab to the marketplace. Second, new products and new technologies need to stay here and be manufactured here in the United States rather than shift the production to low-cost countries.
“We must speed innovation to market and we must build here,” said Dr. Wang. “To do this, we must work together.”
More details from the event were reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting:
Tax Credits Elude Companies
By Claire Simms, GPB
Richard Kopelman, Chairman of the Next Generation Manufacturing Conference, believes there are two main challenges for Georgia’s manufacturing companies: finding qualified workers and using government incentives effectively.
“Eighty-two percent of manufacturers aren’t taking advantage of the tax credits and incentives available to them,” explained Kopelman, who is also a CPA and managing partner at accounting firm Habif, Arogti and Wynne.
That figure was based on the 2012 Georgia Manufacturing Survey conducted by Kopelman’s firm, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State.
“Even here in Georgia with great tax incentives and people out there touting it, companies either have their head in the sand or just don’t think or are being told that they’re not able to take advantage of these things,” said Kopelman. “They’re passing on them.”
Kopelman said the conference, which was held Tuesday at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, is designed to help manufacturers share knowledge about industry innovations, opportunities and best practices.
“I think everybody probably walks away with something different,” Kopelman added. “They’re meeting other manufacturers outside of their own vertical space they usually spend their time in.”
The other major challenge Kopelman highlighted is the disconnect between those who need jobs in Georgia and the skills needed to do those jobs.
“There [are] 4 million unfilled technical jobs in America today because there’s a mismatch of skill sets,” said Kopelman.
One way the state has been working to alleviate that problem is through the Georgia Quick Start program. The resource is free for companies and helps create training programs to get Georgia workers up to speed.
“They’ve been fantastic to work with,” said Todd Henry, Operations Manager for Caterpillar’s new plant in Athens. “Working in conjunction with Athens Technical College, they’ve been able to build a custom training facility for us, which really is world class and they’ve been able to develop the curriculum we need to train the employees to really come into Caterpillar, go through the training and then from day one when they enter the plant, they’re ready to go.”
Caterpillar is set to begin production at its new plant in October. The company currently employs 275 people at the Athens facility, but plans to increase that to 325 workers by the end of the year.
“Right now we’re hiring for really all positions. We’re looking for shop floor leadership positions. We’re looking for assemblers and we’re looking for welders,” Henry said.
The company has said in the past it plans to hire a total of 1400 employees once it is fully operational. Henry said Caterpillar will expand to 900 workers by the end of 2015. The next 500 positions will depend on industry performance, Henry added.
Kopelman emphasized that tax breaks can help manufacturing companies expand. The passage of Georgia’s manufacturing energy tax credit has helped the industry, but Kopelman said some localities have added taxes which counteract that.
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]]>Corley updated Georgia Tech students and faculty on clean diesel engines as part of his Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute Brown Bag Seminar on Sept. 9. Demand for clean diesel is certainly on the rise. In 2012, Corley’s company, Deutz Group, had more than $1.7 billion in revenue.
“We’re not a well-known brand,” he explained. “We don’t make the end product, but a lot of our customers do.” Those customers include such well-known names as AGCO and Volvo, which use Deutz engines in their products.
Government regulations are requiring cleaner engines. In 2007, all on-road engines manufactured had to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards, which led to the development of diesel particulate filters. In 2012, the EPA further reduced the level of nitrogen oxides (NOx).
“EPA is very stringent about meeting their standards,” said Corley. “And they have no problems with putting fines on you.”
Now, technologies are being added to monitor diesel engines. A light signals when the engine is not in line with standards and the vehicle owner must go to the dealership for repair.
For a country that has not had to suffer high fuel costs until the past decade, there was little to no demand for diesel engines. Now, Corley noted, his company is seeing more convert from gas to diesel, which may have a positive impact on gasoline consumption.
“Owners of Audi TDI engines have helped save more than 4 million gallons of gas, or the equivalent of more than 240,000 barrels of foreign oil,” said Corley. “TDI technology delivers better fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance. Diesel engines can do more than a hybrid can do.”
Corley also noted that Deutz’s remanufacturing business is on the rise, which further enhances its environmental impact. “Remanufacturing creates 70 percent in raw material savings, and it reduces energy use by 60 percent,” he noted. “It is a low-cost, high-quality production alternative. Our warranty is the same as new. It’s also good for the economy because it creates jobs locally.”
Deutz is a sales, service, genuine parts and application engineering center for the Americas, supporting the Deutz product range of 30 - 700 hp diesel and natural gas engines. Located northeast of Atlanta, the company employs more than 125 people covering all aspects of marketing and support.
The GTMI Brown Bag Semina Series takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
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]]>Speaking to a crowded room at her Sept. 16 Brown Bag Seminar at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Dr. Youtie also explained that others argue that manufacturing is a declining industry and we don’t need to pursue policy that encourages it. The industry sector has lost 1.6 million jobs since 2007 and has shown a steep decline in the number of establishments.
However, Dr. Youtie argues: “Productivity has gone up. People are still buying things, and manufacturing has gotten better about making things.”
Although durable goods took a hit during the downturn, productivity has rapidly increased over the last three years. And where there was a drop in manufacturing’s percentage of gross domestic product, we are beginning to see an uptick. “So it is much more complicated than just saying manufacturing is a declining industry,” said Dr. Youtie.
From a historical perspective, manufacturing has had a significant technological and societal impact. We have seen the rise of automation and microprocessors in the 1960s and ‘70s, to robotics, internet, biotech, and lightweight materials in the following decades. But these technologies did not come about without challenges such as job loss, deskilling and outsourcing.
Starting in the 1980s, manufacturing faced many challenges and the U.S. trade surplus became a trade deficit with the rise in Toyota products. The gap between large manufacturers’ productivity and their small and mid-sized counterparts began to widen. At the time, “our large manufacturers were as good as any in the world,” said Dr. Youtie, “but not our small and mid-sized manufacturers (SME). There was a huge gap.”
SMEs once made up 70 percent of manufacturing productivity, but today they only make up 60 percent. The difference in productivity can be linked to the fact that large manufactures use new technologies, whereas SMEs use new technologies much less frequently. “The uptake in technology is one reason for this gap between large manufacturing productivity and SME productivity,” said Dr. Youtie.
SME has constraints in terms of adopting technology, including:
As the gap continues to expand, Dr. Youtie suggests that it is time to intervene. SMEs lack knowledge and resources, but large customers, vendors and consultants don’t and can’t support the SMEs in their plight. From a government perspective, there are gaps in public providers, a lack of service coordination and a lack of supporting policies for SMEs.
There have been policy attempts to help since the late 1980s, according to Dr. Youtie. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act established regional technology transfer centers to move technology from federal labs to SMEs. These didn’t work as planned, so in 1993, the Technology Reinvestment Act was announced, which expanded the federal Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program to all 50 states.
During the 2000s the economy took a nosedive and low-cost, technologically capable global competitors began to pull manufacturing away from the United States. In order to compete with the lower-wage nations, the general consensus was that for the United States to compete, we had to be more innovative. In 2007, the America COMPETES Act was rolled out. MEP services were to focus on next generation manufacturing and offering toolkits to promote growth. MEP responded with its Next Generation Manufacturing Strategy 2008. “Systemized growth services was the big effort to promote innovation and new products,” explained Dr. Youtie. “Today, there is a renewed effort for advanced manufacturing.”
These new efforts target the Technology Readiness Levels of 4, 5 and 6, or the “valley of death” in the U.S. technology maturation process. Three big initiatives have been introduced, including the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, and Manufacturing Technology Acceleration Centers.
“These new policy changes may mean changes in technology: additive manufacturing, digital design and lightweight materials,” concluded Dr. Youtie. “Whole segments of manufacturing will be wiped out.”
The GTMI Brown Bag Semina Series takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
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]]>“90 percent of tooling in these two plants come from Germany or Korea," said Shrotria, who discussed the U.S. tooling engineer shortage at a recent Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute Brown Bag Seminar. "Are we creating a new generation of blue collar workers or very highly skilled manufacturing employees?”
The tooling engineer workforce that was developed in the mid-20th century is hitting retirement age, and the United States has not invested in developing a new crop of these skilled workers. “We have relied heavily on new technologies to give us the advantage over the competition in terms of tooling, but that has not borne the fruit that we expected,” said Shrotria. “Today tool and die shops are shutting down in Pennsylvania and other places because the skill set is not being developed. This lack of training of second generation tooling engineers in the United States is going to hit us hard as other countries build this workforce and we do not.”
Tooling is a very specialized area of manufacturing and mechanical engineering which comprises of the analysis, planning, design, construction, application tools, methods, procedures and techniques, necessary to increase manufacturing productivity in the economy. It requires an apprenticeship period, usually lasting about four years. The investment in that four years is a hindrance for some, but it is an investment that begins to pay off before the training is completed, according to Shrotria. “By the fourth year, the investment in the student begins to generate returns,” he added.
After four years, a tooling engineer can expect to make $9 to $21 per hour. “Some ask if a burger flipper can make $9 an hour, why put in the effort? But those jobs aren’t skilled,” noted Shrotria. “Tooling is a skilled job and it will lead somewhere.” If tool design skills are included in the training or picked up later, the pay for these workers increases to $18 to $40-plus per hour.
The reason the United States is falling behind is because the U.S. education system is unfriendly to producing tool designers and tool makers, according to Shrotria. Unlike its European and Asian counterparts, the United States fails to set up a system that identifies those students more suited for university and the ones more suited for tooling programs.
“If all the money in the world was distributed equally amongst all peoples on this planet, then in the first 1 hour of the equal distribution, there will be some that will have more than 50 times what was given to them,” explained Shrotria. “The difference is based on intellect. In the United States, everyone is equal, but in Europe, they identify engineer students that are qualified to move onto university and the ones better suited for another [tooling] program. The United States does not acknowledge this.”
Many of the most successful tooling training programs are propagated by the Europeans throughout the world. China and other Asian competitors have programs set up to train tooling engineers and the United States continues to fall behind. “We have realized this a little too late,” said Shrotria. “Some say we can import these workers, but importing is not a solution; it is a temporary fix. To grab the edge in manufacturing, we need more specialized tooling engineers versus more engineers overall.”
To do this, Shrotria provided a list of recommendations:
“There must be a strong public private partnership to develop this skill set,” said Shrotria. “In Malaysia and Singapore they pay tool makers very well – not only from the company but the government chips in to pay these workers during that four years of training. It is this strong partnership between public and private sectors that brings these programs to life.”
The GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
]]>404-385-4950
]]>The reason the Internet of Things is so important to manufacturing and other industries is that change comes from data, and data will come from “things” as more and more companies incorporate sensors and track information on processes, products and services. But what exactly is the Internet of Things? According to Louchez, it is “a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting physical and virtual things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies.”
In other words, it is the link between human and non-human things such as personal devices. By 2025, said Louchez, there will be at least 50 billion “things” connected to the Internet.. There are currently 6.8 billion mobile phones on the planet, and “we will see 1.4 billion smart phones in use on the planet by the end of the year – and probably two-thirds of those will be connected to Facebook,” Louchez noted.
To advance data exchange and gathering, in June 2012, the world was introduced to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), “which changed the magnitude of the Internet by many, many levels,” Louchez said. “We moved from 4.3 billion Internet addresses with IPv4 to 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses available on the Internet with IPv6.”
The Internet of Things is a vision of society where we regroup the technologies behind everything we do – a movement toward a hyper-connected society. By 2025, with 50 billion “things” connected to the Internet, on average, there will be more than 6 objects connected to the Internet per person on earth, and the sensors in those objects track everything you do. “It’s going to be big and it’s going to touch everything,” said Louchez. “Manufacturing will be a big part of that.”
Many companies already have a corporate focus on the Internet of Things but use different names. GE, for example, uses what it calls the Industrial Internet. Bosch has the Internet of Things and Services, while Ericson talks of a social Web of things and networked society. But, Internet of Things technologies have not yet reached its peak. According to a recent study by Gartner, it will take 10-15 years to reach the "plateau of productivity." Right now, said Louchez, “We are taking all the ‘things’ and elevating them to the level of people. It’s a revolution, and a revolution does not take place over night.”
For manufacturing, Internet of Things will create the manufacturing plant of the future. It is the core of future manufacturing. It will also provide direct contact with what is going on in the supply chain. In fact, Louchez said, “Over the next 10 years, advanced manufacturing will become globally linked as automation and digital supply chain management become the norm across enterprise systems.”
Internet of Things initiatives are being put in place around the world. According to Louchez, China is far ahead of the United States. Internet of things took a prominent role in a 12-year strategic plan in this country. Today, more than 40 China universities offer a degree in the Internet of Things.
Germany launched an initiative called Industry 4.0. The goal of this initiative is to recreate manufacturing so that Germany is more productive and more efficient. The initiative lays out plans to “shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” explained Louchez. “And it will all be driven by Internet of Things technologies (e.g., cyber-physical systems). In other words, the factories of the future will optimize and control their manufacturing processes largely by themselves, so we need to be looking toward the future.”
If there is one thing Louchez wanted participants to take from the presentation, it is this: “The Internet of Things will have a bidirectional impact.” It will impact manufacturing processes through greater automation, tracing, optimization and human interaction. And on the end-product side of things, manufactured goods will be embedded with Internet of Things technologies that will transform the socioeconomic fiber, including marketing, sales, information management, business models, city life, and more, explained Louchez. He added, “Internet of Things-embedded goods will transform society.”
Louchez’s presentation was part of the GTMI Brown Bag Seminar Series, which takes place each Monday between noon and 1 p.m. in the Manufacturing Research Building, Room 114. Students and faculty are invited and are welcome to bring their lunch to the meeting. If you have questions or you want to be added to the reminder list for these events, please contact Tina Guldberg at tina.guldberg@gatech.edu.
]]>Director, Strategic Partnerships
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]]>The full article is below:
Nick Boulis has the audacity to believe, out loud, that discoveries and therapies designed to improve the human condition – world-changing breakthroughs that have been happening and are happening right now in Georgia – are just as important as fighter planes or even football.
Sure, he might be bordering on sacrilege, but Boulis is a groundbreaking Emory neurosurgeon working on cutting-edge therapies to treat some of mankind’s most devastating, incurable (so far) maladies. So he comes to his blasphemy from an honest place.
“There are those who actually think it might be almost as important as throwing a football,” Boulis says in almost hushed tones.
“I want people to get excited about the fact that we are pioneers in biomedicine, that we have earned hometown bragging rights, and we should have civic pride and invest in this kind of work the way we invest in our sports teams or our war machine, because it means Georgia and Atlanta are really badass.”
The kind of badass work Boulis is talking about encompasses the relatively new field of regenerative medicine – the process of repairing, replacing or regenerating damaged human cells, tissues, bones or organs, sometimes through stimulating the body’s innate repair mechanisms, sometimes with the help of stem cells and the creation of tissues, organs and whatnot in the lab.
It’s a growing effort under the biotech umbrella, and its bringing together scientists from some of Georgia’s leading research universities in a widespread collaborative endeavor.
While Georgia leaders still warm themselves in the afterglow of last year’s announcement that Baxter International is going to build a $1-billion plasma processing plant about 40 miles east of Atlanta, the really interesting stuff is happening in university labs and in clinical trials, where the long-promised potential of stem cell research grows ever closer to becoming a bedside reality.
“The field is moving fast, and this is a really good sign for all of us in the future,” says Steve Stice, professor and director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia.
Stice adds a critical “however.”
The challenge, of course, is money, or the lack of it. Federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH, the largest source of support for medical research, comprises less than one percent of the total U.S. budget) has been declining steadily since 2003. And most recently, federally im-posed sequestration is forcing the NIH to cut about $1.55 billion from its FY 2013 budget, which means about 700 fewer grants this year. House Republicans have already suggested further cuts to NIH next year.
“Most people don’t realize that science isn’t done today [and] then there’s a new drug tomorrow,” Stice says. “What’s happening is jeopardizing our future.”
Bob Guldberg, executive director of Georgia Tech’s Parker H. Petit (it’s pronounced “petite”) In-stitute for Bioengineering & Bioscience, goes to Washington, D.C., three times a year to review applications for the NIH group he leads.
“And it’s really depressing to read about this great science and that great research that is unfortunately not going to be funded because the funding rates have fallen so low,” says Guldberg, who chairs the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering Study Section in the Center for Scientific Review (part of NIH).
“I worry about younger investigators, new faculty and students; worry that they’re going to see the landscape and come to the conclusion that research is just too difficult, so they won’t get into the field,” Guldberg says. “Think about the long-term effects of that. The funding issue is slowly sapping the vitality from the U.S. research enterprise and innovation engine.”
For people in the business of healing, like Dr. Boulis, the slowing trickle of public money reflects more than a troubled economy: There are some misplaced priorities at work.
“We can spend billions and billions on joint task force fighters. With the price of one of those planes we can do so much,” says an annoyed Boulis. “I doubt they’re sequestering money for bombs. Whatever. The bottom line is, the main limitation is dollars.”
Boulis and his team at Emory won FDA approval to start clinical trials to inject neural stem cells into patients with spinal cord injuries, a planned venture that would happen at Emory and Shepherd Center in Atlanta.
“Unfortunately, we’re sitting in dry dock,” Boulis says. “We don’t have the money to do it.”
Even so, Boulis is conducting other revolutionary clinical trials and scientists are making discoveries that may lead to treatments for catastrophic neurological disorders, while Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Georgia Tech have just embarked on a $20-million partnership (they anted up $10 million each), bringing Tech’s engineers together with Emory physicians at CHOA in a quest to develop medical technologies for pediatric care, with an emphasis on medical devices, nanomedicine and regenerative medicine.
In April 2012, after a long search, Baxter International said it was coming to Georgia and creating 1,500 jobs at a plant it was going to develop near rural Social Circle. The Research Triangle, it ain’t. But still, this is pretty huge for a state that has been trying for years to break into the biotech upper echelon. (We still lag far behind places like California, Massachusetts and, here in the southeast, North Carolina.)
“The importance of that announcement to our industry can’t be understated,” says Russell Allen, president and CEO of the biotech industry trade organization Georgia Bio. “It puts us on the map, improves our image to the rest of the world as a serious bioscience presence.”
In January (as it does every year), Georgia Bio announced its Deals of the Year in life sciences, recognizing significant transactions by pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Baxter was the easy winner in the Economic Development category for 2012.
The top deal in the Public/Private Collaboration category was the CHOA-Georgia Tech joint investment, which is basically a sharp ramping up of a partnership that has existed for years.
“One of the things we find is, if you get a physician together with an engineer in the right setting, sometimes revolutionary things can happen,” says Paul Spearman, chief research officer for CHOA. “Sometimes it’s as simple as taking an engineer through the intensive care unit, and they’ll look at these huge machines huddled around a tiny baby, and they are amazed at how the equipment hasn’t been optimized to really facilitate pediatric care. Our physicians are thinking about using the machine that’s available. The engineer is thinking, ‘I could make this better.’”
Essentially, the goals are to improve the tools for treating childhood health issues, to scale machines, equipment and therapies designed for adults to fit children.
“Our healthcare system is built around treating end-stage disease,” says Guldberg, who also is co-director of the Center for Pediatric Innovation at CHOA. “If we want to make our healthcare investment pay off, why not treat people before they get sick? Why not invest more in pediatric healthcare? That’s a no brainer, especially when we’re talking about potential regenerative medicine solutions.
“Pediatric patients could be ideal for this. They have long-term functional needs – they need something that is going to grow with them, and children have the most regenerative physiology.”
Regenerative therapies, especially those based on stem cell research, is still an emerging industry, and one with large dollar potential, says Guldberg, who wears many hats, including chair of the Americas chapter of TERMIS – Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, which is holding its international conference in Atlanta this November.
“This is becoming a very real industry that people are going to make money in and develop products. There is something on the order of 300 clinical trials out there now testing regenerative products,” Guldberg says.
Georgia Tech has become an international ground floor hub with creation of its Stem Cell Engineering Center, which is helping to prepare a new generation of experts in the mass production and commercialization of stem cell technologies that will become tomorrow’s medicine.
“There is going to be a need in the coming years for a workforce of people with training and background in manufacturing and bioprocessing,” says Todd McDevitt, director of the Stem Cell Engineering Center.
Three years ago, with funding from the National Science Foundation, McDevitt led development of the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), which is designed to educate and train Ph.D. students in the translation and commercialization of stem cell technologies.
“The coolest thing was, companies began contacting us right away saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got students training for this?’ So, we’ve been very lucky, timing wise. I think we’re a little ahead of the pack. We’re sort of viewed in this area as leaders,” says McDevitt, who has formed partnerships with groups in the United Kingdom and Portugal, “where they have similar training programs and research centers focused on stem cell manufacturing, and people with experience.”
So McDevitt’s team is preparing the engineers who will be leaders in stem cell biomanufacturing.
“Biomanufacturing is important to the future of our country and also the future of mankind,” says Ben Wang, executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, which he describes as, “a community of university faculty, staff and students who are really passionate about driving manufacturing innovation.
“Our overarching goal for biomanufacturing is to turn stem cell biology into stem cell benefits, to create regenerative medical products from stem cell research.”
Wang says the idea is to achieve some form of scalable, mass production, but nothing like making cars or iPhones, where you’re making millions of the same exact product.
“We’re talking about ‘mass customization.’ Biomedical products will have to be highly customized, but efficient, affordable,” he says. “So the question is, how do we turn scientific discovery into mass produced, customized products.
“In biomanufacturing like this, the product is the process, and the process is the product.”
In other words, they are basically inventing a new industry at the cellular level. Commercially developed stem cell products are projected to be a $10-billion industry within a decade.
Steve Stice wants to be perfectly clear about this, just in case there’s any lingering confusion: They’re not building a race of pigmen in his lab at the University of Georgia.
But they are doing stuff in real life that used to belong to science fiction and superhero stories.
Stice’s lab (along with UGA’s Col-lege of Veterinary Medicine professor John Peroni and scientists from Baylor College, Rice University and the University of Texas) is developing something he calls “fracture putty,” a stem cell derived gel designed to dramatically accelerate the repair of broken bones (funded by the Department of Defense, DOD).
“What we’ve found in animal models is, we can reduce major healing down to two weeks,” says Stice, who counts Guldberg as a key collaborator in the bone regeneration work. “This is very promising. If we can get additional funding from the DOD, that will help in leveraging investment from the private sector, and hopefully we’ll be in clinical trials with humans in two years.”
Ten years ago, Stice started ArunA Biomedical, which is still discovering, manufacturing and commercializing human stem cell technology. (They were the first company to commercialize products derived from human embryonic stem cells.) Business is good.
“I can’t think of a pharmaceutical company that has not used our cells, some more than others,” Stice says. “We’re developing a product specifically for Parkinson’s disease. There are close to a hundred publications out there from people who have used our cells.”
Some of it is hopeful – a group from Pfizer using ArunA cells to test new compounds for Alzheimer’s disease; some, downright frightening – the DOD using ArunA cells to test for potential weapons of mass destruction.
The bone regeneration product line is growing (a concept that, when you read it aloud, sounds like it was lifted from a Michael Crichton novel), and the company continues to make an impact in the development of neural stem cells. Stice says they’re now developing astrocytes, which are the most abundant cells of the human brain.
One of ArunA’s happy astrocyte customers is Dr. Boulis, who is using some of the products developed in Stice’s lab in his own work.
For years Boulis has been trying to come up with ways to protect the nervous system or repair it. Much of his work has been focused on ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). In 2010, he made history with the launch of the first human clinical trials testing stem cells in patients with ALS.
Neuralstem, a Maryland-based company, funded the trial at Emory. Boulis focused on very small doses with an emphasis on testing the safety of the procedure, which involved injections directly to first the lumbar spine (lower), then the cervical spine (upper).
“We demonstrated we could do it, but there is such a low margin of error – one small misstep and you can make a patient a quadriplegic, which isn’t doing him any favors,” Boulis says. “But we showed that it can be done safely, and now we can move to the next level.”
Boulis was to begin a Phase II trial this fall, in which the injected dosage will be scaled up, so instead of testing only for safety, he hopes to gather some reliable evidence on the therapeutic benefits. The new trial will also include the Uni-versity of Michigan and Massachusetts General Hospital. Plus, Boulis is helping with clinical trials in Italy and assisting the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in upcoming trials, using different stem cell types.
“They don’t have a lot of extra money lying around in California, but they’re making strategic investments in biotechnology,” says Boulis, who wants the people of Geor-gia to recognize what the check signers in California already recognize.
“They’ve inviting us to one of the three sites in their upcoming clinical trials, because they recognize that we are pioneers in this field. California has put billions of dollars into this, and it’s brought a lot of world-class scientists to California.
“CIRM was conceived and launched to address the absence of federal funding for stem cell work. I’d like to think Atlanta and Georgia can do something similar and take this to heart and carry this forward, because I will submit that the places that do will be a lot richer at the end of the day.”
]]>The course was taught by Bill Wilkins, MetalForming Inc.'s Chief Operating Officer, and Andrew Dugenske, Manager of Research Services and a principal research faculty member at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Institute.
The well-attended class stated a basic reality of modern manufacturing: To compete effectively in today's connected age, your operation needs to be lean and agile. If you are not, you will be outpaced by those who are.
MetalForming Inc. has been in the forefront of bringing software solutions to market that can network metal component manufacturing machines together to optimize operational efficiency from the moment an order is entered on a tablet in the field through to the manufacture, loading and delivery of finished metal orders back to a customer or job site.
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Institute in turn has been a leader in information technology and software design focused on lean factory design. The collaboration between engineers at MetalForming and Georgia Tech has led to a number of innovations currently being integrated in metal factory operations across the country.
As an example of what operational inefficiencies really cost, the presenters referenced an Association for Information and Image Management study that found that businesses typically spent $20 in labor to file a document, $120 in labor to find a misfiled document and $220 in labor to reproduce a lost document.
Wilkins and Dugenske walked their class through the inefficiency warning signs to look for in a metal factory and how to develop a game plan to become more productive and competitive. They explained the different organizational tools and models that comprise "lean manufacturing," the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) and others.
A recent British study has shown that the combination of lean manufacturing (establishing a systematic approach to eliminate waste) and MES (which relies on real-time metrics to provide good data for decision makers) provides the best recipe for success.
The study showed that productivity was increased, on average, by 25%; scrap was reduced by 26% and delivery performance by 26%.
The presenters also modeled cases in which a metal components manufacturer with six trucks operating 260 days per year moving parts loads that average 20 tons could save roughly $400,000 annually with software that helped optimize loading and route planning. Optimized slitting processes could bring the same kind of savings resulting from better throughput and reduced scrap costs.
To learn more about the presentation, or to receive a copy, contact MetalForming at (770) 631-0002.
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute is an interdisciplinary university-based research institute that brings together top researchers and thought leaders from science, engineering, policy, robotics, and management to help define and solve some of the greatest challenges facing U.S. industry today. http://www.manufacturing.gatech.edu/
MetalForming Inc. (MFI), headquartered in Peachtree City, Ga., and privately held, is the largest supplier of high-end architectural sheet metal machines in North America. The company is also a world leader in providing software, communications, training and consulting services for companies in the metal building and roofing industry. http://www.metalforming-usa.com/
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]]>Mulally took questions from more than 200 Georgia Tech students and faculty in his hour-long town hall-style meeting on Oct. 1. As a Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute Distinguished Lecture, Mulally explained how it took a culture change that embraced openness and accountability to move the company forward. This included getting the divisions to accurately report what was happening within the organization. When he first arrived, Mulally introduced a color-coded reporting system that highlighted areas that were performing well (in green), those that were off plan (in yellow) and those that needed attention (in red). Unfortunately, in the beginning, all reports showed green despite the company’s forecast for losses of $17 billion that year. Presenting a new kind of leadership, Mulally encouraged Ford’s leaders to acknowledge the current reality. After several weeks, one team changed its report to red while the rest remained green. Eventually, the rest of the units followed suit.
“We needed to create an environment where it was safe to be open and accountable if we were going to turn Ford around,” he explained. “When those reports started changing colors, it was a breakthrough moment.”
Mulally also explained that the company had to focus its strategy in order to survive. The company outlined four core competencies that today are carried throughout every aspect of the business. Those four competencies are best-in-class quality, fuel efficiency, safety and technology. So, how did Mulally and team determine these four competencies?
First, it went back to the basics and focused on what made the company a success in the first place with No. 1 selling products like the Fiesta and the Taurus. When Mulally arrived at Ford, the company had some 97 nameplates under its brand. Today, it has only 16. In fact, when one student asked Mulally which car he drives, Mulally replied that he drives every Ford vehicle and several from the competition to benchmark Ford’s designs.
The second way the company determined its core competencies was taking the “unique approach” of listening to its customers. He used the marketing of the Fiesta as an example. The head of marketing said that to market these cars, the company could not simply use talking heads, which had been the go-to marketing tactic in the past. The marketing director recommended giving away 100 Fiestas to customers, allowing them to drive them and blog about it. When some of the Ford team said, “We can’t do that. What if they don’t like it?” The marketing director simply replied, “Don’t we need to know that?”
A few students also raised questions about environmental concerns. The solution, in Mulally’s eyes, is twofold. Industry can continue to improve fuel efficiencies and look at alternative fuel sources as well as provide more electric options. But, there must also be a change in policy, especially in terms of dependency on imported oil in the United States. In China, he noted, the government is taking steps to cleaning up the environment when it comes to automobiles.
“China is very concerned about the environment,” Mulally explained. “Government is driving the change in automotive production in that country by setting quotas for hybrids, electric and hydrogen.”
Looking ahead, one student asked about the importance university research will play in Ford’s future. Mulally responded: “It will continue to increase because that public-private partnership is a win-win for everybody. That partnership is the foundation, and in the U.S., we are starting to get that back. The United States is now putting importance on manufacturing from a policy perspective.”
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]]>Dr. Ben Wang, Executive Director of GTMI and Georgia Tech’s Chief Manufacturing Officer, pointed to two grand challenges facing manufacturing today:
To address these challenges, he recommended that we re-establish the Bell Labs model. Bell Labs developed a number of technologies that continue to impact our lives today. This model was so successful, because: “They provided constant and continuous interactions; they were guided by leaders and visionaries; they fully coupled technology push with market pull; they had ‘patient capital’ for basic research that didn’t seem relevant; and finally, they had a different regulatory environment than what exists today,” explained Dr. Wang. “It was a microcosm of an innovation ecosystem.”
Unfortunately, the Bell Labs model began to disintegrate in the United States when research was outsourced to the universities and production to low-cost markets. But this microcosm of innovation that existed in the Bell Labs needs to return on a national basis in order for the U.S. to regain its global leadership in the manufacturing arena.
The sentiment was echoed by various speakers and panels throughout the day. Nancey Green Leigh, Associate Dean for Research, Georgia Tech College of Architecture, said that “As manufacturing was outsourced, the U.S. experienced a loss of industrial commons, or a lost capacity for future and ongoing innovation.” But today, she noted, the United States is putting more emphasis on building the manufacturing sector here. “In Obama’s first term, the focus was to double exports,” she said. “In the second term, the White House is developing a multi-prong strategy to strengthen manufacturing by considering reform of the U.S. business code, establishing a network of manufacturing innovation institutes, and bringing jobs back.”
Michael Groesch, Vice President of Sales and Operations and Product Life Cycle at NCR, a participant on the additive manufacturing panel discussion, said that this is imperative to advancing new disruptive technologies such as 3D printing. “Collaborating in a pre-competitive arena and developing those commons [in these technologies] will help us maintain that leading edge,” he explained.
In addition to building ecosystems, innovation acceleration will require the United States to put more emphasis on the entire innovation chain. Currently, Dr. Wang noted, there is a lot of federal money funding research at the university level on the knowledge discovery side of the equation. Industry, on the other side of the equation, invests billions of dollars in developing new product. The problem for the United States is that middle ground of moving those concepts developed in the lab to the market place, or what Dr. Wang calls the “valley of death” in terms of technology maturation. “Today the full cycle of technology maturation takes about 20 years,” said Dr. Wang. “This is unacceptable. The process takes too long, it is too expensive, and the results are too random.”
Over the past few decades, the United States has ignored manufacturing and that has resulted in trade deficits, lost jobs, national debts and a loss of competitiveness for the United States. But there is hope, according to Dr. Wang. Using what he terms as the manufacturing renaissance model, the United States could see a surplus in manufactured good exports in 10-15 years. “We have a lot to do to move from research to production,” he explained. “We must have a new collaborative model. We must learn how to work together, and all the members must have a mutual trust.”
The day’s event included presentations and panel discussion on disruptive technologies such as lightweight composites and 3D printing, as well as manufacturing’s role in economic development.
Continuing on the concept that the U.S. innovation process takes too long, Dr. Satish Kumar, Professor with the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering, explained the time it took to reach the current state of the art in composite materials. “Polypropylene was discovered in 1933,” Dr. Kumar said. “But it took 30 years to realize that it could be crystalized to produce better mechanical properties, and it took 50 years for polypropylene to be commercialized.”
According to Dr. Kumar, the research trends in lightweight carbon fiber composites today include:
The second disruptive technology discussion of the day focused on additive manufacturing. A topic so hot that Dr. Wang joked, “We have two or three resident experts here at Georgia Tech on additive manufacturing, but they are all traveling to talk about additive manufacturing.”
Dr. Wang identified four key areas for 3D printing application including aerospace, automotive, biomedical, repair and maintenance. This is especially useful for the military in terms of repair parts and reducing the inventory of parts required to be on hand for tours of duty.
Repair and maintenance was reiterated by the panel as well. Eric Amis, Director of Physical Sciences at the United Technologies Research Center, said, “Repair is one of the first places that we are using this for small parts production. There is a real opportunity where we can see the reduction of part counts.”
But no matter how promising, there are always challenges to be faced by new technologies. Some of the challenges noted by the panel include:
The panel added, however, that these challenges provide great opportunities for collaborative, university-based research. The main areas of focus, Dr. Chuck Zhang noted, are new materials, new processes and machines, and certification.
Looking at the big picture of manufacturing, the third panel of the GTMI Symposium focused on manufacturing’s role in economic development and, as moderator Bob Pertierra, Vice President of Supply Chain and Advanced Manufacturing, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, noted, “economic development’s role in manufacturing.” For, as this panel showed, it is a two-way street. Strong examples were provided for Newark, NJ, and Gwinnett County, GA, which are both making changes to their policies and strategies to both attract and grow manufacturing clusters within their regions. Again, the panel emphasized the idea that policy, whether local or national, needs to be part of the mix when building the manufacturing sector and the ecosystem needed to support it.
“From an economic standpoint,” said Green Leigh, “we have to remake our ‘Maker Economy.’ Today $11,500 per capita is spent in the U.S. toward imported goods. We simply can’t afford that if we are to help our economy. And although a 100 percent ‘Made in America’ plan doesn’t work in an advanced economy, we seriously need to rebalance where we are at this time.”
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]]>The GOLauncher 2 is a flexible air-launched system combining a business jet with expendable rocket stages. Generation Orbit’s team of innovative small business partners includes SpaceWorks Enterprises Inc., Ventions LLC, Calspan Corporation, Tyvak Nano-satellite Systems LLC, and mv2space LLC. GO also has key strategic relationships with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. Cecil Field Spaceport in Jacksonville, Florida will serve as GO’s initial base of operations.
“This is a important step for the GO team,” commented Dr. John Olds, Generation Orbit’s co-founder and CEO. “NASA has been pro-active on the spacecraft side of this emerging market for years. Their decision to buy the first flight of our GOLauncher 2 is not only an endorsement of our business model as a dedicated launch service provider, but simultaneously helps reduce risk for our subsequent customers and investors. We look forward to working with NASA LSP to make this launch successful, and we hope to count them amongst our key customers for years to come.”
Small satellites, including microsatellites, nanosatellites, and CubeSats, are the fastest growing segment of the spacecraft market. By 2020, the market for small satellite launch is projected to exceed 150 spacecraft per year. Currently, small spacecraft “hitchhike” to space as secondary payloads aboard larger rockets, but this model introduces delays and constrains flexibility of launch, which is unacceptable to many commercial businesses. Dedicated launch services such as GOLauncher 2 hope to shift the paradigm toward small launchers for small satellites.
“We’ve built our business from the ground up to serve the small satellite market, and we are very pleased to have our first customer for GOLauncher 2,” added Mr. A.J. Piplica, GO’s Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to providing a new, dedicated launch option for these small payloads, enabling them to accomplish new missions and greatly enhance their scientific, educational, and economic potential.”
For additional details contact:
Mr. A.J. Piplica
Chief Operating Officer
Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc.
1040 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 950
Atlanta, GA 30338
(770) 379-8014
aj.piplica@generationorbit.com
About Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO)
Atlanta-based Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO) focuses on providing fast, flexible, and dedicated space transportation services for small payloads. Generation Orbit’s GOLauncher 1 and GOLauncher 2 will supply reliable and responsive access to suborbital and orbital destinations. Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. is a privately held U.S. corporation registered in Delaware.
For more information, visit GO on the web at www.generationorbit.com. Follow GO on Twitter @generationorbit.
]]>Show your support for this critical industry by participating in Manufacturing Day, Oct. 4. Taking place on the first Friday of each October, Manufacturing Day is a coordinated occasion during which U.S. manufacturers open their doors to demonstrate the potential of modern manufacturing and foster interest in manufacturing careers.
These events help address the misperceptions that many people have about manufacturing jobs and manufacturing facilities. Modern manufacturing environments are commonly thought of as dark, dangerous factories designed for low-skilled workers, but these events show what manufacturing really is in this day and age:
Manufacturing events are taking place around the state of Georgia and across the nation. Anyone who is curious about modern manufacturing and who would like to know more about what happens in modern-day manufacturing facilities will find these events exciting and educational. These are events are well suited for students, parents, educators, media, civic leaders, and communities. To learn more visit the “Attend an Event” section of the Manufacturing Day website (www.mfgday.com/events).
Manufacturing Day was launched in October 2012 and was a resounding success. More than 240 organizations hosted events in 37 states that attracted more than 7,000 visitors. The annual event was established by Ed Youdell, president and CEO of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International (FMA). The concept was to set aside a day to bring together industry-leading organizations including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), and the National Institute of Standards & Technology’s (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and draw public attention to the great career opportunities in manufacturing.
For more information:
Web: www.mfgday.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MfgDay
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MfgDay
Call: 1-888-394-4362
Write: info@mfgday.com
]]>To ensure that state and U.S. manufacturing policy is on the right track, five elected office representatives visited the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute in late August to catch up on the latest in manufacturing innovation. Visitors included Chris Carr, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (Aug. 13); U.S. Rep. Doug Collins and his Field Representative Bill Kokaly (Aug. 21); and Jeremy Collins, chief of staff for Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore David Shafer, and Yosra Khalifa, chief of staff for Georgia Senate Majority Leader Ronnie Chance (Aug. 22).
“Visits like these with elected officials and their teams are critical to GTMI’s mission,” said Dr. Ben Wang, executive director of GTMI. “We are trying to build bridges between research, industry, and our policy makers to improve manufacturing competitiveness in the U.S. These visits allow us to provide information on the types of research that are taking place here at GTMI and why this research is important to meet certain challenges faced by U.S. manufacturers and to improve local and U.S. economies.”
Dr. Wang guided the guests through several GTMI research facilities. Depending on time, visitors saw the GTMI hi-bay area, digital printing lab, and the Georgia Tech Invention Studio. Graduate students Christopher Oberste hosted guests in the digital printing lab where they discussed current prosthetic research taking place in the lab. As part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VA Innovation Initiative, GTMI researchers are using 3D printing and printed electronics to improve the comfort of prosthetics used by military amputees. Socket comfort will be improved by 3D printing softer, more pliable materials within the socket that come in contact with the skin, while printed electronics will be used to monitor internal socket temperatures and to identify pressure points.
In the hi-bay area, Dr. Rhett Mayor, associate professor with the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, provided details on micro-manufacturing and new heat transfer technologies. These technologies and manufacturing processes are currently being studied by aerospace manufacturers looking to improve efficiencies in engines and overall system efficiencies through weight reduction and better energy transfer.
Amit Jariwala, director of Design and Innovation at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, showed GTMI’s guests the Invention Studio. A student-run design-build-play space, the Invention Studio is staffed by undergraduate lab instructors and student volunteers. It provides a unique hands on experience in a “student owned” space, promoting creativity, responsibility and community among Georgia Tech students.
Others presenters included Director of Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s Karen Fite. She provided an overview of the GaMEP program and its benefits to Georgia manufacturers.
“This was very informative,” said Rep. Collins after his tour. “This will help me to incorporate these ideas into policy.”
Tours of the GTMI labs are available to industry and elected officials. Please contact Tina Guldberg, direction, strategic partnerships, for more details: tina.guldberg@gatech.edu or (404) 385-4950.
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]]>“3D printing is critical to the U.S. economy,” said Dr. Wang. “It will change many aspects of how we will live our lives.”
Dr. Wang pointed to several studies that have been conducted in the past couple of years noting the importance of advanced manufacturing to the United States. The common denominator among all of the studies is the significance and potential impact of 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing.
Policy makers, too, have acknowledged its importance. In fact, the first of the advanced manufacturing institutes recommended by President Barack Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership was established in August 2012 to study additive manufacturing. Because of its applications to the aerospace and defense manufacturing industries, the Department of Defense, which led the selection process for the first institute, identified additive manufacturing as the most critical area of need for the security of our nation.
“3D printing will change many aspects of our lives, but there are still many advancements to come,” reported Dr. Wang. “The technology was created 25 years ago here in the United States for what we call rapid prototyping, but in the past, we could only use plastics. Today we use materials with much better mechanical properties.”
3D printing also reduces the need for “in stock” components and turnaround time for producing parts. Nowhere is this more critical than in the defense arena. According to Gary Newton, U.S. Navy Deputy Commander, Fleet Readiness Center, “The Navy’s inventory of aircraft is being pressed into service beyond their design life. As a result, components fail that were never expected to be repaired or replaced. With no replacements available in the supply system, long lead times develop for the repair or manufacture.”
In addition, when a ship sets out to sea, it has to stock all parts potentially required for repair while out on the waters. This increases costs for the Navy and the weight of the ships. And more importantly, only about 5 percent of the stock on a ship is used.
With 3D printing, the Navy can shift from “just in case inventory to just in time repair,” explained Dr. Wang. By incorporating 3D printing into the process, lead times drop from the current 8-28 weeks to 2-7 weeks. In addition, 3D printing machines can be installed on the ships, eliminating the need to keep parts in stock on the ship. Parts could be printed by downloading CAD files into the 3D printer and the part is produced as needed. “This,” Dr. Wang noted, “is game changing.”
The opportunities with 3D printing are boundless. “We can enter mass customization,” said Dr. Wang. “We can personalize products while taking advantage of cost savings and time effectiveness.”
The program ended with a demonstration from PhD student Christopher Oberste. He explained the 3D printing process and answered audience questions while showing a product being produced on a small, portable 3D printer.
The Gwinnett Chamber hosts a Manufacturing and Supply Chain forum quarterly to highlight topics that are current and relevant to the manufacturing and supply chain industries. To learn more, visit the chamber’s Web site at www.gwinnettchamber.org.
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]]>“It is an honor for GTMI to be a part of this prestigious group of policy influencers,” said Dr. Wang, executive director, GTMI. “I look forward to working hand in hand with the other Policy Partners, as well as state and national representatives, to improve policies affecting manufacturing and technological innovation.”
]]>(404) 894-5562
]]>“Working Regions” focuses on policy aimed at building sustainable and resilient regional economies in the wake of the global recession. Using examples of four “working regions” — regions where research and design functions and manufacturing still coexist in the same cities — the book argues for a new approach to regional economic development. It does this by highlighting policies that foster innovation and manufacturing in small firms, focus research centers on pushing innovation down the supply chain, and support dynamic, design-driven firm networks.
This book traces several key themes underlying the core proposition that for a region to work, it has to link research and manufacturing activities — namely, innovation and production — in the same place. Among the topics discussed in this volume are the issues of how the location of research and development infrastructure produces a clear role of the state in innovation and production systems, and how policy emphasis on pre-production processes in the 1990s has obscured the financialization of intellectual property. Throughout the book, the author draws on examples from diverse industries, including the medical devices industry and the US photonics industry, in order to illustrate the different themes of working regions and the various institutional models operating in various countries and regions.
Dr. Clark writes on the subject of national and regional development policies related to innovation and manufacturing, and the effect of those policies on cities and their economic competitiveness. Her book “Remaking Regional Economies: Power, Labor, and Firm Strategies in the Knowledge Economy,” a collaboration with Susan Christopherson, won the Best Book Award from the Regional Studies Association in 2009 and is also published by Routledge.
]]>The Forum, themed “The Way Forward to Global Prosperity through Intelligent Manufacturing Collaboration,” will be held Oct. 22-23 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The event brings together high-level industrialists, policy makers, and key societal stakeholders from around the world to exchange ideas on major macroeconomic trends and manufacturing innovations. And because technology and skills are key innovation differentiators, the Forum will also discuss the role of educational institutions, companies and unions in training the next-generation of workers in the highly technical field of manufacturing.
Three of Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s External Advisory Board members will serve as speakers at this influential event:
To learn more about the World Manufacturing Forum, please visit: www.worldmanufacturingforum.org. If you would like to register for the event, please e-mail info@worldmanufacturingforum.org to request your unique registration passcode.
]]>(404) 894-5562
]]>The program will look at how embracing innovation and technology are keys to success in next generation manufacturing. Successful manufacturers of the future must master innovative produce design, sustainable practices, continuous improvement, and workforce development to distinguish themselves in the global market.
“Events like Next Generation Manufacturing are a cornerstone to advancing manufacturing competitiveness in the United States,” said Dr. Wang. “They provide manufacturers an opportunity to learn from others; they promote discussion on challenges and possible solutions; and through such discussions, we learn what we need to do to move forward and to improve our manufacturing sector here in the U.S.”
The event is open to manufacturing executives and senior directors or managers of manufacturing companies. To learn more or to register, please visit www.nextgenerationmfg.org.
]]>(404) 894-5562
]]>Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spearheaded an effort Thursday to bring together retailers, suppliers and government officials so they can figure out how to bring more manufacturing jobs to the United States.
The world’s largest retailer hosted its first two-day U.S. Manufacturing Summit in Orlando, hoping to capitalize on the company’s recent commitment to drive more manufacturing in the U.S. The “made in the USA” campaign could boost Wal-Mart’s image, which is constantly under attack by labor-backed groups who have criticized the retail behemoth as a destroyer of U.S. jobs rather than a creator.
The goal of the summit was to start “connecting the dots” with a dialogue among the 500 manufacturers, officials from three dozen states, eight governors and U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker at the conference, said Bill Simon, president and CEO of the company’s U.S. division.
“It could be difficult for one at a time, all of us on our own,” Simon said. “The best way to overcome the challenges is to talk to one another.”
The summit comes seven months after the Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter pledged that it planned to buy $50 billion more U. S. made goods over the next decade. That's the equivalent of just more than 10 percent of what Wal-Mart will sell at retail this year. Wal-Mart said that if other merchants do the same, it would mean an additional $500 billion in American-made goods over the next decade.
Several companies were quick to get into the spirit at the summit. Kevin Toomey, president and CEO of Kayser-Roth Corp., a North Carolina-based legwear manufacturer, said his company would create over 100 jobs with a $30 million investment, and sock manufacturer Renfro Corp. announced a $10 million investment would bring 195 U.S. jobs.
Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric Corp., announced that the company would be bringing 150 manufacturing jobs to plants in Illinois and Ohio where high-efficient lighting will be built. The $30 million investment will be at plants in Circleville, Ohio; Bucyrus, Ohio; and Mattoon, Ill.
“We wanted to be a part of this,” Immelt said. “This is a first step.”
To be sure, even if Wal-Mart is successful in getting key retailers and suppliers on board, experts say it won’t rejuvenate the U.S. manufacturing industry. But the movement could help stem the tide of jobs flowing to China and elsewhere that has been occurring in the last two decades.
Some experts are skeptical, pointing out that Wal-Mart led the migration of manufacturing jobs overseas in search of the cheapest labor, veering away from the principles of its late founder Sam Walton, who espoused buying American-made goods.
In fact, Burt Flickinger III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group, says what will be brought back will only be a fraction of business sent overseas.
“It’s a very positive PR move for the company,” Flickinger said. “But it took two decades to unwind the American manufacturing base and it will take two decades to bring it back.”
This is not the first time that Wal-Mart has pledged a made-in America campaign. It pushed a similar program in the mid-1990s that fizzled because it couldn’t get enough low-priced goods to sell to its low-income shoppers. But executives vow its efforts this time around go well beyond a marketing campaign and involve dissecting each of its 1,300 product categories, from bath towels to gadgets, to determine which can be made here.
It’s also reaching out to state and local officials to work with suppliers to explore rebates, training and other programs to attract U.S. makers. Additionally, the discounter also says it’s changing the way it does business with suppliers, giving multi-year commitments for basic goods where it makes sense, instead of season-by-season ordering.
Rebuilding U.S. manufacturing jobs is resonating even more these days. The nation’s unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, while now at a 4 1/2-year low, is still well above the 5 percent to 6 percent typical of a healthy economy.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and other major retailers have been under fire for not doing a better job monitoring worker safety in factories overseas. That pressure increased after a factory collapse this past spring in Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people. That was the deadliest incident in the history of the garment industry.
But what could really propel the movement this time around is pure economics: Labor costs are rising in Asia, while oil and transportation costs are high and increasingly uncertain.
Rising wages have erased some of the competitive advantages China had in manufacturing, Wal-Mart's Simon said, and manufacturing jobs offer a path into the U.S. middle class.
“We think we can map out opportunities and put some systems in place and commit to this for the long term,” Simon said. “There’s nothing less than the future of our country at stake here.”
Wal-Mart said several manufacturers had told executives privately they had defined “tipping points” at which making goods overseas will no longer make sense. Wal-Mart says it doesn’t believe that its customers should pay any more for made-in-America goods and is focusing on working with suppliers to make sure the prices are in line with what shoppers want to pay.
“It’s an economic advantage when you have the wind in your back, instead of having the wind in your face,” said Hal Sirkin, a senior partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group and an expert on manufacturing. He is serving as a consultant to Wal-Mart. He believes that the movement could create 100,000 more jobs in the next decade.
Wal-Mart, with more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and about $460 billion in total sales, has proven that it has the clout to get other suppliers and merchants on board. For example, in 2009, Wal-Mart created a coalition among stores, suppliers, government, nonprofit organizations and academic experts for a sustainability index that measure whether goods were made in a responsible way and whether the materials are safe.
Wal-Mart has said that items made, sourced or grown in the U.S. account for about two-thirds of the company's spending on products for its U.S. business, according to data given by suppliers. But analysts say that much of its clothing, home furnishings and consumer electronics are made elsewhere.
One company to sign up is Sleep Studio, which is now working with Wal-Mart to produce memory foam mattress toppers. Before, all of the discounter's toppers were produced by manufacturers overseas. This year, 20 percent will be made in the U.S.
CEO Michael Rothbard said Wal-Mart worked with the company to streamline the costs, eliminating $10 from the price tag. The New York-based company has factories in California and Georgia.
“The selling process was really intense,” Rothbard said. “We had to convince them our products offered unique benefits, and that we could meet their needs.”
]]>Americans may be fond of lamenting the decline of the country's economic clout and the flood of "Made in China" goods, but they may soon have to find something else to complain about.
According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the U.S. is fast becoming one of the lowest-cost countries for manufacturing in the developed world. BCG argues that average manufacturing costs in Germany, Japan, France, Italy, and the U.K. will be 8 to 18 percent higher than in the U.S. by 2015.
The report states that export manufacturing in the U.S. is a unsung hero of the economic recovery, noting: “Despite all the public focus on the U.S. trade deficit, little attention has been paid to the fact that the country's exports have been growing more than seven times faster than GDP since 2005.”
BCG found that the U.S. is increasingly attractive for businesses due to lower costs of labor, (adjusted for productivity), natural gas, and electricity.
U.S. manufacturing activity hit a five-month high in August as hiring picked up and new orders increased at their fastest pace since January, a Markit report showed last Thursday.
However, BCG’s report argues that we are currently just witnessing the beginning of a major shift in global manufacturing.
“Over the past 40 years, factory jobs of all kinds have migrated from high-cost to low-cost countries,” said Harold L. Sirkin, co-author of the report. “Now, as the economics of global manufacturing changes, the pendulum is finally starting to swing back. In the years ahead, it could be America’s turn to be on the receiving end of production shifts, as more companies use the U.S. as a low-cost export platform.”
To read the full article, visit http://nbcnews.to/15nCVXi.
]]>“We are proud to have the opportunity to support a program that will initiate collaboration between the University System of Georgia and the TCSG to better prepare our students for the needs of the modern day manufacturing workforce,” said John Zegers, Center Director, Georgia Center of Innovation for Manufacturing. “We expect this program to grow and become a model for collaboration and preparation for filling those positions which are in most need in today's manufacturing landscape.”
Set to kick off this fall, the pilot program will provide paid internships for outstanding students from the TCSG to work at GTMI for one or more semesters, performing important hands-on work to support fundamental advanced manufacturing research, product development, technology transfer, and operation/maintenance of advanced production and research equipment. The funding provided by the COI will be used to support a portion of the foundational Phase I of the proposed 10-year, three-phase program.
“We’re very grateful for the input and funding provided by the COI for the pilot program which will enable a fall 2013 kickoff and provide immediate benefits to TCSG students and GTMI,” said Morehouse. “The pilot will also build a strong working relationship between GTMI and WGTC, enable continuous improvement on initial program outcomes, and serve as an essential learning experience and model for program expansion into Phases II and III.”
The program is designed to leverage the strengths of the TCSG and GTMI to help address critical skills gaps in the manufacturing workforce in Georgia, including manufacturers’ needs for “jack of all trades” maintenance technicians, highly skilled CNC machine tool operators, and other important skill sets, thereby creating a strong positive impact on Georgia manufacturers, the missions of the TCSG and GTMI, as well as their respective students. GTMI and West Georgia Technical College will provide additional support to the pilot program by dedicating faculty and administrative time.
“We’re very excited about the opportunity to have West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) students working on fundamental research and technology transfer projects at GTMI,” added Morehouse. “Not only will the critical hands-on skill sets they possess serve as tremendous assets to the performance of our projects, the partnership program will offer a supplement to the outstanding education that students currently receive at WGTC, enhance matriculation opportunities into Georgia Tech engineering and other science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related four-year degree programs. It will also offer an excellent learning opportunity for our engineering students.”
Earlier this year, GTMI and the Technical College System of Georgia formed the TCSG-GTMI Manufacturing Competitiveness Committee to improve manufacturing workforce education and skills in the state. As previously reported, the committee has identified numerous opportunities for collaboration.
]]>“This seminar series offers a rare opportunity to meet with and hear from leaders in the manufacturing field in an intimate setting on a university campus,” said Tina Guldberg, GTMI Director, Strategic Partnerships. “It is a great learning experience for students and practitioners alike.”
Opened to the public, the series has a stellar lineup to date. September speakers and topics include:
The meetings are held each Monday, from noon to 1 p.m., in Room 114 of the Manufacturing Research Building. Attendees are welcome to bring lunch to the meetings. More details are available on the GTMI Web site in the News and Events section. Future speakers and topics will be added to the site, so please check back often for the most up-to-date information.
]]>“Not only did the program expand on the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute’s education efforts,” said GTMI’s John Morehouse, Coordinator for Education and Workforce Development, “but it will also help increase matriculation of talented undergraduates from partnering universities into manufacturing-related graduate research at GTMI. At the same time, a key goal of the program was to establish the foundation for the development of similar manufacturing-related exchange programs in which Georgia Tech students will travel to international universities, learn a new culture, form collegial relationships with students from around the world, and gain a crucial global manufacturing perspective. As a result of the relationships created with NUAA and THU in this program, we have already initiated conversations about sending Georgia Tech students to their respective universities as early as next summer.”
The program included a non-credit English language course, a technical training program that provided an overview of manufacturing-related research at Georgia Tech, and research experience for those participating in the research track. The technical training program included nine seminars relating to a variety of manufacturing topics, as well as tours of five research labs and the Manufacturing Research Building.
“The lectures and group meetings with the professors and seeing the labs were very special for me,” said student Annie Lo. “It was really nice to see and work with some of the [Georgia Tech] students.”
Student Brian Kuo agreed: “The lab tours, for me, were the best part. It was really cool to see all of the equipment and talk to the staff and researchers. It all correlates to what we’re learning in Taiwan.”
The nanomaterials research lab made the biggest impression on student Yao Yi. “In Taiwan, we need a day to create buckypaper, but here, we only need two hours. I learned a lot on this trip,” he said.
The trip, however, wasn’t all work and no play. The cultural experience allowed the students to see the Atlanta Braves play the Cincinnati Reds at Turner Field, spend a day a Six Flags, tour both the World of Coke and CNN, enjoy the aquarium and also take a weekend trip to the North Georgia Premium Shopping Outlets. And in true Georgia Tech style, the visiting students raved about local pizza joint, Antico Pizza.
All in all the students expressed that the visit was meaningful and would recommend it to other students. They also noted that they were highly impressed with the campus, from swimming in the Olympic pool at the Campus Recreation Center to the overall look and feel of the grounds. Student Jhang-sian Cai summed it up best, “The Georgia Tech campus is really beautiful. I took several photos, and each one is absolutely beautiful.”
GTMI and GTLI expect to conduct the program again next summer with the key addition of Georgia Tech Students having the opportunity to travel abroad and participate in similar programs. “We’re very pleased that the students from NUAA and THU enjoyed their visit, and we look forward to making improvements to the program and hosting more students,” said Morehouse. “We are also very excited about sending Georgia Tech students to our partnering universities.”
To get involved or for more information, please contact John Morehouse at john.morehouse@gatech.edu or (404) 385-0895.
]]>Over the past four years, the number of manufacturing jobs has increased rather than decreased. To build on this progress, the President recommended that the United States offer new tax incentives to bring jobs back to the this country and create new tax credits for communities hardest hit by plant closures. “In my State of the Union Address, I also asked Congress to build on a successful pilot program and create 15 manufacturing innovation institutes that connect businesses, universities, and federal agencies to turn communities left behind by global competition into global centers of high-tech jobs,” he said. “Today, I’m asking Congress to build on the bipartisan support for this idea and triple that number to 45 – creating a network of these hubs and guaranteeing that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in America.”
Obama’s plan for reviving the middle class also calls for new jobs to be created by:
Business climate changes outlined in the President’s plan include simplifying the tax code, which is “so riddled with wasteful loopholes that many companies doing the right thing and investing in America pay 35 percent, while the corporations with the best accountants stash their money abroad and pay little or nothing at all,” he explained. “I’m willing to simplify our tax code in a way that closes those loopholes, ends incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lowers rates for businesses that create jobs right here in America. While we’re at it, let’s provide tax incentives for manufacturers that bring jobs home. And let’s simplify taxes for small business owners and give them incentives to invest, so that they can spend less time filling out complex forms, and more time expanding and hiring.”
The tax reform offer to his Republican counterparts, however, comes with a caveat. The money that results from tax reform must be used to invest in infrastructure improvement, high-tech manufacturing hubs, and workforce development. “All of these things would benefit the middle class right now in the years to come,” he said. “I’m willing to work with the Republicans on reforming our corporate tax code, as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle-class jobs.”
Following the speech, the White House released a fact sheet on the jobs package and tax reform proposals outlined by President Obama. Click here for details.
]]>Lei Ma graduated with a doctorate’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in May of this year.
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]]>GTMI is at the forefront of advancing socioeconomic fundamentals like economic stability and national security. In this video, research and industry experts share their perspectives on how the innovative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach that fuels manufacturing research at Georgia Tech is key to finding solutions to America's grand challenges.
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]]>“Our role at GTMI reaches well beyond development of new technologies,” said Dr. Ben Wang, Executive Director at GTMI. “Our goal is to translate our pioneering research into real-world applications. Dr. Das developed this technology in GTMI’s lab as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technologies program. Collaborating with industry and government partners, his team was able to develop this innovative solution and now this technology will transform a manufacturing process that has been in place for thousands of years. Ultimately, this will improve competitiveness for manufacturers here in the U.S. and around the world.”
Below is an excerpt from the article:
A Georgia Tech startup has developed a 3D printing technology to transform the way costly metal parts, such as aircraft engine turbine blades and vanes, are designed and made.
DDM Systems Inc.’s new casting method makes possible faster prototype development times, and more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing procedures after a part moves to mass production.
Using additive manufacturing or “3D-printing” technology, DDM Systems can reduce the time it takes to make first castings of prototype turbine engine components from two years to three months or less. It eliminates 90 percent of material waste and reduces manufacturing cost...
To read the full article, visit the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
]]>GTMI and the TCSG began discussions in February that set the stage for a fruitful partnership to greatly improve Georgia’s manufacturing workforce. Since the initial meeting, the group, led by GTMI’s Coordinator for Education and Workforce Development, John Morehouse, formed the TCSG-GTMI Manufacturing Competitiveness Committee. On May 30th, the committee conducted a workshop to develop potential partnership opportunities between GTMI and the technical colleges. The goal of the workshop was to identify opportunities that:
The workshop participants identified nine potential collaboration concepts that could move Georgia’s manufacturing workforce to the head of the class:
Following the May workshop, the committee continued with bi-weekly meetings to formalize plans based on these concepts. Project proposals are currently in development and will be presented to the TCSG State Board. Look for more exciting news on this innovative partnership in the months ahead.
]]>John Morehouse
(404) 385-0895
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]]>The interview can be heard on MMR’s Web site or you can subscribe to the show on iTunes.
The show, which is sponsored in part by the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, features the companies, leaders and innovators in manufacturing’s resurgence. MMR has an audience reach of more than 500,000 industrial sector executives, consultants, authors and economists.
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]]>The meeting, to introduce TCSG to GTMI’s education and workforce development programs and suggest ways to partner and develop strategic alliances between the two organizations, is a key part of GTMI’s strategy, noted John Morehouse, a Research Engineer and GTMI’s Coordinator for Education and Workforce Development. “We were very excited and honored to have the opportunity to speak before the Board and let them know what we’re about and what we hope to accomplish by partnering with Georgia’s technical colleges.”
“Our mission at GTMI is to educate the next generation of world-class manufacturing innovation leaders,” said Morehouse. Currently, GTMI education programs include research and technology transfer projects, coursework through the Manufacturing Education Certificate Program, partnerships with industry, federal agencies and state government and professional development opportunities through support of the Atlanta and Georgia Tech Chapters of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
“We envision developing future educational programs for technical college students that will include internship opportunities (participation in research activities, building prototypes and research equipment), facilities and equipment sharing, as well as joint project development,” he added.
The benefits of a GTMI-TCSG partnership are many to the thousands of students enrolled in the state’s technical colleges. TCSG students can acquire invaluable experience in basic manufacturing research and technology transfer, as well as hands-on collaboration with world-class, global manufacturing companies, gaining critical preparation for successful careers in the growing Georgia advanced manufacturing and innovation ecosystem. In addition, the technical knowledge gained by the students as well as an introduction to Georgia Tech is expected to increase matriculation of TCSG students into Georgia Tech engineering programs.
GTMI will also reap many benefits from this strong alliance with the TCSG, noted Executive Director Dr. Ben Wang. “We here in GTMI will have access to talented students with critical hands-on skills that are needed to accelerate the translation of fundamental research into high value products. GTMI aims to educate and train the workforce of the future to investigate, collaborate and compete successfully. For every manufacturing job created, more new jobs are created in the supply chain – and even more in the broader economy – which is vital to our nation’s growth and competitiveness.”
TCSG Commissioner Ron Jackson said that “we are honored to partner with GTMI and look forward to our TCSG students and Georgia's manufacturers reaping the benefits of our collaboration. The TCSG State Board is energized by the promise for TCSG, GTMI, Georgia Tech and all the partners.”
The next step to be taken between GTMI and the TCSG will be to form a committee to discuss ways in which to begin formation of the strategic partnership and implement education programs that will build a manufacturing workforce for the future.
Technical College System of Georgia
The State Board of the Technical College System of Georgia is responsible for establishing standards, regulations and policies for the operation of the Technical College System of Georgia, the state's 25 technical colleges, economic development programs, and adult education programs. The Board strives to promote the economic well-being of Georgia citizens by ensuring high quality training and upgrade training and services as a full partner in the expansion of Georgia's economic base. For more information visit: https://tcsg.edu
The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
Taking a holistic approach to re-energizing U.S. manufacturing and shepherding new technologies across the valley of death, the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) catalyzes collaborations of industry/government with many units across the Georgia Tech campus - from engineering to science to business to policy. In addition to working closely with academic faculty and students, GTMI personnel collaborate with the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Georgia Tech’s technology transfer functionaries and business incubators on additive processes, materials, rapid certification and supply chain realignment. For more information visit: http://www.manufacturing.gatech.edu
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]]>To address this important topic, Georgia Tech will host a Natural Gas Executive Seminar Series over the next few months. Jointly sponsored by the Strategic Energy Institute, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and the Institute for Materials, each seminar in the series will be held from 11:00 a.m. - Noon in the Auditorium (1st Floor) of the Callaway Manufacturing Research Building, home of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute. Each seminar will also be followed by a reception at Noon.
The seminar series features speakers who are corporate executives who will address these important issues and what they mean for our nation and the Southeast.
Seminar topics and speakers include:
Thursday, February 14, 2013 - Hank Linginfelter, Executive Vice President, Distribution Operations, AGL Resources, on “Impact of Natural Gas on the Southeast and the United States.”
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - Vinod Phillip, Director, Gas Turbine Engineering, Siemens Energy, on “Natural Gas Impacts on the Power Generation Industry."
Please refer questions on the Natural Gas Executive Seminar Series to: cnes@gatech.edu
]]>The intent of the SCLT workshop is three-fold: 1) assessment of areas of our technical strengths and challenges – core strengths, critical mass of core faculty and infrastructure, leadership for large-scale proposals; 2) initial steps toward building a broader community of SCLT enthusiasts at Georgia Tech, and creating a blueprint for R&D at Georgia Tech as a leader in the SCLT space; and 3) outcomes from the workshop can be used in large-scale proposals, e.g., the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (NNMI), Department of Energy Innovation Hubs, and National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers.
Dr. Don Ratliff, Executive Director of The Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, is the convener of the workshop. Dr. Jane Ammons, Chair of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and Dr. Ben Wang, Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, are the workshop sponsors. The first SCLT workshop will be limited to GT personnel only.
The following components will be built into the ½-day workshop agenda: 1) a discussion on large scale funding opportunities, 2) lessons learned from the additive manufacturing proposal for NNMI, 3) a series of presentations by area representatives (speakers TBD, volunteers are welcome), and 4) a panel discussion or breakout session. An agenda is forthcoming.
Time: 1:00-5:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Venue: GTMI Auditorium, 1st Floor, MaRC Building (refreshments will be served)
For more information on the SCLT workshop, please contact Ms. Martha Miller at martha.miller@gatech.edu or (404) 894-9100.
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]]>The Trap-Alert® system, New Frequency’s first product to hit the market, is paving the way by taking its proven information system and applying this technology to other markets where real-time access to critical information creates efficiencies that save business owners time and money. The Trap‑Alert® system is a combination of hardware, software, GPS and wireless technologies that enables animal trappers to actively monitor the status and location of animal traps through a web-based application.
New Frequency development efforts are currently underway in new market segments, including the utility, restaurant, grocery store and small business sectors by creating both web and mobile front end and back end solutions enabling customers in these segments to monitor power outages, temperature changes, and harmful gas emissions utilizing New Frequency’s wireless monitoring devices. These specialized devices, like the Trap-Alert® system, monitor changes in state and instantly connect back to a centralized application database, which in turn sends actionable alarms and critical information back to system users.
“We are thrilled to obtain such a prestigious grant and to partner with one of the top technology institutes in the world, Georgia Tech,” stated Todd Moran, New Frequency’s President and CEO. “This grant, facilitated by the Georgia Center of Innovation, allows New Frequency to create a long term sustainable platform for every product line in our pipeline. Having a well-planned database solution is a key to our long term growth and success and this grant will allow us to take our business to the next level,” Moran further noted.
“This project was a great opportunity to utilize a Center of Innovation (COI) Matching Grant to assist a Georgia manufacturer by developing advancements to their existing communication capabilities, enabling them to grow and create jobs in the state,” said John Zegers, Director of the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing. “The mission of COI for Manufacturing is to connect manufacturers with people who can solve their problems, and being strategically located at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute has given us the direct access we needed.”
“We’re pleased to collaborate with New Frequency,” said Andrew Dugenske, GTMI Research Manager. “We believe this project will enhance their business management and cellular data collection products. By applying technology developed at our Factory Information Systems Center, we can help New Frequency grow and keep manufacturing jobs in Georgia.”
About New Frequency
New Frequency, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Cumming, GA, is a developer of software, devices, and complete systems that collect data in real time from remote assets and aggregate such data into useable and actionable information accessible over the web. New Frequency’s expertise and systems include telemetry data monitoring and management tools, high availability hosting, large data storage, custom reporting and alarming, and web-based software-as-a-service. New Frequency’s web-based solutions are used in monitoring and managing power, water, gas, and steam as well as equipment status, including location, operation, doors and hatches. Their systems can be employed in gathering and managing nearly any measurement of any asset.
]]>Pam Rountree
GTMI Media & Communications Manager
404-894-5562
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