Cargo Business Newswire

Friday, February 28, 2014

Obama announces lightweight materials manufacturing institute

A high-tech $148 million lightweight materials manufacturing institute planned for downtown Detroit will specialize in components that have applications to a variety of sectors.

President Barack Obama officially announced the Department of Defense-led ALMMII at the White House Tuesday. The institute is meant to create more than 10,000 jobs and make U.S. manufacturing more competitive worldwide.

From the auto to the aircraft and defense industries, the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute will try to make the U.S. a more able competitor in several areas of the light materials supply chain, and implement education and training programs to prepare the workforce, according to Lisa Austin, a spokeswoman for EWI.

EWI specializes in developing technology solutions for manufacturers to increase their competitiveness. The non-profit, founded in 1984, is responsible for launching the public-private ALMMII near the University of Michigan and Ohio State University.

"If you were to take a car example, whether it's an OEM or one of its suppliers, they might contact us to say we're going to introduce aluminum into that process," Austin said. EWI would then develop the best way the OEM or supplier to introduce that particular aluminum into the manufacturing process.

EWI said ALMMII was selected through a competitive process led by the US Department of Defense under the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation call for proposals issued by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research.

Lightweight materials are increasingly important to the competitiveness of transportation manufacturing sectors, including suppliers in the automobile, aircraft, heavy truck, ship, rail, and defense manufacturing industries.

In addition to ALMMII's three lead founders, more than 50 other companies, universities, non-profit research institutions, and workforce development intermediaries from around the country will be involved in this public-private partnership.

The DOD award for the Institute is $70 million in federal funding to be distributed over five years, matched by at least $78 million from the consortium partners themselves. Cost share commitments came from industry, state and local governments, universities, and non-profits.

For more of the story: mlive.com and ibtimes.com