Under the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program, four faculty research projects in the Penn State Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering have received funding for the innovation development of Pennsylvania’s manufacturing industry.
The program is a joint collaboration between seven engineering research institutions: Carnegie Mellon University, Drexel University, Lehigh University, Penn State, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania and University of Pittsburgh.
“We are pleased to be fulfilling our mission as Pennsylvania’s land-grant university to support companies in the commonwealth,” said Ling Rothrock, interim department head. “Each of the projects allow the researchers to not only address real-world problems, but also disseminate knowledge that is valuable to their research areas.”
By honing the talents and expertise of scientists and engineers from Pennsylvania’s higher education institutions, the Manufacturing PA Innovation program keeps the Commonwealth a “national and international leader in manufacturing and achieves the full economic potential for good well-paying manufacturing jobs,” the DCED said.
The Penn State grants were awarded to the following teams:
- Andris Freivalds, Lucas Professor of Industrial Engineering, and Robert Voigt, professor of industrial engineering, for “Multiple Core Assembly Production Improvement and Enhancement,” in collaboration with Benton Foundry in Benton;
- Edward De Meter, professor of industrial engineering, and Saurabh Basu, assistant professor of industrial engineering, for “Enabling AFM Process Analysis for Advanced Technology Development,” in collaboration with Extrude Home Corporation in Irwin;
- Ling Rothrock, professor of industrial engineering; Chris McComb, assistant professor in the School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs; and Matt Parkinson, professor in the School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs; for “Human Error Reduction in Mack Truck Operations,” in collaboration with Mack Trucks of Lehigh Valley; and
- Hui Yang, associate professor of industrial engineering, for “Low-Volume and High-Mix Manufacturing Quality Control,” in collaboration with Argolytics.
The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) announced the approval of more than $2.8 million in grants through the Manufacturing PA initiative, which went to 43 innovation projects across the Commonwealth. A full list of the funded projects can be found on the DCED website.