CDME visits Detroit

May 19-20, 2016, CDME’s Executive Director, John Bair, and Industry Collaboration Director, David Emerling, attended a two day automotive industry day in Detroit.   CDME joined College of Engineering Dean, David B. Williams, and Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Director, Girorgio Rizzoni, for the “voice of the customer” working session with various automotive OEMs and suppliers.   The trip included meetings with Bosch, Delphi, FANUC, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and General Motors where the CDME model was presented and feedback was provided by the companies.  

Industry trends and needs were conveyed by the companies to the university representatives.   Smart factories, predictive analytics, integrated systems (internet of things), light-weighting, advanced robotics and additive manufacturing were among the technologies industry sees as future research focus areas for collaboration with research universities.   CDME is guided by these types of interactions with industry partners and customers of the center.   Potential projects were discussed and general state-of-the industry conversations were had with each of the industry partners.   Meetings were with senior executive and research development personnel of their respective companies and focused on technology strategy and implementation. 

The trip highlighted the alumni network of OSU and CDME attended the local OSU alumni event at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.   The keynote speaker was Larry Brown who is currently serving as the Executive Director of the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII).  The institute operates Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT), a $140 million dollar program which was co-founded by OSU, issued by the Department of Defense.   ALMMII is one of the founding institutes in the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (MNMI), a federal initiative to create regional hubs to accelerate the development and adoption of cutting-edge manufacturing technologies.

(shown L to R: John Bair, Dr. Jason Tsai (FANUC), Dean David B. Williams and David Wagner (FANUC) )

(shown L to R: David Emerling, John Bair, Dean David B. Williams)