MSC Software Corporation, a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services, today announced that it is part of the 41-member consortium that won a U.S. government competition to develop a national center for digital manufacturing technology.
During a press conference in March, President Obama announced that the Chicago-based University of Illinois Labs (UIL) led team was awarded a $70 million federal grant to establish the first of its kind Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute. The Institute has been established to serve as a national hub/clearing house for US-Based manufacturers seeking to integrate advanced computer aided engineering, design, and simulation technologies into their operations- from beginning to end- to reduce development times and production costs.
MSC is joined by several major universities and companies including Boeing, Cray, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft to organize and focus their collective efforts to enable interoperability across the supply chain. The ultimate mission of the DMDI is to develop and demonstrate enhanced digital capabilities to design and test new products, with the end goal of reducing costs in manufacturing processes across multiple industries.
MSC will contribute high-end simulation and materials expertise to the DMDI, which is one of the first in a planned network of 45 manufacturing technology institutes throughout the U.S. The institutes are the expression of the National Network in Manufacturing Innovation initiative (NNMI) to bolster the U.S. manufacturing sector.
"Our mission to help manufactures thrive in competitive environments with the application of engineering simulation methods aligns perfectly with the objectives of the DMDI initiative," said MSC Software President and CEO Dominic Gallello. "For any manufacturer today, innovation and "first time right" is simply a must. We look forward to contributing our ideas and expertise in this very important endeavor."
The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute is the fourth facility to be established in the "National Network in Manufacturing Innovation" (NNMI) initiative. The collection of NNMI institutes will serve as regional hubs linking applied research and product development by bringing together companies, universities, research institutes and federal agencies to invest in key technologies.
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