“We are in a really strong position in terms of being champions for advanced manufacturing, workforce development, onshoring jobs, supporting economic growth and improving our national security. I think we’re going to continue to have that impact for many, many years to come,” said Chad Duty, CEO of IACMI.
IACMI’s annual meeting, held in June in Ohio, gathered together members from across the U.S. and composites value chain to hear updates, network and celebrate the institute’s accomplishments in its first decade. Source, all images | CW
IACMI, one of 18 Manufacturing USA institutes, was established in 2015 and renewed in 2023, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).The Institute aims to lead composites technology innovation and workforce development solutions, through public-private collaboration, funding projects, workforce development programs and more.
Over the past 10 years, IACMI boasts a number of achievements, including:
- 170+ active members,
- scale-up facilities in eight states valued at $400 million,
- 60+ industry-led technical projects involving 90+ members,
- 5 active Working Groups,
- 3,000+ manufacturing jobs announced,
- 25 new products and technologies commercially available,
- 18,300+ students engaged in STEM outreach across all age levels, and
- 100 industry internships.
“IACMI is synonymous with workforce development,” noted Glenn Richardson, managing director of advanced manufacturing and aerospace at JobsOhio (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.). He spoke about the role IACMI, the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and the composites industry have played in bringing new manufacturing sites for companies like Joby Aviation (Santa Cruz, Calif., and Dayton) and Anduril Industries (Costa Mesa, Calif., and soon Columbus) to Ohio.
Looking ahead: IACMI and the composites industry
The Members Meeting provided a chance for IACMI to look ahead to the future, both for the organization itself and the industry.Uday Vaidya, CTO of IACMI, listed some of the focuses of the research being done in IACMI’s next phase: Multifunctionality, high rate manufacturing, hybrid materials, diversification of the energy portfolio in collaboration with the DOE’s goals, AI, high-temperature materials, integration with the DOD and its goals, and a continued emphasis on modeling and simulation.
IACMI’s Uday Vaidya gave an update on the institute’s working groups and discussed future goals. Learn more about the working groups at acmi.org/innovation/working-groups/ to get involved.
He added, “AI is going to be a piece of every single part of [IACMI 2.0’s] development for sure,” and pointed to work that Purdue University’s Composites Manufacturing & Simulation Center is doing to integrate newly developed AI tools into various stages of the engineering and manufacturing process.
Erin Brophy, COO of IACMI, noted that the institute has 12 Resource Pool projects approved with $420,000 allocated to fund these research efforts, and two of the newer, larger-scale IACMI 2.0 Technical projects currently approved in collaboration with the DOE.
Updates from the DOE, AFRL, NIST
Department of Energy (DOE). Lou Hrkman, principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at the DOE, emphasized that the current U.S. government administration’s energy priorities are on advancing “affordable, reliable, secure energy” and that the biggest challenge is meeting growing energy demands especially as AI data centers continue to be developed.
Hrkman listed natural gas, geothermal energy and nuclear technology as among those with the high potential for growth in the coming years – “We need advanced materials innovation to reach our energy goals,” he added. Specifically, he encouraged the composites industry to focus on development of high-temperature materials for use in geothermal and nuclear energy applications, as well as automation and smart manufacturing to help bring down manufacturing costs and make reshoring competitive.
Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). Jennifer Fielding, chief of the ceramics branch at AFRL, spoke about the composites work AFRL is investing in, including development of bio-based geopolymers; multifunctionality such as embedded sensors and vitrimers for self-healing; agile processes like additive manufacturing (AM); AI and machine learning; and autonomous processing.
In the AM space in particular, AFRL aims to create a roadmap for continuous fiber 3D printing efforts within the defense space, she explained. Through work with companies like Continuous Composites, Orbital Composites, Electroimpact and Impossible Objects, AFRL is advancing AM technologies with the goal of being able to manufacture highly tailorable components at higher rates, lower manufacturing costs and on-site when needed.
“Institutes [like IACMI] are our national treasures in terms of workforce development,” she added.