Fueling Advanced Manufacturing Growth Across Indiana’s Hardtech Corridor: Reimagine IN-MaC through Purdue in West Lafayette and Indianapolis

To fuel and impact the ongoing manufacturing renaissance and expand its reach across Indiana, Purdue University in West Lafayette is launching an IN-MaC node at Purdue in Indianapolis (PIN) in a joint venture with MMRL.

Manufacturing today is undergoing a renaissance in America, especially at the crossroads in Indiana, through reshoring, retooling, and retraining along with the integration of digital, physical, and sustainable manufacturing and operational technologies and assets. Purdue is leading the renaissance for Indiana and America, at large, through multiple key Indiana and nation-focused initiatives such as IN-MaC and XMO, respectively. Critical technology platforms such as digital twin, 3D printing also called additive manufacturing (AM), artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and more are offered to small- and mid-size as well as large industries for innovations, technology updates and for workforce training at scale. Indiana is the highest in the nation for manufacturing intensity (Source: NAM/Bureau of Economic Analysis).

More than one in five Hoosiers already work in advanced manufacturing. “Indiana knows manufacturing, and so does Purdue, with a rich tradition of leading innovations and translation into production practice. IN-MaC at PIN is a welcoming step poised to provide hands-on manufacturing leadership across Indiana’s hardtech corridor and to new education programs at PIN” said Dan Hasler and David Umulis, key leaders in Purdue’s Indianapolis campus launch effort.

Since its inception, IN-MaC has been a partnership between the Polytechnic Institute and the College of Engineering, and includes collaboration with Ivy Tech and Vincennes University, to help solve manufacturing challenges for Indiana-based companies. Recently, Purdue leadership has advocated for a “hard tech corridor” between West Lafayette and Indianapolis as a way to support Indiana manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and economic development in critical technology areas. To support this initiative, IN-MaC will be reimagined in a way that will now have two locations – West Lafayette and Indianapolis – to amplify digital, physical, and sustainable industrial transformation impact along the corridor.

“The IN-MaC at PIN will be a joint venture with Purdue College of Engineering’s Manufacturing and Materials Research Laboratories (MMRL)” said Ajay P. Malshe, inaugural director of MMRL and the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “We’re investing to put a strong foundation of a manufacturing ‘hard tech’ corridor between West Lafayette and Indianapolis, to go from manufacturing inventions to innovations to industrial implementations,” said Ajay Malshe. “Over a decade, IN-MaC has built a successful foundation of Indiana-centric manufacturing programs, and this next step will allow us to reimage the next decade. As Indiana’s sole land-grant institution, chartered to be of service to the Hoosiers, we wanted to root IN-MaC:MMRL at PIN to serve Indiana’s population and businesses more hands-on and effectively.”

MMRL is one of the early outcomes of the latest eXcellence in Manufacturing and Operations (XMO) national initiative of Purdue. MMRL brings together world-class faculty and staff from the nationally top-ranked schools including Schools of Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering, with more to follow, to further advance physical manufacturing, advanced materials and design research, education, and industry collaboration. MMRL brings multimillion dollar latest and the best physical manufacturing test bed hardware assets accessible to industries for innovation and uptake of innovations.

“Manufacturing is crucial to economic resilience and security in Indiana,” said Arvind Raman, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and Robert V. Adams Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “In addition to our students, we serve all of Indiana. MMRL, IN-MaC, and Purdue in Indianapolis take a ‘Whole-of-Purdue’ approach to advance manufacturing and economic vitality in the State — and by virtue of technology transfer and workforce development, will put into place a template and roadmap for sustainable manufacturing success across the nation.”

“This initiative builds on the successful track record of IN-MaC and capitalizes on the opportunity to amplify its influence, aligned with Purdue’s strategic priorities,“ said Dean Daniel Castro of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. “The presence of IN-MaC in Indianapolis marks the start of a transformative phase characterized by meaningful collaborations with both industry and community, with the shared goal of advancing manufacturing in Indiana”.

“Since its inception, IN-MaC has served as a focal point for manufacturing discovery, learning, and engagement related to Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation of manufacturing,” said Nathan Hartman, Director of IN-MaC in West Lafayette and Dauch Family Professor of Advanced Manufacturing at Purdue University. “Reimagined IN-MaC, IN-MaC 2.0, will see us engaging and integrating the Digital Manufacturing Testbed at IN-MaC West Lafayette with the advanced Physical Manufacturing Testbed infrastructure of IN-MaC: MMRL in Indianapolis to support manufacturing transformation in Indiana.”

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