By taking on a significant role in the development of advanced composites and workforce training, IACMI-The Composites Institute is working to bolster American manufacturing and national defense.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation® (IACMI), also known as IACMI–The Composites Institute®, recently marked a decade of commitment to revitalizing American manufacturing and strengthening the nation’s defense industrial base. Established by the Department of Energy (DOE), IACMI was announced as the fifth of the now 17 Manufacturing USA® institutes on January 9, 2015.
IACMI–The Composites Institute is a community of 170-plus members in industry, universities, national laboratories, and government agencies that are working together to accelerate the development and adoption of advanced composites and innovative manufacturing technologies. Through public-private partnerships, IACMI-The Composites Institute works collaboratively to drive domestic production capacity, strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, and elevate domestic job creation.
IACMI stated in a release that it has played a pivotal role in America’s reindustrialization, aiming to secure its position as a global leader in manufacturing innovation and workforce development.
Reshoring initiatives have been key to bolstering U.S. economic and national security. Through multiple national workforce programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Defense (DoD), IACMI said it has been “inspiring, educating, and training a skilled workforce to help address the projected 4.6 million open manufacturing jobs in the coming decade.”
In the area of public-private collaboration, IACMI has convened more than 170 members and 4,500 professionals from industry, academia, and federal labs to tackle the composites industry’s toughest challenges in automotive, aerospace, wind, infrastructure, and the circular economy. It has helped facilitate technical innovation by connecting more than 90 of its members to conduct 60-plus industry-led R&D projects that helped commercialize 25 products. In addition, IACMI has helped advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of numerous technologies and create hundreds of design, engineering, and manufacturing jobs, according to the release.
To help develop the nation’s manufacturing workforce, IACMI has established 40 machine tool training centers in 14 states. The organization reported that it has provided in-person training in CNC, metrology, composites, and metallurgy for more than 5,100 people. It has also conducted online training in CNC machining for more than 12,400 people across 50 states. Significantly, IACMI has worked to catalyze various programs that have enabled more than 100 internships. These internships have resulted in “100 percent placement in industry jobs or higher education,” the release said.
IACM also stated that it has provided open access to over $400 million in scale up facilities across eight states, leading to “an additional $200 million-plus for companies, universities, national labs, and workforce initiatives.”
“For 10 years, IACMI has harnessed the power of public-private partnerships to improve products, processes, and people’s lives through composites innovation and workforce solutions that secure America as a global leader in advanced manufacturing,” said Chad Duty, chief executive officer for IACMI, in the release. “With steadfast investment and support from industry and government partners, notably DOE and DoD, IACMI has empowered domestic manufacturers to accelerate design and commercialization, fostering a more reliable, secure, and competitive U.S. economy.”
Since 2015, IACMI, the DoE, and state economic development organizations have invested in a shared infrastructure that is said to “collectively deliver a breadth and scale of open-access advanced composites manufacturing R&D capabilities that stands unmatched in the United States.” These facility and infrastructure investments have been led by IACMI’s core innovation partners in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Today, these capabilities are said to uniquely position IACMI to build on past achievements, de-risk future research, and accelerate onshoring efforts in the United States.
Examples of the state-of-the-art scale-up facilities include the following:
- Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at ORNL
- Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility at University of Tennessee, Knoxville
- Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability at Vanderbilt University
- The Composites Laboratory at the University of Dayton Research Institute
- The Composites Manufacturing & Simulation Center at Purdue University
- The IACMI Scale-Up Research Facility (SuRF) in Detroit, Michigan
- The Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility (CoMET) at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
IACMI has leveraged these facilities to undertake transformational R&D in nation-critical industries, including energy, transportation, aerospace, and infrastructure and construction.
An IACMI-sponsored project team helped Volkswagen of America redesign and validate a composite liftgate for SUVs, reducing the weight by 35 percent and lowering its recurring cost by 9 percent versus steel. Technological advances from this research are now being used across multiple VW platforms, including the new VW ID Buzz EV.
The scaling, manufacturing, and testing of novel recyclable and lower-cost thermoplastic wind turbine blades has also been demonstrated. Further research in automating finishing processes for wind turbine blades aims to reshore wind manufacturing jobs. Simulation and modeling work to develop a virtual twin for additive manufacturing is reportedly transforming the production of tooling.
IACMI has become an “ecosystem of innovation” and has discovered an effective formula that works: “technical innovation plus workforce development equals economic growth.” As the first DoE institute to receive renewed funding in 2023, and with DoD investments expanding proven programs, IACMI said it is committed to building on these successes. Over the next few years, IACMI and its partners plan to leverage their full-scale facilities and equipment and significantly expand programs.
In this next chapter, IACMI stated that it plans to “advance its purpose to convene, connect, and catalyze the U.S. composites community by attracting startups and small enterprises, while creating opportunities with large enterprises, national labs, and universities.”