Industry Technologies
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded nearly $54 million in grants for 13 high-impact projects for research, development, and testbeds for pandemic response. The funding, which was provided by the American Rescue Act, will support projects at eight manufacturing innovation institutes in the Manufacturing USA network, working with more than 80 partners including leading research universities, nonprofits, and small and large manufacturers.
Manufacturing USA® is a national network created to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing through large-scale public-private collaboration on technology, supply chain, and workforce development. The 16 manufacturing innovation institutes (sponsored by either the U.S. Department of Commerce, Defense, or Energy) brings together member organizations from manufacturers of all sizes, academia, and government to work on major research and development projects relevant to industry and train people on advanced manufacturing skills.
“Rebuilding our manufacturing economy is an essential component to strengthening our communities and creating opportunity for all Americans,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “The breadth and variety of these awards show that manufacturing can be an economic driver in every community. From creating an advanced manufacturing testbed in Appalachia, to building clean, reliable power in Native American communities, these grants are essential to creating manufacturing jobs and skills in every corner of America.”
Each institute in the Manufacturing USA network is a public-private partnership focused on an advanced manufacturing specialty such as additive manufacturing, advanced chip manufacturing, or robotics. The institutes collaborate with academic and private sector manufacturing organizations on applied research and development projects and advanced manufacturing skills training.
The awardees will use advanced manufacturing technologies to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical equipment; create new, sustainable domestic supply chains; improve resilience in existing supply chains; produce novel COVID-19 tests; provide shared-access equipment and facilities; produce health alert systems; and to train and develop the next-generation manufacturing workforce.
AFFOA is working to enable a manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional fibers, yarns, and fabrics into highly sophisticated, integrated, and networked devices and systems.
The lead recipients and the project of most interest to the Textile and Non-Wovens sector is the $11 million+ award to AFFOA (Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, Inc.) and their 12 partner organizations to enable manufacturing automation and supply chain diversification and to address the environmental impact of PPE with the NIST/RACER Pleated Facemask Automatic Production System.
There are many factors that must be considered to optimize the manufacturability of the portable mask production lines for non-woven PPE face masks. Today’s PPE production industry relies largely on the low costs of labor from less developed countries in Asia and Africa.
At present, no one is providing a containerized, portable mask production system. However, a non-woven PPE pleated face mask production line that utilizes integrated robotics and automation with little human intervention, can now mitigate concerns about supply chain issues and can be set up inside deployable, containerized portable shipping containers.
AFFOA Partner OrganizationsWith AFFOA, other involved organizations include Henderson Sewing Machine Co., 99 Degree Custom, Aries, ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing), Bluewater Defense, Carnegie Melon University, E Spin Technologies, Inovesno, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), NC State University, SewBo, Siemens, UMass Lowell, University of Georgia, and Yaskawa.
At present, no one is providing a containerized, portable mask production system. However, a non-woven PPE pleated face mask production line that utilizes integrated robotics and automation with little human intervention, can now mitigate concerns about supply chain issues and can be set up inside deployable, containerized portable shipping containers.
AFFOA Partner OrganizationsWith AFFOA, other involved organizations include Henderson Sewing Machine Co., 99 Degree Custom, Aries, ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing), Bluewater Defense, Carnegie Melon University, E Spin Technologies, Inovesno, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), NC State University, SewBo, Siemens, UMass Lowell, University of Georgia, and Yaskawa.
