Georgia Tech's Precision Machining Research Program Participating in Strategic Alliance Project That Has Been Awarded $11.7 Million From NIST/ATP

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Pamela D. Rountree, Information Specialist
Manufacturing Research Center
Phone:  404.894.1740
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November 3, 2000 — The Precision Machining Research Consortium (PMRC) at Georgia Tech's Manufacturing Research Center (MARC) is participating in a strategic alliance — comprised of two universities and six companies — that has been budgeted for $11.7 million under the grant support of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The four-year ATP project is entitled, "Enabling Technologies for Lean Manufacturing of Critical Hardened Steel Applications."

Work on the project began November 1, 2000, with a kick-off meeting sponsored by Georgia Tech on November 2-3 on campus. Out of the total $11.7 million budgeted for the project, Georgia Tech's PMRC will receive funds totaling $1.7 million. Dr. Steven Danyluk, Professor and Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Chair in Mechanical Engineering for Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Director of Georgia Tech's Manufacturing Research Center (MARC), which oversees the operation of this project in PMRC, said that the strategic alliance is "an excellent example of how universities work with industry to create economic benefits in addition to academic excellence."

Dr. Steven Liang, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the project's lead technical investigator, said the ATP funding was "critically needed in view of the high risk and high payback involved in this project," and that the funding "will play an indispensable role in the success of the technology's development and diffusion."

In addition to Dr. Liang, the Georgia Tech faculty participating in the project includes Professor Thomas Kurfess, Assistant Professor Shreyes Melkote, Associate Professor Ye-Hwa Chen and Associate Professor Min Zhou, members of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. MARC Research Engineer Scott Billington is also a key contributor on the project.

The strategic alliance working on the project includes: Georgia Tech's PMRC, Ohio State University, Delphi, Torrington, Kennametal, Third Wave Systems, Hardinge and MascoTech. According to Dr. Liang, Delphi will head up the consortium's efforts and coordinate technology-testing activities in conjunction with Torrington. Third Wave Systems and PMRC will lead the technology development effort in hard turning; MascoTech Forming Technologies and Ohio State will steer the development of the near net-shape forging technology; while Hardinge, Third Wave Systems and Kennametal will guide technology integration and marketing.

The project's goal, said Dr. Liang, is to "develop, demonstrate and commercialize new and innovative lean manufacturing technology based on hard turning and precision forging for economically shaping and finishing hardened steel components" that have "complex geometrical surface profiles and extremely stringent form, dimension, surface finish and integrity requirements for functionally-critical applications."

The four-year plan will accomplish its goal through focused research, development, integration, and commercialization efforts in the broad technical areas of predictive modeling, process optimization, near net-shape forming, product and process validation and systems integration, Dr. Liang explained.

Dr. Liang said that "new hard turning technology coupled with a near net-shape forging system developed in this project will lead to significant economic benefits by reducing cycle time, total cost, and product design constraints. Cycle time reductions will result from the shorter times for set-up and changeover. It is anticipated that 20~30% net cost reduction will be achieved through the proposed technology."

Dr. Thomas Kurfess, Director of the PMRC, noted that "successful development and commercialization of hard turning assisted by precision forging to outperform and replace traditional grinding operations can lead to $15~20 billion gains per year in the U.S. automotive, aerospace, aircraft, die and mold, bearing, electric motor, machine tool and general machine industries. These economic benefits can be augmented by the creation of new opportunities for technology advancements in the optics, ceramics and superalloy processing industries as well."

"The core commercialization strategy for this ATP project," Dr. Kurfess said, "is to bundle the hard turning technology, assisted by precision forming technology, into the marketing of the existing and future machine, tooling and software products from Hardinge, Kennametal, Third Wave Systems and MascoTech." By doing so, he indicated, "the companies will be in a strong position to support the production line of their customers, thus enhancing their profit margin and strengthening their marketing advantage."

Dr. Shreyes Melkote added that "it is anticipated that a set of predictive modeling softwares, process planning codes, cutting tools, machines and pre-turn forging systems will be developed and validated at Delphi and Torrington production sites" by the project's fourth year."

In the course of the fourth year, "the system will be integrated and packaged by Third Wave Systems, Kennametal, Hardinge and MascoTech, and be piloted on the joint venture partner's production lines," Dr. Liang said. "By the close of the fourth year, the system will be refined and ready for full commercialization on the general marketplace. The successful completion of the ATP project will lead to an effective mechanism for technology commercialization in the interest of broad-based economic benefits."

For more information on PMRC and MARC, see their respective web sites at http://pmrc.marc.gatech.edu and http://www.marc.gatech.edu.