VIMANA Named Industry Partner of New Federal Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute

June 28, 2016

Berkeley, CA – VIMANA is pleased to announce our involvement in DOE’s Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

On June 20, 2016, President Barack Obama announced a $70M million federal award to the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC), an industry-led national non-profit, to create a nationwide Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The Institute which will include VIMANA’s involvement, will fuel industry growth and innovation nationwide with more than $140 million in public-private investment geared toward developing advanced manufacturing technology and a supporting workforce and education pipeline. The announcement was made at the Select USA Summit in Washington, D.C.

The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) will be an industry-led non-profit organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California with networked regional centers across California, Washington, New York, North Carolina and Texas. The national network will work across business, workforce and technical focus areas, leveraging each region’s unique industrial environments. It will be the ninth institute awarded under the National Network of Manufacturing Institutes initiative. The SMLC brings together a strong collaboration of nearly 200 partners from academia, industry, and non-profits across over thirty states. The Institute will accelerate the development and adoption of advanced sensors, data analytics, and controls in manufacturing, while reducing the cost of these technologies by half and radically improving the efficiency of U.S. advanced manufacturing.

Will Sobel, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of VIMANA, stated, “VIMANA is enthusiastic about participating in the White-House led initiative to ensure manufacturing sustainability in the United States. The national networks are ensuring that the US will remain a global leader in manufacturing innovation and production. At VIMANA, we will be leveraging our expertise and thought leadership in predictive analytics for manufacturing efficiency, sustainability, and maintenance using our platform, VIMANA.”

Mr. Sobel will also bring his leadership in standards development as the chair of the MTConnect Technical Steering Committee where he is promoting composable systems using standardized information models. “The next generation of manufacturing systems will utilize standardized information models to provide the foundation for analytics that will drive new levels of innovation and automation.”

The Institute will enable small, medium and large manufacturers, new and unprecedented access to smart tools, innovation and the ability to grow their business.