A Smart Manufacturing Demonstration
By Shelly Nazarenus
Irvine, December 11, 2017 —
The first annual Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) member meeting was held earlier this month. The first two days of meetings were held at UCLA, and on the third day, CESMII members traveled to UC Irvine for tours and presentations.
CESMII's mission is to enable smart manufacturing to become the driving, sustainable engine that delivers real-time business improvements in U.S. manufacturing. CESMII leverages a national footprint of regional manufacturing centers from coast to coast, including the Los Angeles-based California Regional Manufacturing Center which has two demonstration centers: CALIT2 at UCI serves as the southern California site, while the northern California demonstration center is based at UC Berkeley.
Project scientist Jian-Guo Zheng (left) explains the microscopy and materials capabilites.
The regional manufacturing centers collaborate across the CESMII network on development of smart manufacturing technologies, cross-sector application areas, energy sustainability, economic development and workforce development goals to accelerate and enhance nationwide impact. This collaborative environment extends existing capabilities across the network and provides cross-pollination of ideas and lessons learned by market and region.
In CALIT2's eHealth Collaboratory, a guest experiences a virtual reality project; then the group visits the Microsemi Innovation Lab.
After their meetings in LA, about a dozen CESMII member representatives from all over the country opted to travel south to UCI to see first-hand projects and services that the campus has to offer. A guided tour led by Richard Donovan, assistant director of research development, made stops at multiple labs.
As the southern California demonstration center, CALIT2 helps identify and prioritize the needs for smart manufacturing applications in the region. The institute has the technology expertise and fabrication facilities to help with design and prototyping.
Professor Lorenzo Valdevit (center) shows off a host of items made at UCI's RapidTech.
“It was a great opportunity to showcase all of the smart technology and innovative activity we have ongoing at CALIT2 and UCI,” said Donovan.
--Shelly Nazarenus