Air Products Distinguished Lecture: Democratizing Advanced Manufacturing

Additional Information:

Abstract
The technological foundations of advanced manufacturing continue to
rapidly evolve as ubiquitous sensing, cloud computing and storage and next
generation controllers are introduced into the manufacturing ecosystem. This
talk presents some of the technical concepts and business models that will
enable new technologies and capabilities in the manufacturing sector to be
rapidly deployed throughout the U.S. industrial base. Insights will be presented
into next-generation resilient production operations and business models
that favor local and point of assembly manufacturing. The talk will conclude
with a discussion of how rapidly advancing technical innovations will be
propagated throughout the manufacturing enterprise, ensuring a state-of-theart
manufacturing economy. This will provide opportunities for businesses of all
sizes and democratize advanced manufacturing technologies throughout the
United States.

Bio
Thomas Kurfess is the Chief Manufacturing Officer for Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (ORNL). In this position, he is responsible for the strategic planning
for advanced manufacturing at ORNL and the integration of advanced
manufacturing research and development into the overall strategic plan of
ORNL. His research focuses on the design and development of advanced
systems by rapidly developing, scaling and integrating new technologies
into production operations. Kurfess has significant experience in production
operations, manufacturing systems and policy issues related to advanced
manufacturing. During 2012-2013, Kurfess served as the Assistant Director
for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in
the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America. In this
position, he had responsibility for engaging the federal sector and the greater
scientific community to identify possible areas for policy actions related to
manufacturing.