2/25/2014
Written by
"We’ve got to make sure we’re on the cutting edge of new manufacturing techniques and technologies," Obama said. "That’s why we’re here today: To take new action to put America at the forefront of 21st-century manufacturing."
The Digital Lab for Manufacturing is an applied research institute that will develop digital manufacturing technologies and commercialize these technologies with key industries. These technologies will be used to make everything from consumer products to heavy machinery to equipment for the military.
"Manufacturers who can adapt, retool, get something out, change for a particular spec of a particular customer—they're going to win the competition every time," Obama said. "And we want that country that is specialized in that to be us, the United States of America."
It will launch with $70 million from the U.S. Department of Defense. More than $250 million in additional funding will come from industry, academic, government, and community partners.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Top 5 College of Engineering and its world-renowned National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) are central to the Digital Lab for Manufacturing.
King, the College of Illinois Bliss Professor, is the Digital Lab's principal investigator and will serve as its Chief Technical Officer.
"The challenges for manufacturing are virtually unchanged since the Industrial Revolution," King said. "How do you make a high-quality product and get it to your customer quickly? How do you most efficiently use materials and energy?"
Today’s computing and data technologies, however, mean that companies generate huge amounts of data about the design, fabrication, assembly, quality, shipping, delivery, and use of their products. But that data is not aggregated. In fact, it's often thrown away.
The Digital Lab for Manufacturing will develop data integration technologies for the manufacturing industry. Companies will use the resulting “Digital Manufacturing Commons” to collect all of the data generated in a product’s life cycle, analyze that data, and unlock its value. Developed by GE, this software will be made open-source through the Digital Lab for all its partners.
"Think of it as Facebook for manufacturing—a digital platform that will link innovators, factories, and computing," King said.
With MechSE Department Head Placid Ferreira and Professor Shiv Kapoor also holding key roles at the Digital Lab for Manufacturing, the department will play a vital part in its implementation and success.
"MechSE has played a central role in the Digital Lab for Manufacturing through Bill King," Ferreira said. "Our faculty members have played a defining role in realizing the vision of a future in which digital technologies become an integral part of our manufacturing infrastructure."
Sensors will provide data on every aspect of the product. New tools will be created to model, prototype, and manufacture products. Machines on the factory floor will talk to each other. Entire factories will talk to each other.
All of that data, all of those digital conversations, will be internet-based. Illinois’ computer scientists and engineers will help make the conversation possible, and the Illinois’ cybersecurity experts will help keep it safe.
The Digital Manufacturing Commons will also link companies to supercomputing resources at NCSA and the experts who can make the most of them.
Ultimately, the challenges are complex, but the mission is simple. The Digital Lab for Manufacturing will reduce costs for manufacturing, transform the way work is done, and spur economic growth.
"Digital manufacturing requires world-changing, research-driven innovation—the sort of innovation that has always been at the heart of pre-eminence at Illinois. NCSA and the College of Engineering will drive a new era of national manufacturing prominence," Chancellor Phyllis Wise said. "Some might find that mandate intimidating; we find it exhilarating. We’re proud to take on such a leading role."