Center Milestones

milestones

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June ’96—The ERC/RMS kicks off at a meeting with industry and government sponsors.

Feb ’98—ERC/RMS moves to the new Integrated Manufacturing Systems Lab(IMSL) in the H.H. Dow Bldg. The 2800 sq. ft. Machining Testbed houses full-scale and prototype machine tools that can be reconfigured for testing of individual machines or whole systems.

May ’98—ERC/RMS Testbed dedicated by U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham establishing the only NSF sponsored Engineering Research Center dedicated to consumer goods manufacturing research.

August ’99—First Patent Awarded to the Center for a “Reconfigurable Machine Tool” (RMT) U.S. Patent—5,943,750

May ‘01—CIRP Intl. Confr. on Agile Reconfigurable Manufacturing

September ’02—Arch-type RMT (RMT2) is presented at the Int’l Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, IL.

August ‘03—CIRP Intl. Confr. on Reconfigurable Manufacturing

August ’03—Set up core partnership with Morgan State University in Baltimore Maryland, enabling development of remote sensing and control research in a diverse environment.

September ’04—Portable RIM prototype at Cummins Inc. for beta testing.

September ’04—Portable RIM prototype at Morgan St. University NSF Site Visit

September ’04—RIM is presented at the Int’l Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, IL.

May ‘05—CIRP Intl. Confr. on Reconfigurable Manufacturing

August ’05—SHARE line-balancing software is tested at DCX Trenton, MI plant.

January ’06—RIM installed at the GEMA plant in Dundee, MI.

July ’06—Cylinder Bore Inspection system installed at GM plant.

July ’07—Completion of the NSF Support Program for the ERC/RMS