The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) hosted an open house to celebrate the launch of the Georgia Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium. The event took place inside Georgia Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF) on April 14, 2022. The 20,000 square foot research and development facility is located on Georgia Tech’s campus.

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.