Recognizing the importance of advanced manufacturing in rebuilding the economy, the Obama administration created an Office of Manufacturing Policy and the $500 million “Advanced Manufacturing Partnership” (AMP), which calls for the creation of 500,000 credentialed workers in advanced manufacturing with industry certifications. The Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the six academic institutions that are part of the steering committee for the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, is a leader in manufacturing robotics technology. Its Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM) Center will use a gift of nearly $1 million of robotics equipment from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. to create a Manufacturing Robotics Logistics Laboratory on the Georgia Tech campus. “Automation has made possible a vast number of efficiencies in modern commercial logistics and manufacturing,” says Henrik Christensen, director of RIM. “Using supply chains as an example, if we can use robots to optimize the entire process from start to finish, we can make improvements on a whole range of measures, such as end costs to consumers and environmental impact from transportation."
Article can be found at Area Development online [1].
