Argonne joins Illinois manufacturers for ​“Makers on the Move” tour

(Press-News.org) Manufacturers throughout Illinois will have the chance to learn about working with the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center (MMIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, when the MMIC gets on the bus for the second annual Makers on the Move tour. 

The Illinois Manufacturing Association and Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) sponsor the eight-day, 1,000-mile tour, designed to showcase high-tech, clean, diverse and sustainable modern manufacturing. The branded Makers on the Move bus will stand out on the state’s roadways as it visits facilities, colleges and high schools in all corners of Illinois, starting Friday, Oct. 6 at Boeing in Mascoutah and ending on Oct. 13 at various Chicago facilities.   

“We look forward to experiencing the diversity of manufacturing in Illinois and helping deliver on the lab’s mission of accelerating science and technology to drive U.S. prosperity and security.”  — MMIC Director Chris Heckle

Meeting Illinois manufacturers face to face and learning their stories is a great opportunity for the MMIC, which exists to support industry partners in solving enduring manufacturing R&D challenges, identifying commercialization opportunities, licensing new technologies and introducing transformational discoveries to the marketplace, said MMIC Director Chris Heckle.

“Celebrating October as Manufacturing Month is important to us at Argonne,” she said. ​“We look forward to experiencing the diversity of manufacturing in Illinois and helping deliver on the lab’s mission of accelerating science and technology to drive U.S. prosperity and security.” 

In 2021, manufacturing contributed $2.3 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), amounting to 12.0% of total U.S. GDP, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). IMEC is an approved center in NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership national network.

IMEC CEO and President David Boulay said Illinois manufacturers are keen to innovate and will be interested in how MMIC can connect them to Argonne’s cutting-edge research, capabilities and facilities, including the Materials Engineering Research Facility and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility.

“Argonne’s expertise in the materials and chemical processing spaces can help solve complex problems,” he said. ​“Argonne is a national laboratory with the MMIC as a great regional resource. Their commitment to traveling across the state with our team, in the spirit of supporting industry, demonstrates the lab’s commitment to partnership in manufacturing innovation.”  

Launched last year, MMIC executes on Argonne’s commitment to advancing U.S. manufacturing by de-risking and accelerating the scale-up and commercialization of new, complex materials critically important to U.S. competitiveness. With MMIC as a first point of contact, industry can engage with scientists working on a new frontier of advanced manufacturing techniques and access facilities and equipment essential for inventing processes for transformative materials. Learn more.

The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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