Advanced Manufacturingas a Strategic Initiative

Mike Mannis, CEcD, Centralina Economic Development CommissionRobert Wilhelm, Vice Chancellor for Research & Economic Development

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Clean Energy Strategies• Accelerated Innovation• Talented Human Capital• Infrastructure to Enable Manufacturing

The Future of ManufacturingOpportunities to drive economic growthA World Economic Forum ReportIn collaboration with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited April 2012

• Clean Energy Strategies– Affordable clean energy strategies and effective

energy policies will be top priorities for manufacturers and policy-makers, and serve as important differentiators of highly competitive countries and companies.

• Accelerated Innovation– The ability to innovate, at an accelerated pace, will

be the most important capability differentiating the success of countries and companies.

From the World Economic Forum Report

From the World Economic Forum Report

• Talented Human Capital– Talented human capital will be the most critical

resource differentiating the prosperity of countries and companies.

• Infrastructure to Enable Manufacturing– The infrastructure necessary to enable

manufacturing to flourish and contribute to job growth will grow in importance and sophistication and be challenging for countries to develop and maintain.

What do you think?

• Affordable clean energy strategies and effective energy policies will be top priorities for manufacturers and policy-makers, and serve as important differentiators of highly competitive countries and companies.

• Question 1:• Rank the Charlotte Region's Standing (1-5;5 is

best) as a center for clean energy strategies

What’s Important?

• Question 2: Which is most important to the growth of manufacturing in the Charlotte Region? (choose 1)a) Accelerated Innovationb) Talented Human Capitalc) Infrastructure that enables manufacturing

Where Should We Focus?

• Question 3: What is the Charlotte Region best at? (choose 1)a) Accelerated Innovationb) Talented Human Capitalc) Infrastructure that enables manufacturing

UNC Charlotte• Over 26,000 students• Over 80,000 alumni • Over 5200 graduate

students• Programs: 89

undergraduate, 61 MS, 19 Ph.D.

• Over $30 Million in yearly expense of Research Dollars.

• UNC Charlotte is the Research University for the Charlotte Region.

UNC Charlotte• Belk College of Business• College of Arts + Architecture• College of Computing and

Informatics• College of Education• College of Health and Human

Services• College of Liberal Arts &

Sciences• Graduate School• Lee College of Engineering

Lee College of Engineering• Civil and Environmental

Engineering• Electrical and Computer

Engineering • Engineering Technology• Mechanical Engineering

and Engineering Science• Systems Engineering and

Engineering Management

Charlotte Research Institute• University Portal for

Science and EngineeringThe Business Partner

• Created in 2000 – Strong Business Support• Mission

– Connect Research to Business– Market Results and Partnerships– Access to Millennial Campus– Grow UNC Charlotte Research– Seed funding for Industry Partnerships

Long Partnership with EDA• Construction project for

optoelectronics– Supporting partner R&D– New companies growing on CRI

campus• Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives

– Regional resource guide– Alignment with new manufacturing

opportunities

CRI Millennial Campus• Over 100 acres

of land with 11 buildings

• 2 buildings in planning, design, and construction

• Commercial development sites now marketed

Internationally Known Research Centers

• Optoelectronics– Harnessing the Power of Light

• Informatics,Visual Analytics, & Information Security– Rich Data, Efficient, Consumer-friendly, and Secure

• Precision Metrology– Good Things Come in Small Packages

Newer Research Initiatives• Energy Production and Infrastructure• Bioinformatics• Nanoscale Science• Biomedical Engineering Systems• Translational Medical Research, Cancer Research• Motorsports and Automotive Engineering• Infrastructure, Design, Environment and Sustainability

Initiative

EPIC:Energy Production & Infrastructure Center

• Mission:– Produce Technical Workforce– Advance Research and

Technology– Create Strategic Industry-

University Collaboration for Global Energy Industry

– Develop Carolinas’ Economic & Energy Security

Charlotte has emerged as an energy engineering stronghold, with more than 200 specific "power cluster" firms.

Driver: The energy industry faces a workforce crisis as retirements combine with the need for additional technical employees to build new energy facilities.

EPIC: Educational Initiatives

• Undergraduate Education– Energy & Power Concentrations in all Degrees– Industry Oriented Capstone Design Courses

• Industry Directed Graduate Education– Graduate Certificate Programs– Interdisciplinary PhD studies

• Continuing Education– Licensing and Skills Update

EPIC has the solid backing of an industry that wants a higher education resource, testing and research services, and economic development

EPIC: Focus Areas• Power Systems Engineering

• Fundamentals of power generation and distribution, Quality and reliability of energy systems, Alternative energy

• Power System Infrastructure • Specification, construction, operation, maintenance, and

improvement of power generation and distribution infrastructure, Management of input fuel and wastes streams.

• Power Plant Engineering• Design, integration, operation, optimization, maintenance,

renovation and decommissioning of the components and subsystems in a power plant

EPIC: Infrastructure• North Carolina

has funded $73M EPIC Building

• $5M Annual Budget for Faculty, Research, and Programs

• Integral Part of Larger CRI Campus

EPIC Faculty Recruitment

• Dr. Johan Enslin, EPIC Director• Recruiting to fill 20 positions• Current Strengths

– Distribution and Smart Grid– Photovoltaic Materials– Commissioning and Integration– Large Scale Machinery for Generation

EPIC Partners• Duke Energy• EPRI• Siemens• Westinghouse• Evonik

• AREVA• Shaw Group• URS/Washington• Metso• Tessera

Duke Energy, Siemens, and Westinghouse have committed over $10M in support of EPIC

EPIC Crosses Over WithLarge-Scale Manufacturing

Large-scale manufacturing is characterized by:• Products with largest critical feature size in the ~5 to 25+

meter range• Annual production rates of ~10 to 100’s of units• Complex systems with tight tolerance requirements on

components and assemblies

Why is Large-Scale Manufacturing Important

• Enables energy, transportation, industrial, and construction infrastructure of the USA

Industries & Companies Involved in Large-Scale Manufacturing

• Energy– Siemens, GE, Allstom, MHI

• Transportation/Aerospace– GE, Boeing, General Dynamics,…

• Agricultural and Mining Equipment– Caterpillar, Komatsu, …

• Industrial Equipment

Why is Charlotte Region the right place?• US universities have systematically moved away

from manufacturing research and education• UNC Charlotte has continuously strengthened

– largest and strongest group of faculty dedicated to manufacturing research in the USA

– best equipped manufacturing laboratories

• Charlotte is positioned as “Energy Hub”• Majority of power generation manufacturing

takes place within 100 miles of Charlotte

The Big Picture

• Innovation vital to our economic strength• Startup companies disrupt…

– creative destruction

• Startup companies drive U.S. job growth• Disruptive innovation increases productivity

and standard of living

Our Deliverables

• Higher Education for the Knowledge Workforce of the 21st Century

• Applied Research in Key Economic Sectors• Talent and Infrastructure for Partnerships• The Right Platform for Innovation

National Ignition FacilityParts with micrometer tolerances

A novel germanium lens array was manufactured on a 5-axis freeform machine for use in credit-card thin thermal imaging systems.

Novel Germanium Lens Array

Such lenses can be miniaturized further of structured with sub-wavelength patterns for many thermal imaging applications…”Fly’s Eye” Thermal arrays.

4 mm

• Support: DoD/DARPA• Goal: Manufacture of a novel germanium

lens array for credit card thin multi-imaging system.

• Technical Challenges– Machining parameters– Tolerances– Finish

Researchers worked with NAVSEA to enable the high speed machining of Bronze C95800 Propulsors for the new Virginia Class Submarine.

• Goal: To enable high-speed machining of components for VA-class submarine

• Technical Challenges– Machining parameters– Regenerative Vibrations (Chatter)– Machine Design– Thermal Control

Unclassified component being conventionally machined

Unclassified solid model developed at Charlotte: 6 meters in diameter with a finished mass of approximately 55,000 kg.

Rendering of Virginia class submarine

Unconventional machine design proposed at Charlotte