{"692588":{"#nid":"692588","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Invention to Impact: Closing America\u0027s Manufacturing Scale-Up Gap","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/manufacturing.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E, the \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/energy.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (SEI)\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E, and the \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESupply Chain and Logistics Institute\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E are racing to close the gap between what America invents and what it can build at scale\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen a key semiconductor plant in Japan went offline after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, supply chain disruptions quickly spread far beyond the disaster zone, affecting manufacturers around the world.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENearly all of the natural graphite the United States uses, and 70% to 80% of its rare earth elements, come from a supply chain the U.S. doesn\u0027t control.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDifferent vulnerabilities, same underlying problem: The U.S. invents faster than almost any country on Earth, but it doesn\u0027t always build, or secure the materials to build, fast enough, reliably enough, or close enough to home to matter when it counts.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat gap has become a national security problem, and Georgia Tech is tackling it within its own centers and with a wider network of universities, government agencies, and industry partners.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou want to make sure you don\u0027t have a brittle supply chain,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/expert\/tom-kurfess\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETom Kurfess\u003C\/a\u003E, executive director of GTMI and the former chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. \u201cOne link breaks, and all of a sudden, you can\u0027t move forward.\u201d For Kurfess, resiliency requires manufacturing networks that are digitally connected, built around qualified processes, and capable of shifting work across facilities without sacrificing quality, traceability, or performance.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Brittle Supply Chain Is a National Security Risk\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat single point of failure is the kind of fragility Kurfess worked to design out of American manufacturing during earlier stints at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, at Oak Ridge and now at GTMI. Concentrate too much capacity in one plant or supplier, he says, and a single disruption \u2014 a natural disaster, a fire, or a cyberattack \u2014 can freeze an entire industry. His fix is resiliency built through distributed, digitally connected manufacturing. As an example, Kurfess points to the opportunities created by the transition to electric vehicles, where production can be distributed across multiple motor manufacturing facilities located closer to assembly operations. With common designs, digital connectivity, and qualified processes, production can be redistributed more readily when disruptions occur.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGTMI applies the same logic to defense and energy supply chains, helping small manufacturers that build subassemblies for prime contractors connect to qualified digital manufacturing networks where production status, part traceability, and available capacity can be monitored in real time. Kurfess describes their role as \u201cthe Google Maps for manufacturing\u201d \u2014 spotting the traffic jam and rerouting around it before a bottleneck stalls production.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Raw-Material Chokepoint\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/expert\/yuanzhi-tang\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EYuanzhi Tang,\u003C\/a\u003E executive director of Georgia Tech\u0027s Strategic Energy Institute and founding director of its \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/minerals.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECenter for Critical Mineral Solutions\u003C\/a\u003E, has studied these supply chain vulnerabilities for years. Her focus on critical minerals and materials such as rare earths and gallium is only part of the picture, she says; battery materials carry similar risks. The U.S. relies heavily on imports for these important raw materials, with 70% to 80% for rare earths, nearly 100% for natural graphite, and 20% to 60% of the lithium, cobalt, and nickel used in batteries. \u201cCritical minerals and materials are like vitamins,\u201d she says. \u201cMost of them we don\u0027t need in large quantities, but you can\u0027t replace them without compromising the performance.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETang is leading a Georgia Tech effort, backed by a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.research.gatech.edu\/2026\/06\/24\/mining-new-possibilities-critical-minerals-mapping-stronger-us-supply-chain\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E$7.5 million Department of Energy (DOE) grant\u003C\/a\u003E, to map critical mineral resources across the Atlantic coastal plain, from Puerto Rico to Maine, with Georgia and the Southeast as an unusually rich source. Her deep expertise in geochemistry and rare earth materials is reflected in more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and her role as co-editor-in-chief of the journal \u003Cem\u003EChemical Geology\u003C\/em\u003E. Georgia is the country\u0027s top kaolin clay producer, she notes, and rare earth-bearing waste from that mining could potentially supply materials the country currently imports.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMuch of that work depends on physical space to test and scale new processes: GTMI\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ampf.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAdvanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF)\u003C\/a\u003E serves as a shared facility where researchers from different disciplines can develop and scale manufacturing processes without building dedicated infrastructure for every technology. Tang\u0027s team hopes to co-locate a critical-mineral supply chain demonstration capability there, along with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/batteries.research.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ea Georgia Tech Advanced Battery Center\u003C\/a\u003E pilot that SEI is standing up in the same space.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat makes the region distinctive isn\u0027t just geology. It\u0027s the chance to connect resource extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling within a few hours\u0027 drive, which Tang says is unique and hard to match. She compares the challenge of building critical mineral supply chains to building an airplane. \u201cYou can build a wing of the plane, you can build a wheel of the plane, but if you don\u0027t coordinate them, you can never build a full plane.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech is coordinating the Resource Intelligence and Innovation Alliance with universities, national labs, and industry partners. Domestic mineral projects typically take close to three decades to move from discovery to market, Tang says. A coordinated regional supply chain, she believes, could bring the speed to market and significantly cut that time to years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDesigning Supply Chains for Scale, Not Just Invention\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETurning a prototype into a fielded system also requires designing the manufacturing network itself, and that\u0027s where \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/expert\/chris-gaffney\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EChris Gaffney\u003C\/a\u003E, managing director of Georgia Tech\u0027s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, brings a different lens. Gaffney spent 25 years in supply chain leadership at The Coca-Cola Company, including as president of the group responsible for 95% of its North American volume, before joining Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe question of scale is a riddle in any supply chain,\u201d Gaffney says. \u201cPeople who get it right, they win.\u201d He argues that, too often, companies optimize their own operations while overlooking their suppliers\u0027 suppliers, and that a real scale-up strategy extends responsibility across the entire chain, from raw material to end user.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaffney draws that lesson from his own experience at Coca-Cola. The company once assumed a can line running smoothly at one bottling plant would perform the same way in a second plant, using the same equipment and cans from the same supplier. It didn\u0027t; the tolerances and fits had to be revalidated at the second facility before the line would run reliably. \u201cYou can\u0027t make assumptions about those variables,\u201d he says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaffney\u0027s central design principle is to bring manufacturing partners into the technology design process as early as possible, rather than handing them a finished blueprint. Using a drone as an example, he describes designers, manufacturers, and end users working together from the start. \u201cYou go from the tabletop where you make one, to the line where you want to make a thousand, but then you have to make sure that when somebody\u0027s in a dirty, grimy combat environment, the thing is still going to work.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe notes that while assembly can spread across smaller, harder-to-target sites \u2014 similar to how Ukrainian drone manufacturers dispersed production into basements to survive attacks \u2014 the most sensitive components still require concentrated, tightly controlled manufacturing. In his view, deciding where to centralize or distribute production is a core design choice with direct national security consequences.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKurfess argues that timing is equally important. Manufacturers must preserve the ability to scale rapidly without carrying every tool and component in their inventory. They can preserve qualified digital designs, process plans, and tooling data so production can be restarted, redirected or expanded when needed.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia\u0027s Regional Advantage\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll three Georgia Tech experts point to the Southeast, and Georgia in particular, as one region well positioned to pull these pieces together, though careful to frame it as an example rather than the only answer. Gaffney credits the state\u0027s port access, calling it \u201cthe most progressive port in the U.S.,\u201d along with its rail, road infrastructure, and growing technical talent. Similar pushes are underway elsewhere, he notes, from nuclear manufacturing partnerships with Oak Ridge to critical mineral and battery projects in other states. \u201cEvery region has its advantages. That\u2019s the beauty of the country,\u201d he said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat distinguishes Georgia is how many of those advantages sit within a few hours of each other.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Convener for the Next Decade\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENone of Georgia Tech\u2019s experts argue the U.S. can, or should, build every critical supply chain onshore. Instead, they describe coordinated regional resiliency as sourcing more materials closer to home and designing manufacturing networks that can continue operating even when individual facilities, suppliers, or transportation nodes are disrupted.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaffney sees Georgia Tech\u2019s role as setting an example other regions can follow. \u201cWe role model what good looks like and what good could be,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing a convener, bringing different entities together to solve a problem, that\u0027s the kind of example I think we have an obligation to present.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Kurfess\u2019 view, manufacturers increasingly need to think of capacity not as a single factory, but as a digitally connected network of qualified suppliers, manufacturing processes, and production assets that can respond rapidly when conditions change.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGTMI, SEI, and the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute are interconnected responses to the same national problem: that invention without a path to scale isn\u0027t security. Georgia\u2019s combination of accessible raw materials, port infrastructure, a manufacturing base, and research depth allows Georgia Tech to demonstrate what a coordinated, regional approach within a national network can look like.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy Anne Wainscott-Sargent\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Experts from Georgia Tech examine how manufacturing, supply chains, and critical materials are becoming essential to economic and national security."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003EThe Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, Strategic Energy Institute, and Supply Chain and Logistics Institute are collaborating to address a growing national challenge: the gap between innovation and manufacturing at scale. Through efforts focused on critical minerals, digital manufacturing networks, and supply chain design, Georgia Tech researchers are helping build more resilient systems that can withstand disruptions and support economic and national security. With strengths in manufacturing, transportation, energy, and research, Georgia and the Southeast offer a model for developing regional supply chains that can accelerate commercialization and strengthen U.S. competitiveness.\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech experts are working to strengthen U.S. supply chain resilience by connecting critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and logistics expertise to help move innovations from the lab to large-scale production."}],"uid":"36695","created_gmt":"2026-09-15 11:48:01","changed_gmt":"2026-09-15 19:56:07","author":"jmartin482","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681158":{"id":"681158","type":"image","title":"Summer-Tour-2026-Kaolin-Park.jpg","body":null,"created":"1789502109","gmt_created":"2026-09-15 19:55:09","changed":"1789502109","gmt_changed":"2026-09-15 19:55:09","alt":"President Cabrera\u0027s 2026 Summer Tour visit to Kaolin Park ","file":{"fid":"265520","name":"Summer-Tour-2026-Kaolin-Park.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/15\/Summer-Tour-2026-Kaolin-Park_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/15\/Summer-Tour-2026-Kaolin-Park_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":210223,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/15\/Summer-Tour-2026-Kaolin-Park_0.jpg?itok=7ROUu0Sq"}}},"media_ids":["681158"],"groups":[{"id":"155831","name":"Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI)"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"194685","name":"Manufacturing"}],"keywords":[{"id":"215","name":"manufacturing"},{"id":"194526","name":"critical minerals"},{"id":"213","name":"energy"},{"id":"167158","name":"supply chain logistics"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMedia Contact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jennifer.martin@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJennifer Martin\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}