Featured Projects

MxD partners with our top-tier partners, academic researchers, startups and the U.S. government to launch digital manufacturing projects with commercial potential.

Project Collaboration

Making every single part better than the last is a goal too big for any one company to reach on its own. Collaborative projects like these help our partners solve digital problems outside of their core competencies.

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2023

5G Cellular Technology for Industrial Facility IIoT Applications

Problem:

This program seeks to establish a methodology to investigate and test the various types of 5G cellular architecture, 5G cybersecurity, and IOT applications of 5G wireless technology to determine the appropriate configuration for use in manufacturing facilities. Items such as wireless sensors, control systems, and related equipment will be tested within the facility over various conditions. Test results, lessons learned, and best practices will be made available for publication. The 5G system will also serve as an ongoing testbed for industry and DoD for additional use cases in the future.

2023

Cybersecure Enclave Infrastructure as Code

Problem:

Small and medium manufacturers are struggling to meet the increasingly complex demands being imposed on their business systems. These manufacturers do not have the resources to create cybersecure networks to protect their customers that require higher levels of compliance. This results in fewer manufacturers who can support manufacturing priorities with increased operational costs to DIB/OIB suppliers who do comply with DoD cybersecurity requirements and leads to lowered competitivity of US manufacturing with an inability to realize opportunities of IT connected enterprises.

Current Projects

Project Number: 20-01-A

Supply Chain Enhancements

This project will develop and implement supply chain visibility tasks within the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) Cybersecure Dashboard. 

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Project Number: 20-17-01

Rapid and Secure Deployment of Medical Devices

MxD has partnered with Siemens and Fast Radius to demonstrate how 3D printing, rapid prototyping, and other digital technology can improve response times in the manufacture of point-of-care of medical devices.

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Project Number: 20-11-04

Physics-Guided Machine Learning for CNC Milling

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Third Wave Systems will optimize computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining parameters using a combination of physics-based models, in-process data, and machine learning to reduce scrapped parts. 

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Project Number: 20-11-11

Digital Twin Tool for Cybersecurity

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Siemens will develop a digital twin tool that enables manufacturers to run cybersecurity tests on virtual replicas of the physical machines and networks on their factory floor.

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Project Number: 20-13-01

Docent Phase 3 – Technology Transfer

This phase of the project continues development of the Docent Manufacturing Readiness Assessment software tool with the key objective of establishing a commercial-ready solution with a baseline sustainability model for the support and growth of the tool.

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Project Number: 20-05-01

Achieving Resilience Through Proactive Supply Chain Risk Management

This project will knit together best-in-class technology to produce a modularized machine learning-enabled software component (Dynamic Risk Mitigation Engine) that integrates supplier, bill-of-material, and event-based risk information to produce recommendations aimed at preventing supply chain disruptions before they happen.

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Project Number: 20-04-01

Digital Transformation Toolkit for SMMs

This project will develop actionable resources to help small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) “get started” in digital manufacturing through implementing detailed case studies at SMM testbeds.

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Project Number: 20-25-01

Pathfinder Phase II: Securing 3D Printers in Manufacturing

Phase II of the Pathfinder project covers the implementation of the security measures that have been identified during Phase I for the evaluation a Markforged 3D printer. During Phase II, the project team will continue to expand and increase security in the manufacturing and use of 3D printers in order to provide assurance for the machines to connect to enterprise networks. 

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Project Number: 19-13-05

Human Workflow Digital Twin: Fatigue and Motion Analyses

This project will develop a new framework for a human-centered digital twin by developing and demonstrating a viable means to measure worker motion and fatigue during manufacturing assembly tasks.

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Project Number: 20-11-01

Securing Voice Control Technology in Manufacturing with Cross-Domain Authentication

Rutgers is partnering with Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) to develop new methods to secure voice control technology and help manufacturers defend themselves against voice-based cyber attacks.

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Project Number: 20-11-13

Preserving Privacy in Smart Manufacturing Analytics

Penn State will partner with Siemens to develop a technique to help manufacturers reduce the risk of privacy breaches during model inversion cyberattacks. In such attacks, an adversary uses model output to steal sensitive raw data.

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Project Number: 19-12-02

Enabling Cybersecurity for the Digital Manufacturing Supply Chain

Techsolve, Inc. will partner with Siemens and several other MxD partners to benchmark and evaluate the OT and IT cybersecurity tools currently available to small and medium-size manufacturers.

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Project Number: 19-02-01

SMART: Standards for Metrology-Aided Robot Technology

Boeing is leading this project, which will use metrology to develop standards for enhanced precision of industrial robots. Team members from Boeing, API, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hexagon and Missouri University of Science and Technology will then evaluate the standards on two testbeds.

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Project Number: 21-10-06

Understanding the Discrepancy Between the Design and Implementation of Inventory Policies

The Rochester Institute of Technology is partnering with Dow on a project to optimize how multi-echelon inventory policies are designed and implemented.

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Project Number: 21-10-03

Use of Deep Learning to Analyze Product Lifecycle Data and Identify Errors

Penn State Applied Research Lab leads this project that aims to create a way to use deep learning, a subset of machine learning, to perform automated analyses of product lifecycle management (PLM) system components and detect data anomalies.

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Project Number: 20-18-01

Using Digital Twin Technology to Plan for Emergencies

MxD is partnering with Illumina, Horizon Controls Group, the International Academy of Automation Engineering, and MIT to demonstrate how Digital Twin technology can improve the medical product industry’s resiliency during emergencies.

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Project Number: 21-24-01

Local Health Alert System (LHAS)

The LHAS aims to capture users’ health indicators, translate those indicators to create a risk assessment, and use that risk assessment data to inform the public health supply chain about possible demand surges.

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Project Number: 21-01-05

Cognitive On-demand Design Advisor (CODA)

Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) cloud models developed with manufacturing data, CODA will help design engineers reduce engineering change orders (ECOs).

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Project Number: 21-06-01

Scheduling for Manufacturing Applications in Real-Time (SMART)

This project will demonstrate the benefits of real-time closed-loop production scheduling for large-scale as well as small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

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Project Number: 21-10-04

Secure Online Digital Twin Incorporating Physics-Aware Machine Learning for Additive Manufacturing

The goal of this project is development and deployment of an online digital twin framework that will securely, reliably, and efficiently deliver the best part quality possible in additive manufacturing.

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Project Number: 21-11-04

Cybersecurity Solutions for SMMs’ Operational Technology Equipment

This project will identify the cybersecurity problems that small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) face with the increase in networked operational technology (OT) equipment on the factory floor. It will then recommend solutions and build a case for investment in cybersecurity infrastructure.

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Project Number: 21-07-04

Secure Wireless for Factory Operation

This project will investigate the various wireless technologies that can be used for secure factory operation in industrial environments and will provide guidance via an interactive selection tool.

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Project Number: 21-07-02

MxD Cyber-Secure Wireless Test Bed

This project will create an interactive test bed on MxD’s Factory Floor that will demonstrate the various wireless technologies available for secure factory operation in industrial environments.

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Project Number: 21-26-01

Rx Product Marketplace Orchestrator

This project will create an online system to link consumers, manufacturers, and designers to meet urgent needs during healthcare emergencies that disrupt supply chains.

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Project Number: 21-19-01

Paladin PXM

This project will create a software-based data-exchange platform to enable the sharing of technical information throughout a product’s lifecycle to securely increase collaboration among suppliers.

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Project Number: 21-30-01

Cross Institute Collaboration Project

The Collaboration Project Team will develop a secure communication framework enabling virtual verification and validation of parts across additive manufacturing (AM) types and platforms. This includes universal data, types of sensors available per machine, sampling rate, and interdependence data.

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Project Number: 21-10-02

Machine Learning-Based Quality Improvement for Thermal Energy Cutting Processes

Northern Illinois University and Triangle Package Machinery Co. will develop a machine learning-based quality improvement tool to help operators and inspectors maintain consistent high-quality parts production when using the thermal energy cutting process.

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Project Number: 21-14-03

Predictive Maintenance for Multistage Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Systems

The goal of this project is to develop a playbook for designing and implementing artificial intelligence-based predictive maintenance solutions, focusing on multistage roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing while also documenting work done in discrete manufacturing.

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Project Number: 21-36-04

RIA-JMTC MODERNIZATION PROGRAM: Part Quality Inspection and Dashboard

MxD is implementing at-machine part inspection and a part-quality dashboard at Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC).

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Project Number: 21-36-02

RIA-JMTC MODERNIZATION PROGRAM: Industrial Network Mapping and Modernization, Wi-Fi

The purpose of this project is to document the state of the Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center’s (RIA-JMTC) network and add wireless connectivity.

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Project Number: 21-36-01/03

RIA-JMTC MODERNIZATION PROGRAM: Subtractive CNC Machine Health & Network Machine Status

This Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC) project aims to enhance visibility of networked equipment in a high-mix, low volume, specialized manufacturing setting, allowing for better monitoring of current projects and optimizing readiness for future projects.

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Project Number: 21-36-07

RIA-JMTC MODERNIZATION PROGRAM​: Paint Line Automation

This project will deliver a report on installation of an automated paint/coating path at the Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC), which is exploring implementation of a robotic paint system.

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Project Number: 21-36-08

RIA-JMTC MODERNIZATION PROGRAM​: CAD CAM Ecosystem Transition Study

The objective of this Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC) project is to quantify the effort needed to transition RIA-JMTC from Siemens NX software to PTC Creo software.

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Man wearing VR goggles

Reducing Waste in Manufacturing Large Die-Cast Parts

PROBLEM
Discrete manufacturers waste material when die-casting complex metal parts. 

Read the Outcome of This Project
Cyber wall testbed featured on the MxD factory floor.

Helping Businesses Counter Cyber-Attacks

PROBLEM:
More than half of all small-to-medium-size businesses have experienced a cyberattack in the last 12 months. 

Read the Outcome of This Project

Cost Share Guidelines

MxD encourages contributions of voluntary or mandatory cost share to support the digital manufacturing institute ecosystem. Please review the Cost Share Guidelines to learn more or begin the cost share donation process here.

 

More Success Stories

2017

1. Cybersecurity in the DoD Supply Chain

MxD sponsors a study to assess how small and medium-sized manufacturers are complying with DoD’s new cybersecurity rules.

READ MORE HERE
2016

2. Digitizing Legacy Machines

The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences leads a team to develop a sensor retrofit kit. The kit communicates data through an industry standard MTConnect interface to a cloud dashboard.

READ MORE HERE
2017

3. Defining Manufacturing Jobs of the Future

MxD and ManpowerGroup release a digital workforce taxonomy, a groundbreaking analysis that identifies 165 new data-centric manufacturing jobs—roles like “collaborative robotics technician” and “predictive maintenance systems specialist.”

READ MORE HERE
2019

4. Warning Manufacturers of Part, Materials Delays

Dow, Microsoft, ITAMCO, and two universities team up to build a supply chain risk alert system that will warn manufacturers further down the supply chain of delays caused by emergencies, weather, or natural disasters.

READ MORE HERE
2020

5. Digital Twin Testbed for Process Manufacturing

The process demonstration skid (PDS) built at the MxD Future Factory is accompanied by a full software stack designed to demonstrate the use of modern mobile technologies.

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2020

6. Pathfinder Phase I: Securing 3D Printers in Manufacturing

The project outcomes contained reporting documents such as, the System Security Plan which documents detailed system categorization and system boundaries along with a risk assessment report which is a workbook identifying current system vulnerabilities and security objectives and finally, a STIG checklist which provides a grading sale for each security technical implement guide (rule).

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2020

7. Supply Chain Risk Alert II (SCRA2)

A middleware platform (application) along with educational documentation such as reports, recorded demonstrations, and a best practice supply chain playbook.

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2021

8. Model-Based Systems Engineering for Digital Manufacturing: A Proof of Concept

The team developed a manufacturing/production system model to be integrated within a digital enterprise (data, models, etc.) that will provide decision-makers with a methodology aimed at capturing manufacturing and production system considerations in a model-based environment.

READ MORE HERE
2021

9. Smart Monitoring and Automated Real-Time Visual Inspection of Sealant Application (SMART VIStA)

The objective of the project is to develop a close-loop AI inspection system integrated with Digital Thread to provide timely, actionable insights about the quality of the current adhesive dots.

READ MORE HERE
2021

10. Cyber Threat Mission Builder

The team demonstrated the technological feasibility and validity of a threat intelligence-driven cyber threat mission builder.

READ MORE HERE

Facts & Figures

Tap the square to reveal the answer

Facts & Figures

How many projects has MxD funded?

Facts & Figures

More than 60 external projects across more than 35 states.

Facts & Figures

How much has MxD invested in R&D projects?

Facts & Figures

$90 million

Facts & Figures

How does digitization improve a factory’s bottom line?

Facts & Figures

Through operational efficiencies, predictive and preventative maintenance, better supply chain management, and inventory optimization.

Facts & Figures

Are Industry 4.0, The Fourth Revolution and smart manufacturing the same thing?

Facts & Figures

They boil down to the same concept: it’s all about applying information and communication technology to manufacturing.

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Path 8 Created with Sketch.
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Interested in Projects?

A key benefit of partnering with MxD is the ability to lead or participate in projects with the world’s most innovative manufacturers, researchers, and technology companies. Contact us to learn more.

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