Vice President Biden stopped by EWI today on the way to a political event. He told me his reason for singling us out was that “you guys are ahead of the curve because you focused on manufacturing before it was cool”. He was interested in learning about technologies that create new employment opportunities.
We showed him our work in ultrasonic additive manufacturing, a technology that can revolutionize manufacturing by reducing capital costs and increasing flexibility. He met Mark Norfolk who is the president of our first spinout, Fabrisonic. We also showed him the RealWeld trainer, which accelerates the training of welders. Paul Boulware and Gary Thompson demonstrated the technology which underpinned our second spinout, RealWeld Systems, a company that is addressing the growing shortage of welders.
I found the VP to be extremely personable. In fact, I couldn’t take more than a few steps though our labs without him stopping to chat with our Associates. Overall, it was a very positive experience and a nice opportunity to showcase a couple of our many exciting capabilities.
