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The NCMS program to create digital manufacturing centers to provide high performance computing (HPC) tools and expertise to U.S. manufacturing companies is making waves nationally. Earlier this month, the Harvard Business Review took notice, and now Computerworld.

The latest article describes how L&L Products, in Romeo, Mich., doubled its size after adopting HPC technology.

L&L began using high performance computing about six years ago to build a new structural composite line for automotive makers. To accomplish this, it needed to design and test its products in vehicle crash simulations to see how they could be best applied in automobiles…”It doubled our business,” said Reagan, adding that the firm now makes about $220 million annually and has about 900 global employees.

NCMS is now moving ahead with a plan to make this technology available to all U.S. manufacturers. Initial estimates indicate that over 300,000 companies could benefit from digital manufacturing to create new products and grow their companies. If even a fraction of these companies have the success of L&L the impact on the national economy will be profound.

In addition to deploying digital manufacturing centers, NCMS has formed a Digital Manufacturing Strategic Interest Group to identify and break down barriers that have prevented  manufacturers from adopting HPC technology.

Full Article

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In a recent blog entry, Manufacturing’s New Innovation Labs, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) cites NCMS efforts to provide advanced modeling tools to U.S. manufacturers as prime example of how companies are finding new ways to innovate in response global competition. NCMS is creating a network of regional centers to make high performance (HPC) tools available to all U.S. manufacturers and partnering with other organization with a similar vision.

…Smaller companies in the manufacturing sector, competing in a global environment for increasingly sophisticated products, often don’t possess the financial strength or the in-house technical expertise to take advantage of the available science and engineering resources that can help them innovate and grow. New types of local and regional consortia or clusters are popping up in response to this problem, sometimes facilitated by public-private partnerships. An interesting example, just getting under way, is the Midwest Project for SME-OEM Use of Modeling and Simulation–a consortium of large OEMs like General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, and Deere; the State of Ohio; and several projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), including the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, the Ohio Super-Computer Center, and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN).

NCMS has also formed a Digital Manufacturing Strategic Interest Group to identify and break down barriers to adoption that have prevented  manufacturers from adopting HPC technology.

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The VALMT project team pioneered an innovative process in establishing a new methodology in volumetric error compensation for large machine tools.  The costs for current assembly practices of measuring and fitting are substantial; reducing the amount of reworking of machined parts during onsite vehicle assembly will save the Department of Defense (DOD) and the commercial aircraft industry millions of dollars.

VALMT has been honored with a Defense Manufacturing Award and an R&D 100 Award.

From the article:

…NCMS is without doubt the U.S. leader in forming and managing complex, multipartner, cross-industry collaborative R&D programs. NCMS provides the tools that allow its members to collaborate.

Full Article as seen in Automotive Engineering Online

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The public and private sectors will partner to lead the resurgence of American manufacturing, creating new technologies and most importantly, jobs.

NCMS will work continue to work with other national organizations, the White House, and our consortium members to realize these goals.

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Predictive Innovation Centers to provide Secure, Scalable, Affordable and Accessible Smart Manufacturing Tools to U.S. Manufacturers

ANN ARBOR, MI – The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), the largest cross industry consortium in North America and a leader in next-generation manufacturing strategies, announced today that they are poised to bring next generation design and manufacturing tools to industry of all sizes, revitalizing U.S. manufacturing.

Today, speaking at Carnegie Mellon University, President Obama announced the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a national effort devoted to collaboration between industry, academia, and federal government to drive innovative technologies that will create quality manufacturing jobs and enhance global competitiveness.

“The AMP concept outlined by the President today, is forged upon the recognition that by driving collaboration between talent, investment, and infrastructure, we can revitalize manufacturing in North America and get back to making things” said Rick Jarman, NCMS President & CEO, “NCMS has a comprehensive national strategy to bring smart manufacturing tools to industry and their supply chain in an accessible, affordable way.”

The NCMS aligns with AMP’s pursuits that will drive entirely new competitive business models:

• Domestic manufacturing capabilities in national security
• Reduced time to market for advanced materials
• Next-generation robotics
• Sustainability across the manufacturing and product lifecycle

NCMS has a long history of successful collaborations between industry, government and academia. Manufacturing knows how to make. Academia knows how to envision. And Government support provides the needed investment and encouragement to keep this meeting of the minds on the right track. NCMS applauds The President for leading this initiative and giving the U.S. the opportunity to once again become the leader in Global Competitiveness by implementing advanced manufacturing tools across the industry, revitalizing the U.S. economy and creating jobs in a 21st Century world. Because the future is not made, it is manufactured.

About NCMS

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is the largest collaborative R&D consortium in North America and is dedicated to driving innovation in commercial, defense, and robotics manufacturing. NCMS has 25 years of experience in the formation and management of complex, multi-partner collaborative R&D programs, and is backed by corporate members representing virtually every manufacturing sector.

For more information, visit http://www.ncms.org

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NCMS President & CEO Rick Jarman recently spoke about the power of collaboration at the 2010 Great Lakes Manufacturing Forum recently held in Montreal, Canada.  The event sponsored by the Great Lakes Manufacturing Council in partnership with the Quebec Industrial Research Association (ADRIQ) helped promote new approaches to collaboration and innovation to help drive regional growth.

Rick spoke about the NCMS collaboration model which regularly results in award winning technical innovations.  The NCMS model brings together developers, integrators, and end users to produce practical innovations whose success lies at the intersection of talent, investment and infrastructure.

Other key points from his presentation:

• Everyone has to have skin in the game.
• Collaboration reduces the risks associated with Innovation.
• There is a dramatic shift in R&D spending. smaller companies are picking up the baton from the larger companies.
• NCMS is working hard to bring High Performance Computing and its modeling and simulating capability to the tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers to OEMs.
• “Water is the next Oil.”

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NCMS Creates National Network to Promote Advanced Digital Manufacturing
Published October 19, 2010

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences is stepping up to the plate to help revitalize America’s manufacturing sector. The 24-year-old organization has created a program aimed at putting high-performance digital computing capability into thousands of lower tier manufacturing companies. Currently, only about one-third of the nation’s 300,000 small- and medium-sized manufacturers utilize high-performance computing tools such as product modeling and simulation.Without such capability they are losing to foreign competitors that are using technologyto place themselves into the international supply chains of the major OEMs.

“We have a window of time to revitalize our competitiveness,” says NCMS President and CEO Rick Jarman. “I don’t know how long this window is going to last, but I’m determined from an NCMS standpoint to do everything I can to make the nation competitive. I’m determined to try to fix the problem.”

NCMS, which was created by an executive order signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, is building a nationwide network of “Predictive Innovation Centers” (PICs). These public-private collaborations will provide U.S. manufacturers with high-performance computing tools aimed at increasing product design cycles, improving manufacturing processes and reducing the need and costs of laboratory testing of new products. Large companies are using these tools, but not many small manufacturers that provide them with materials, parts and components.

NCMS will establish 10 to 12 PICs in the country over the next three years. It is in the process of raising $12 million a year for three years to launch the centers and
make them self sufficient.

“It’s a pretty inexpensive way to get our companies competitive again,” says Jarman.

NCMS is working in partnership with large OEMs such as General Electric, Caterpillar, Proctor and Gamble and Lockheed Martin; and hardware and software vendors such as Intel, Microsoft, Cray, SGI and Altair. It is also seeking financing from state and federal government agencies.

“We have identified the need and garnered the support to bring advanced computing power to the supply chain,” says Jarman. “It will change everything. The potential is huge. This is amounting to the kind of transformation not seen since the assembly line.”

Each of the centers will have a different focus depending on the industrial cluster in the region. Some will work on developing the capability of large OEM supply chains, and others on applications associated with energy, materials and automotive. NCMS will be the “hub” that collects lessons learned, “which will help us generate the education and the value of buying products in bulk for the usage of the many,” says Jarman. “It builds upon NCMS’s collaboration model that has put technology users, developers and providers on the same project,” he explains. “That is why our projects have been so successful. That is why you never hear from NCMS that we have a technology transfer or technology adoption problem because we design our collaborations for the fact that something is going to become commercialized or be put into a product or process. We’re taking a page out of the same book when it comes to this.”

Jarman says NCMS has had a “full-fledged pickup” from interested parties. The NCMS-created Alliance for High-Performance Digital Manufacturing has grown to 30 companies and interest is being expressed from government agencies and organizations like the Ohio Supercomputer Center. “We have parts of the PICs up and running and we’re making the business case, but the response has been very good from the OEMs who are willing to do this and are willing to help because they need a more competitive supply chain,” says Jarman.

NCMS has found that the commercial market for high-performance computing tools accounts for only 3 percent of the total computer market. Most of the users are large manufacturers. Those using high-performance computing tools have improved product cycle times by 66 percent, and reduced the cost for lab testing of new products by 98 percent.

As the large OEMs continue to push innovation into their supply chains, it is more important for the small companies to adopt these tools. Foreign countries have aggressive programs aimed at deploying digital computing tools deep into their manufacturing sectors. The U.S. has no such program.

“U.S. manufacturers specifically want this from an organization like NCMS rather than an academic institution or government agency,” according to a survey of 300 manufacturing companies conducted for NCMS by Intersect360 Research. “There is a sense of trust associated with a nonprofit whose stated mission is the enhancement of manufacturing in the United States.”

Revitalizing Manufacturing Podcast

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Recently Andy Grove wrote a great article about the danger of marginalizing the domestic manufacturing sector- How to Make an American Job Before It’s Too Late: Andy Grove.  Grove, who co-founded Intel in 1968, has first hand experience on how difficult it is for companies to grow and create jobs.

The underlying problem isn’t simply lower Asian costs. It’s our own misplaced faith in the power of start-ups to create U.S. jobs. Americans love the idea of the guys in the garage inventing something that changes the world. New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman recently encapsulated this view in a piece called “Start-Ups, Not Bailouts.” His argument: Let tired old companies that do commodity manufacturing die if they have to. If Washington really wants to create jobs, he wrote, it should back start-ups.

Andy is right and Thomas Friedman is wrong.  Do the math! Only about 2 in 10 start-ups succeed and most fail to employ more than five people in the first five years. A 20% business success rate only creates hundreds of jobs at best.  We would need tens of thousands of successful start-ups to make a substantial impact on our economy.

My point isn’t that Intel was brilliant. The company was founded at a time when it was easier to scale domestically. For one thing, China wasn’t yet open for business. More importantly, the U.S. hadn’t yet forgotten that scaling was crucial to its economic future.  How could the U.S. have forgotten? I believe the answer has to do with a general undervaluing of manufacturing — the idea that as long as “knowledge work” stays in the U.S., it doesn’t matter what happens to factory jobs.

Depending just on retaining “knowledge work” in the United States as a way of ensuring our economic future is both impossible and, frankly, foolish. If we lose the ability to scale manufacturing, we will soon lose the ability to design, and then innovate. You have to make things. Manufacturing is the foundation of an industrialized nation’s economy, and we are currently reaping what we have sown by sending it overseas.

Talent, Investment and Infrastructure are the key elements in Innovation and also are required to scale for manufacturing.  Andy Grove understands this:

Each company, ruggedly individualistic, does its best to expand efficiently and improve its own profitability. However, our pursuit of our individual businesses, which often involves transferring manufacturing and a great deal of engineering out of the country, has hindered our ability to bring innovations to scale at home. Without scaling, we don’t just lose jobs — we lose our hold on new technologies. Losing the ability to scale will ultimately damage our capacity to innovate.

Many complain about the lack of highly educated workers in the U.S. – and we do need to be sure that pipeline is full, but highly skilled trades have a lot of innovation to contribute if they have a job. This is valuable stuff!  Grove continues:

The story comes to mind of an engineer who was to be executed by guillotine. The guillotine was stuck, and custom required that if the blade didn’t drop, the condemned man was set free. Before this could happen, the engineer pointed with excitement to a rusty pulley, and told the executioner to apply some oil there. Off went his head.

More than manufacturing is on the guillotine.  The basis of our economy is what’s about to lose its head. We need to make sure that the blade doesn’t fall on the American capacity for Innovation.

Rick Jarman is the President & CEO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. NCMS is the largest cross-industry collaborative manufacturing research consortium in the United States devoted exclusively to manufacturing technologies, process and practices. Formed in 1986, the NCMS mission is focused on the development of strategic initiatives and programs aimed at sustaining and enhancing the global competitiveness of North American manufacturing.

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The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) today announced that project manager Dana Ellis has been elected Chairman of the Olympic College Manufacturing Technology Advisory Committee. The committee works to further the future careers of Olympic College students in a variety of technical field programs through building partnerships with local industry, providing internships through these partners, and critically reviewing course curriculum to maintain currency and relevance for manufacturing technology education.

“Kitsap County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, and Olympic College with its regional technical employers is a strong contributing factor,” said Ellis. “As Chairman of the Advisory Committee, I’m using the same collaborative methods that are core to NCMS principles, as the Committee works with local industry to improve Olympic’s program. The creation of jobs is our long term goal.”

The Manufacturing Technology program allows Olympic College to tailor its curriculum to meet the needs of the local community, local employers, and the military in overcoming the challenges of the current recession and meeting the requirements of the 21st century. Other technical programs at the College include Welding, Technical Design, and Electronics. These programs have all been identified as leading to successful manufacturing careers, and together fall under the Department of Labor-Pipeline to Manufacturing Careers Program. Each program has an Associate of Technical Arts Degree and/or certificate awarded upon successful completion of the courses. Local partners include NCMS, SafeBoats, and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

NCMS is a national collaborative R&D organization which drives innovation through the rapid development and deployment of new manufacturing technologies and processes, while leveraging the strength of cross-sector collaboration. NCMS programs in the Pacific Northwest have addressed development of technology for security applications at military installations, vulnerability and risk assessment, emergency management processes and infrastructure protection. NCMS also manages sustainment and reset technology projects at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport.

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The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) today announced that it has joined the Task Force for American Innovation. The Task Force is an alliance of America’s leading companies, research universities and scientific societies with a mission to support investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering.

“Innovation occurs at the crossroads of talent, investment and infrastructure,” said NCMS President and CEO Rick Jarman. “For almost 25 years, NCMS’ almost 400 member companies have been bringing together these three key elements to develop leading edge technologies and manufacturing solutions to help industry remain internationally competitive. NCMS is proud to join the Task Force as it works to support innovations that are the key to long-term economic security and renewed American technology leadership.”

NCMS collaborative R&D model supports the nation’s system of innovation through the rapid development and deployment of new technologies and processes, while leveraging the strength of cross-sector collaboration. By bringing together the best from industry, government and academia to collaborate on new technology development, NCMS arrives at the solution faster and with less risk than traditional research models.

“We are pleased to have NCMS join the Task Force and bring their quarter century of expertise to bear on the issues and activities of the group,” said Doug Comer, Intel, Chair of the Innovation Task Force. “We look forward to working with NCMS to support the science and engineering enterprises that are so important to our continued competitiveness.”

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The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) today announced that the Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC) has been named to the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Robotics Caucus.

The Caucus focuses on key issues facing the nation’s traditional industrial robotics industry as well as issues critical to growing companies, markets, and industries based on recent technological advances that enable robots to perform functions beyond traditional assembly line tasks and to operate in environments beyond the factory floor. As part of the Advisory Committee, the RTC will help Congress understand the many challenges and issues likely to emerge in the robotics sector and help ensure that the United States can maintain global leadership as the robotics industry undergoes considerable expansion in the coming decades.

“RTC member companies represent a wide variety of industrial sectors and are leaders in developing the next generation of robotics systems,” said NCMS President and RTC Chairman Rick Jarman. “The Congressional Caucus on Robotics will benefit from these companies’ insights and perspectives and will help Congress ensure that our nation remains globally competitive as the robotics industry rapidly expands and develops.”

The RTC is a non-profit, industry organization administered by NCMS and was formed in 2008 to speed the development and deployment of ground robotics technology for the Department of Defense (DoD). The RTC has over 200 members made up of large and small commercial companies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations and seeks to engage companies and organizations that may not have historically performed work for the Defense Department and other Government organizations in addition to traditional defense contractors.

“We look forward to working with members of Congress who understand how important robotics is to our national interests,” said Helen Greiner, President of the RTC. “A thriving robotics and unmanned systems sector is vital to maintaining both our global economic competitiveness and national security.”

The Congressional Robotics Caucus, chaired by Congressman Mike Doyle (PA) and co-chaired by Congressman Phil Gingrey (GA), was formed in 2007 to focus on key issues facing the nation’s robotics industry and related emerging technology. Members of Congress will learn first hand about the use of robotics in agriculture, mining, logistics, defense, education, manufacturing and healthcare.

About NCMS

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is the largest cross-industry collaborative research and development consortium in North America, and is the only consortial effort in the U.S. devoted exclusively to manufacturing technologies, processes and practices. NCMS has 24 years of experience in the formation and management of complex, multi-partner collaborative R&D programs, and is backed by corporate members representing virtually every manufacturing sector.

For more information, visit http://www.ncms.org

About RTC

The Robotics Technology Consortium (RTC) is a non-profit, industry organization created in 2008 to speed the creation and deployment of ground robotics technology for the Defense Department and other Government organizations. The consortium was established to meet a need identified by the Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise (OSD/JGRE). The RTC currently has a membership of 200 large and small commercial companies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations. The RTC seeks to solicit and engage companies and organizations that may not have historically performed work for the Defense Department and other Government organizations in addition to traditional defense contractors.

For more information, visit http://www.roboticstechc.org/

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Neither Rain, nor Snow, nor Dark of Night
How Michigan can Save the Mail

The U.S. postal service and the Detroit automakers have a lot in common. They’re both under intense pressure to transform their businesses to meet customer expectations driven by new technology. John E. Potter, Postmaster General of the United States, has already issued the dire pronouncement: drastic measures will be necessary to save the mail – in the form of either a significant rate increase or, even more severe, the elimination of Saturday delivery. As people adopt electronic communication for more activities, the cost of operating a postal infrastructure grows more and more difficult to bear.

Despite making great strides in quality and fuel economy over the last decade, the rising cost of fossil fuels, coupled with the recent global financial crisis, has devastated the domestic auto industry. Likewise, the postal service has been battered by rising delivery costs and fewer customers as people flock to e-mail for everyday communication.  For every penny fuel prices rise, the USPS pays an additional $8 million annually, and suddenly a $0.44 stamp doesn’t seem like such an extravagance after all.  Would you be willing to drive to New York, and then drop something off, for forty-four cents? But this remarkable capability requires the largest ground vehicle fleet in the world which is aging and costly to both the taxpayers and the environment.

Recently, the Detroit Free Press ran an article on Michigan’s bet on batteries citing five Michigan-based companies that will begin producing lithium-ion batteries in the next two years. Batteries are the future when it comes to cheap, safe power for vehicles, but it’s a zero-sum game.  People only buy so many cars and trucks every year, and batteries are heavy, expensive, and slow to produce. The best way to drive down the cost of batteries in the short term is to increase demand by putting them in every car on the road. Is customer demand high enough to reduce battery cost through sheer volume?

And yet, among the gloom of expensive batteries, gasping automakers and mountains of junk mail, there is the spark of opportunity for massive innovation.

The Postal Service owns the largest fleet of vehicles in the world, operating nearly 220,000 ground vehicles in the U.S. Of them, nearly 90% are those ubiquitous white vans all Americans associate with home mail delivery. Stopping. Going. Stopping again, they rarely accelerate beyond 30 miles per hour.  Thus it should come as no surprise that those delivery trucks manage – at best – a paltry 16 miles per gallon (MPG) during normal operation; the same rating as an eight-cylinder sports car or the latest SUV monstrosity. Further, it costs $3.79 for each and every delivery truck to haul itself a meager 25 miles.

Now for the really good news: the postal fleet is nearing the end of its operational life. The vast majority of these vehicles (over 140,000) were built by a GM/Grumman partnership and introduced in 1988 with a projected 30-year maximum lifespan. The USPS needs to find an innovative solution – soon.

For any of these five Michigan battery companies to become profitable or create the forecasted jobs, they need demand and consumer vehicles will not create nearly enough demand to drive down battery cost. If only there were an organization with an immense vehicular infrastructure it needs to replace or retrofit soon; one that spends three billion dollars every year on highway transportation expenses alone; one that currently consumes more than one hundred twenty million gallons of fuel annually…

The postal fleet represents an ideal test environment for the development and deployment of new battery technology.  The vehicles are government owned, maintenance facilities are already in place, and mail routes and distance are well documented.  Further, the nature of mail delivery with low city speeds and stop/go movement are exactly where battery powered vehicles excel. 

Demand drives quantity; quantity drives down costs. The volume of batteries required by the Postal Service would all but ensure that Michigan battery manufacturers add staff, creating thousands of new jobs in the state. And with the sudden mainstreaming of battery powered vehicles in the form of those ubiquitous delivery trucks, it won’t be long before newly affordable (and technically innovative) battery technologies become more realistic in consumer vehicles as well. USPS savings will be so great that Saturday mail delivery will remain safe, even as the Postal Service’s massive vehicle fleet emits less pollution. Innovation exists at the crossroads of talent, infrastructure, investment, and need. There can be no argument that the Postal Service needs to do something if it is to continue with its appointed rounds. Of course, if the auto industries would agree initially on a standard battery, that would drive volume too!  But that’s for a different day…This unique opportunity for collaboration between technical innovators and the ideal customer can usher in an era of affordable, green power for vehicles of all kinds.

Rick Jarman

President & CEO, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences

Rick Jarman is the President & CEO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) the largest cross-industry collaborative manufacturing research consortium in the United States located in Ann Arbor, MI. 

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Aerospace Engineering & Manufacturing Magazine has a great article highlighting the success of the award-winning NCMS-CTMA Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT) project.

…One of the most vexing catch-22s in large-part machining appears to have finally been caught. Rapid volumetric compensation for high accuracy in large-scale five-axis machining is now within the grasp of the manufacturing community.

Why is this significant? Large components are often painstakingly crafted from numerous smaller components because the best machining technologies are not accurate enough to achieve the tight tolerances on large monolithic parts that could reduce part count and assembly time

…A joint project of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences called Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT)—involving Mag Industrial Automation Systems, Automated PrecisionInc. (API), Boeing, and Siemens—recently completed development of a rapid, and hence game-changing, approach to volumetric error compensation. Created especially for large and multi-axis machines, the system achieves the goals set by the design consortium: to reduce the downtime needed to determine necessary volumetric compensations from weeks to a day or less via a simple automated process that improves a machine tool’s volumetric performance by 50% or more.

Full Article

VALMT Podcast

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The International Society of Automation (ISA) in its quest to recognize the most authoritative, entertaining, in the automation and manufacturing community has added NCMS Radio to its online resources.

ISA Automation Resources

Founded in 1945, the International Society of Automation is a leading, global, nonprofit organization that is setting the standard for automation by helping over 30,000 worldwide members and other professionals solve difficult technical problems, while enhancing their leadership and personal career capabilities. Based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, ISA develops standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; and hosts conferences and exhibitions for automation professionals.

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NCMS President and CEO Rick Jarman is featured prominently in the current issue of X-OLOGY magazine which highlights how Michigan companies are pursuing advanced manufacturing technologies on many fronts and driving the evolution of the industry.

“Manufacturing is important and people in Michigan know how to do that. They know how to design things, they know how to make things.”

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The NCMS Volumetric Accuracy for Large Machine Tools (VALMT) project is the subject of an article in the latest issue of Quality Digest.

…The entire measurement process can be accomplished in a matter of hours rather than days, resulting in more accurate measurements and eliminating costly machine downtime. Calibration is performed in a single set-up with automated measurement of hundreds of points and is completed in just a few hours compared to alternate methods that can take much longer. By accomplishing the measurement task in such a short timeframe, the measurement data is far more reliable.

The VALMT project has pioneered an innovative process in establishing a new methodology in volumetric error compensation for large machine tools which can save the Department of Defense (DOD) and the commercial aircraft industry millions of dollars anually.

Full Article

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Congratulations to NCMS Director Dr. Thomas Kurfess who has been recognized with the SME Education Award. Renowned as one of the world’s leading experts in the field of microscale manufacturing metrology, with research focused on the design and development of high-precision manufacturing and metrology systems, Kurfess began his career in academia at Carnegie Mellon University in 1988, where he rose to the rank of associate professor.

Dr. Kurfess joined the NCMS Board of Directors which expanded as part of a long-term commitment to keeping the U.S. in a leadership position in global manufacturing.

Full SME Press Release

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"…The kind of innovation that Tony and the guys at NCMS are bringing to the table is exactly what the manufacturing industry in the U.S. needs.  Saving millions through enhanced efficiency is a building block to substantially increased competitiveness on a global stage."

Full Article- Industry is Cool: National Center for Manufacturing Sciences

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NCMS Art Director Christopher Fick has been recognized for his outstanding creativity with three American Graphic Design Awards.

The American Graphic Design Award competition is in its fourth decade and recognizes outstanding new work in 23 categories from print and packaging to internet and interactive design.  The competition is open to everyone in the graphic arts community – graphic design firms, advertising agencies, inhouse corporate and institutional designers, publishers and other media. 

Award Category- Print Collateral.  This image communicates the many benefits of the NCMS Collaborative model.  It is the cornerstone slide of the NCMS PowerPoint presentation used to promote the organization.

Award Category- Poster.  This image communicates the new vision and scope of NCMS activities.

Award Category- Multimedia.  This multimedia holiday card appeared on the NCMS web site. 

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National R&D Consortium Roadmaps Automotive Supplier to Diversification and Growth

June 30, 2009. The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) and Koops, Inc. welcomed Second District Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) to Koops world headquarters in Holland, Michigan today to celebrate the successful commercialization of a revolutionary new laser stripping technology created in collaboration with NCMS. This new technology has expanded the Koops business, allowing the firm to grow in a time when many Michigan companies are downsizing.

“NCMS roadmapping services helped Koops create a strategic vision for growth and diversification. During the roadmapping process, we identified competencies and opportunities in the defense and aerospace sectors; opportunities that Koops is now actively exploring. It allowed the company to expand beyond its roots,” said Rick Jarman, President & CEO of NCMS. “Koops can now commercialize an incredible new technology, diversify its capabilities, and add more jobs in Michigan.”

Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Rick Jarman NCMS President & CEO

Congressman Hoekstra, a longtime advocate of growth and diversification of Michigan businesses to improve employment and stabilize the economy, views the success of Koops as an example to be replicated throughout the State. Diversifying the industrial base of Michigan has the potential to help the State survive the current automaker crisis and generate employment and revenue that will lead to true economic recovery.

The technology, a robotic laser stripping system, is capable of stripping paint from a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter blade in less than two hours – a time savings of 75% over hand-sanding. The laser system is so precise that it can remove only the top layers of paint, leaving the primer layer intact and not damaging the blade substrate. “When it was done by hand, technicians wore hazmat suits, worked in sweltering heat with toxic stripping chemicals,” said Mike Gnam, NCMS Project Manager. “Even a small mistake could result in irreparable damage to a $110,000 helicopter blade. This elegant laser system removes that risk. It’s going to save the Department of Defense about 80% in blade refurbishing costs, not to mention the huge time savings. And for Koops, it represents a valuable market opportunity, since the technology has far, far more potential uses than just taking the paint off helicopter blades.”

“It means more equipment available to our warfighters, which has a positive impact on National Security,” said Wesley Koops, founder of Koops, Inc. “On the home front, our participation in this project allowed us to add a strategic new product to our portfolio. NCMS managed the project and provided the strategic roadmapping we needed to move out of our traditional role of automotive supplier. Thanks to this project, we’ve been able to build our knowledge base, develop additional complimentary technologies, and add jobs as the business grows.”

For more information, contact Phil Callihan, NCMS Executive Director of Communications, at (734) 995-2046 or email philc@ncms.org.

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McLean, Va., January 8, 2008 – QinetiQ North America, a global developer of innovative technology solutions for national defense, today announced that its FluidScan™ monitor has won the 2008 Great Ideas Competition Award presented annually by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) at the Department of Defense (DoD) Maintenance Symposium & Exhibition.  The competition recognizes promising new technologies, processes or business practices that participants decide will have a positive impact on DoD equipment maintenance.

…This device has the potential, in its simplest application, to provide lab-quality results in real-time for the soldier, marine, airman and sailor in the field under urgent conditions,” said LCDR David Scalf, Commander of the JOAP (Joint Oil Analysis Program) together with DoD’s NCMS/CTMA (National Center for Manufacturing Sciences/Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities) program.  NCMS/CTMA championed this product within the DoD community and was responsible for its submission for this competition.

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New Technology will Revolutionize Commercialization of Alternative Energy Vehicles

ANN ARBOR, MI – January 28, 2009. The prestigious JEC Innovation Award for Innovation in Transportation Technology was presented to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) Hydrogen Cylinder Manufacturing (HCM) project team this week, sharply underscoring the value of collaborative research and development in a global manufacturing marketplace. The HCM project was honored by an international panel of renowned engineering, manufacturing, R&D, and innovation experts in the Transportation category for its commercial potential, financial impact, and originality.

Formed in response to a key Department of Energy milestone, HCM addresses a crucial obstacle for the Hydrogen Economy: making high pressure hydrogen tanks economically feasible for mass production. The team’s development of a reliable high-pressure hydrogen storage tank, suitable for volume manufacture will further the possibility of commercializing alternative fuel vehicles by cutting the production cycle time for a single tank from six hours to an amazing 20 minutes. The project results indicate that further refinements will eventually cut the production cycle time to less than 10 minutes per tank.

“This is an incredible honor,” said Rick Jarman, NCMS President & CEO. “Alternative energy is a global challenge, but it’s not just as simple as finding alternative fuel sources. We have to manufacture solutions that make those sources commercially viable. It’s exhilarating to have NCMS once again recognized for managing collaborative partnerships that shatter barriers and quickly bring innovation to market.”

NCMS is no stranger to global recognition for its collaborative R&D management model: the Michigan-based non-profit has won six Defense Manufacturing Excellence Awards and five consecutive R&D 100 Awards. NCMS also administers the Robotics Technology Consortium for the Defense Department, overseeing over 100 participating companies and a budget in the hundreds of millions. Recently, another collaborative NCMS DOE project made headlines as two recently developed fuel cell stacks served as the sole source of power for an Oakland, California passenger bus for more than 130 hours over two weeks, a fantastic example of NCMS innovation taking one step closer to mass-market reality.

For HCM, NCMS brought together a strong partnership with highly complimentary skills: Profile Composites, Inc; Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America; Bayer MaterialScience, LLC; MAG Cincinnati Automation; and A&P Technology worked together to design a new manufacturing process to increase production volume. The HCM team used a resin material custom formulated by Bayer and applied it to a dry fiber preform, rather than the conventional – and slow – filament winding process of the traditional model. As a result, a new tank is ready for market eighteen times faster than filament winding, and project partners are confident that speeds can be doubled with additional improvements to the process.

“The result is a massive reduction in production costs and, suddenly, full production of these tanks is now possible,” said Mike Fancher, NCMS Program Manager for the HCM project. “In fact, we believe that these tanks could be used in commercially available vehicles that will be launched as early as this year.”

The formal presentation of the award will take place at the JEC Innovation Awards Programme 2009 at the JEC Composites Show, March 24-26, 2009, in Paris, France. This show is one of the largest in the world, with 27,000 attendees and over 1,000 exhibits.

About NCMS

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is the largest cross-industry collaborative research and development consortium in North America. It boasts a 22-year track record in the formation and management of complex, multi-partner collaborative R&D programs to deliver innovative manufacturing innovations to market – faster, more affordably, with increased ROI and reduced risk compared to traditional methods.

For more information, visit http://www.ncms.org

About JEC Group

JEC is dedicated to promoting composites internationally. It supports the development of these materials by fostering knowledge transfer and exchanges between suppliers and users. To date, the JEC network connects more than 200,000 professionals worldwide from 96 different countries. For more information, visit http://www.jeccomposites.com/

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…Over in Ann Arbor, Richard B. Jarman, president and CEO of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), agrees that a transformation is under way and needs to be nurtured. “So much is currently dedicated to the automotive industry, but that doesn’t mean it has to be,” he says. “What I see in Michigan, and what I am so optimistic about, is that people (in the traditional automotive-related businesses) understand how to engineer and make things. That capability can cross all kinds of industries.”

“We need to build an innovation ecosystem, if you will,” Jarman explains. “The ecosystem has three major components. The first is talent, and we’ve got plenty of that. The second is continuous investment in that innovative ecosystem. And last but not least, and often overlooked, an infrastructure that says, ‘We know in an innovative way how to manage intellectual property, and we know how to maintain a steady flow of capital and financing when needed.’ . . . I have been in other areas of the country, other areas of the so-called rust belt, where they experience a real brain drain, but there’s a lot of talent in Michigan, and all we need to do is make sure we can invent a system to thrive.”

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…The potential collapse of the domestic auto industry casts a grim light on the auto show this year. The automakers face a new challenge: introducing new products while convincing the public that they'll be around to build those products.

Rick Jarman, president of Ann Arbor-based National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, said the industry needs to focus not on far-out concept cars but realistic innovation.

"What I would hope to see is the best in innovation at an affordable price," Jarman said. "I want to see the best innovation along with a good business plan that tells me how we're going to get to that."

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