Cutting-edge manufacturing isn't just alive and well in Southeast Michigan -- it's getting a big boost from the feds and others.
Atop the Free Press' front page, Todd Spangler previews a Tuesday announcement:
A Michigan-based consortium of businesses, universities and other organizations has won a $140-million competition to become one of the first three manufacturing innovation institutes in the nation, the White House announced Saturday. . . .
Bringing the institute’s home base to metro Detroit continues the area’s standing as a pre-eminent area for American manufacturing.
Mark Norfolk (right), president of Fabrisonic, demonstrates a high-tech metal fabrication system at EWI in Ohio last fall. (EWI photo)
The high-profile prize with a clunky name -- Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation Institute -- will be in Canton. It'll be overseen by the Defense Department and financed with $70 million from the Obama administration and at least another $70 million from private or other public sources, Spangler reports from Washington.
Aluminum, titanium and high-strength steel manufacturers will work with universities and labs on research and development at the Wayne County center.
No location is identified yet, so it's unclear whether the institute will use a new facility or an existing plant.
Wayne State, UM, MSU and Michigan Tech are among 60 participants, as are ALCOA, Boeing, Caterpillar, GE, Honda and Lockheed Martin. (All 34 companies, nine universities and 17 other groups are listed near the end of The Detroit News' coverage.)
The consortium's leader is EWI, a company based in Columbus, Ohio, that develops technology for mid-size and large manufacturers in aerospace, automotive and other industries. It opened a regional base in Madison Heights last August.
A formal announcement comes from the president Tuesday at a White House event.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan welcomes the "great news for our city and our region," adding in a Saturday night statement:
"We are especially glad that Focus:Hope is a key member of the consortium because it means Detroiters will be among the first in the world to develop the skills needed to manufacture these lightweight metals. I look forward to working with the consortium to make sure as much work as possible is done in the city of Detroit in order to maximize the job opportunities available to Detroiters."
Spangler quotes a White House handout that calls the project a “teaching factory” to help industry “improve the performance, enhance the safety and boost the energy and fuel efficiency of vehicles and machines.”
The administration said it will also “make the U.S. more competitive by expanding domestic markets for products made with lightweight and modern metals such as automobiles, wind turbines, medical devices, engines, commercial aircraft and Department of Defense systems and vehicles."
