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ANN ARBOR, MI – May 24, 2012 – The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences announced today that it has completed a six-year, $3.3M collaborative program under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), known as The Sustainable Product Initiative (SPI). The tools developed by NCMS and its partners during this highly successful program utilizing leading-edge life cycle thinking methodologies will be presented during a Sustainable Design and Manufacturing Roundtable on June 12th, 2012.

These new online tools, databases and guides for enhanced supply-chain collaboration will greatly improve the sustainability of manufactured products by standardizing environmental impact analyses across supply-chains, limiting the consumption of finite resources, lowering carbon intensity and instilling stewardship for the planet’s ecosystems.

For over 25-years, NCMS has led many successful collaborations focusing on the environment and sustainability. Recently, NCMS launched its 11th Compliance Assistance Center (CAC), a program funded by the EPA. These online centers provide easy-to-read and understand pollution prevention and environmental regulatory compliance information and tools for several industry sectors.

NCMS will outline the many tools available to corporate stakeholders at a roundtable event on June 12th at NCMS headquarters in Ann Arbor, MI. This free event includes keynotes by Dr. David Cole, Chairman Emeritus, Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and co-founder of AutoHarvest as well as John Viera, Executive Director of Sustainability for Ford Motor Company.

Panels will discuss topics such as Building Sustainability into Product Designs, Challenges in Materials & Coatings Sustainability, Knowing Your Customer’s Sustainability Needs and How Collaboration Can Help Companies Overcome their Sustainability Challenges.

Full agenda, registration and more.

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ANN ARBOR, MI – November 9, 2011. The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) has launched the Transportation Environmental Resource Center (TERC), a new online compliance resource that provides information on environmental regulations for all transportation sectors including road, rail, air, and water. The site includes overviews of regulations, compliance tips, best practice solutions and links to other tools to help the environment while saving money.

This is the 18th online resource center in a series of Compliance Assistance Centers (CACs) funded through Cooperative Agreements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), many of which are managed and hosted by NCMS. While the initial focus of TERC has been on the road transportation mode developed collaboratively with the American Trucking Associations (ATA); additional content will be developed for the other transportation modes in 2012. “The site is a particularly relevant resource for identifying and understanding the various regulations that pertain to the trucking industry. Whether it is fueling, vehicle maintenance, or waste generation, the site provides information on both state and federal requirements,” says Glen Kedzie, Vice President and Environmental Counsel at ATA. “The information provided applies equally to both large fleets and smaller operations.”

TERC provides easy-to-understand summaries of both federal and state regulations affecting all aspects of road transportation, with links to other web resources for more detailed information. “A unique feature of TERC is its Compliance Summary Tool, says Bill Chenevert, EPA Compliance Assistance Site Director for NCMS. “Users simply answer questions regarding their operations to generate a customized compliance assistance checklist for their maintenance facilities or terminals.”

TERC is fully accessible and free to use. The transportation site is the latest in a series of CACs developed and managed by NCMS since 1995. To view the TERC transportation site, go to http://www.tercenter.org.

About NCMS:
The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, the largest cross industry collaborative Research & Development consortium in North America, is dedicated to driving innovation in commercial, defense, robotics and environmentally sustainable manufacturing. NCMS has over 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 on NCMS, visit http://www.ncms.org.

About ATA:
The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on to move the nation’s freight. For more information on ATA, visit http://www.truckline.com.

About Compliance Assistance Centers:
The EPA has sponsored partnerships with industry, academia, environmental groups, and other agencies to launch 18 industry-specific Centers. Each Center addresses real world issues in language that is used by the regulated entities. Through internet websites, telephone assistance lines, e-mail discussion groups and more, the Centers targeted to various industries (e.g., healthcare, metal finishing, paints and coatings, construction, ports, borders, food processing, federal and local government) aim to help businesses, local governments, and federal facilities understand environmental requirements and save money through pollution prevention techniques. Additionally, the Centers have developed a series of State Resource Locators (http://www.envcap.org/statetools/) providing easy access to state-specific regulations and resources for a variety of topics (e.g., universal waste, stormwater, air pollution, asbestos/lead abatement). All Centers can be accessed at: http://www.assistancecenters.net/.

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