CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN

The state of manufacturing is reaching a critical point in the United States. For decades now, manufacturing has been leaving the U.S. in search of lower labor rates in other parts of the world. It is clear that the U.S. cannot compete in manufacturing by working cheaper or harder. The U.S. can only compete in the manufacturing arena by working smarter. In order to successfully compete in the world market for manufacturing and reverse the current trend, we need to rethink our manufacturing approach and execution and create a new model of manufacturing. That is the purpose and role of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design (CAMID).

CAMID is a 100,000-square-foot Florida Tech facility that will create a manufacturing and design ecosystem that will allow U.S. manufacturers of all sizes to understand and profit from the latest approaches to manufacturing in order to be globally competitive. This unique ecosystem will consist of the following to support a wide variety of U.S. manufacturers:

• The latest digital modeling, simulation and visualization technologies

• Cutting-edge computer-driven manufacturing equipment, including a substantial emphasis on additive methods, such as 3-D metal and other material printing, circuit board printing and crystal growth

• Expert resources such as industry-oriented professors and industry experts in a wide variety of engineering, systems engineering, materials research and advanced manufacturing

• A student population that will engage with manufacturers in both learning practical manufacturing and bringing the new digital technologies that they have been educated on to traditional manufacturers

• A constant offering of education and training to the manufacturing community on the latest engineering and manufacturing digital-based technologies

• A “Hoteling” model that enables project-oriented on-site virtual development to physical manufacturing process

• Applied laboratory rooms where the manufacturing community can obtain hands-on experience with the latest digital development and manufacturing software and hardware

• Constant applied research to discover and exploit the advances in modeling from micro material properties to macro vehicle assembly methods, simulations of product testing and performance, simulations of manufacturing methods such as additive and 3-D printing

• A virtual computing and communications infrastructure that will allow these resources to not only be used locally, but nationally

The Florida Tech Research and Development Center— 2495 NE Palm Bay Rd., Palm Bay

CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN

CAMID@fit.edu

RE-616-815

The key to this new approach to manufacturing is a model referred to as the Digital Twin. Originating from CAMID executive director, Dr. Mike Grieves, and NASA, the Digital Twin, as shown here, is an approach that uses the latest digital computing technology to design, engineer, test and manufacture a product virtually in an integrated fashion. Once the digital version meets all its requirements, the physical “twin” is then manufactured with first time quality and performance. Because it is far faster and far cheaper to use this digital technology, manufacturing can be much more effective and efficient.This contrasts with the current, traditional manufacturing model where products are designed and engineered piecemeal. Then expensive and time consuming physical prototypes are built and tested over and over again as problems are uncovered and corrected.

This iterative process continues as piecemeal components are built up into final products. Once a viable product is settled on, the plans are thrown over a wall to manufacturing that then employs its own time consuming and costly process to first determine whether the product can be manufactured. If it cannot be manufactured with the equipment and material manufacturing has at its disposal, the product is returned to engineering for costly and time consuming redesign.

Even if the product can be manufactured, products are manufactured relatively inefficiently as manufacturing attempts to find the manufacturing method that minimizes resources. While kaizen, the Japanese originated method for continuous improvement, is an approach to take costs out of manufacturing by reducing wasted labor, equipment and material on the factory floor, the result is that it means products are being manufactured inefficiently until the most productive means are uncovered.

The 21st century paradigm for manufacturing promises to be much different with a virtual-to-physical focus. Products will be designed using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to interact and evolve throughout their useful life. Using the Digital Twin, products will be developed virtually, tested virtually, manufactured virtually, and used and supported virtually. Only when the virtual product is shown to meet all its requirements will it be manufactured physically. Manufacturing will in large part be done by printing the product with an additive printer utilizing a variety of new materials. By trading inexpensive virtual bits for expensive physical atoms, innovative design and manufacturing will be much more efficient and effective.

The paradigm above is an ideal representation of what future manufacturing can be. CAMID is intended to move traditional manufacturing into the 21st century, utilizing the exponential increases in computing technologies and the advances in revolutionary

manufacturing methods, such as additive manufacturing. CAMID will focus on understanding, developing and advancing these technologies with an objective of the technologies’ pragmatic use for the manufacturing community.

The underlying question CAMID will use as it North Star is, “Will these technologies make our manufacturers more globally competitive by being more effective and efficient?” CAMID’s success has the capability of leading the way by substantially changing the nature of U.S. manufacturing. In doing so, CAMID will be a major

force in not only arresting the decline of U.S. manufacturing, but in reversing the trend by making U.S. manufacturing both low cost and high quality.

Bits-to-Atoms: The CAMID Approach

Dr. Michael Grieves, Executive Director