Manufacturing Competitiveness

This past September, EWI was awarded a $17 million, 3-year contract with the U.S. Air Force to develop convergent manufacturing (CM) platforms for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sustainment. The project is now being managed under the auspices of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Technical development work is already taking place at EWI’s labs...

Staying competitive in large-structure production is vital for American industries today. The Accelerating Production of Large Structures and Systems (RAPLSS) survey initiative, sponsored by NIST Manufacturing USA and managed by EWI, aims to develop a national manufacturing roadmap. The Need for Large Structure Production 4.0 Technologies US industries must adopt leading-edge technologies for large structure...

Metal-powder sintering is an attractive production technology due to its ability to create near-net shape products from a variety of materials at a relatively low cost. Conventional methods for conducting sintering in high volumes involve pre-compacting green-state powders and then applying heat-based consolidation using furnaces. Conventional sintering methods, however, don’t offer the speed, cost-efficiency, energy...