Texas A&M Engineering is poised to become a national leader in advanced manufacturing. Helping cement that growing reputation, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) has joined America Makes, the country’s leading collaborative partner in additive manufacturing and 3-D printing technology research, commercialization and education.
The two will collaborate on ways to advance the additive manufacturing and 3-D printing industries across the country, while also sharing their knowledge with Texas A&M University students interested in manufacturing.
“Additive manufacturing and 3-D printing will transform the manufacturing industry,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of TEES. “We look forward to partnering with America Makes to strengthen our position in this important area.”
Texas A&M has one of the largest concentrations of core manufacturing subject matter experts in the country. The knowledge base is multidisciplinary, with approximately 10 percent coming from the College of Engineering, and the other 90 percent comprised of representatives from various colleges within the university and The Texas A&M University System.
“As a public-private partnership, the brand equity that Texas A&M brings to America Makes is world class,” said Rob Gorham, America Makes executive director. “What we’ve decided to do with Texas A&M is really leverage world-class researchers and big initiatives that (Texas) A&M can bring to the table to bring 3-D printing and additive manufacturing in to the state of Texas in a very focused and deliberate way.”
TEES currently has significant involvement in several national Manufacturing USA institutes, including:
- Leader of the Gulf Coast Regional Manufacturing Center, one of five regional centers located across the country as part of the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), in partnership with the Department of Energy. CESMII’s goal is to spur advances in smart sensors and digital process controls that can radically improve the efficiency of advanced manufacturing in the United States.
- Leader of the South Central Regional Robotics Innovation Collaborative, part of the Department of Defense’s Advanced Robotics Manufacturing (ARM) Innovation Hub. ARM’s mission is to create and deploy robotic technology by integrating the diverse collection of industry practices and institutional knowledge across many disciplines to create a robust manufacturing innovation ecosystem.
- Co-leading the Modeling and Simulation Focus Area within the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with the Department of Energy. RAPID is working to enable the development of breakthrough technologies in modular chemical process intensification that will boost energy productivity and energy efficiency, cut operating costs and reduce waste in industries such oil and gas, pulp and paper, and various domestic chemical manufacturers.
- Thematic lead and regional hub of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), a consortium of nearly 100 partner organizations to develop next-generation manufacturing processes and technologies for cells, tissues and organs
- Tier I partner in the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) supporting the standards for more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities in biopharmaceuticals.