#MICHAEL TICH LEARNING FACTORY SOFTWARE#

In addition to GenEdge, the Learning Factory is sponsored by Moog, Northrop Grumman, Innotek, Association for Manufacturing Technology, Autodesk, Kennametal, Rize, SMC, Collins Aerospace, Azoth, Student Engineers Council, Solar Connexion, and Virginia Tech's Green Engineering Program.ĭespite all its promise, the Learning Factory acknowledges the challenges of the Industry 4.0 world it is helping to shape. By listening to manufacturers and identifying their needs, the Learning Factory can develop workforce training programs that fill skills gaps among new and current employees and build an even more competitive workforce,” Weimer said.

“We’re connecting employers in the region with the talent and resources at the Learning Factory to identify areas of potential collaboration. Scott Weimer, executive director of Roanoke Regional Initiatives, part of Outreach and International Affairs, supervises a $45,360 GO Virginia grant to help local companies embrace these technologies and address workforce training opportunities. Likewise, the Learning Factory also serves as an incubator for companies to train existing employees and test new manufacturing technologies before investing capital – and disrupting assembly lines – to incorporate new equipment into their factories.

#MICHAEL TICH LEARNING FACTORY SOFTWARE#

A lot of my current focus at work is on automating data sources and getting closer to real time analysis, so understanding the open source software and connection methods I became familiar with in the Learning Factory has given me a massive leg up.” “On a more personal learning note,” she added, “the understanding I was able to grasp of the importance of data has really helped me as I start my career. “By using the handbook we produced, we projected that a company could save an average of about 20 hours of programmer time in their connection automation just over $8.3 million in potential time savings across the industry,” said Coleman. One such student is Lilly Coleman, ‘21, whose senior design team used “open source software and some engineering elbow grease” to create a new data connection and monitoring system. “So we’re very excited by this investment.” “The Learning Factory is really going to accelerate the development of students at Virginia Tech who can then move on to industries, help those industries adopt the new 4.0 technologies, and become more successful,” said Donohue. “We believe we were the first net zero learning factory in the world,” Earnest said.īill Donohue, executive director of GenEdge Alliance – an organization that leverages federal and state funding to help Virginia manufacturers and businesses – invests $120,000 a year to fund Virginia Tech Industrial and Systems Engineering senior design projects conducted in the Learning Factory. A control room featuring a virtual factory and digital dashboard that allows companies to simulate how new technologies could be incorporated into their facilities.Īll this is fully powered by rooftop solar panels that generate a renewable energy source continually monitored inside.An assembly system cell used to teach “lean” manufacturing principles.An array of industrial Rize and Markforged 3D printers.A collection of robotic equipment that work alongside students-mobile robots or 'mobots' (MiR 100 and Turtle Bot) collaborative robots or “cobots” (Aubo i5, UR-3, and UR-5) and, an industrial robot (Epson c3).It’s a public-private partnership that provides Virginia Tech undergraduates a hands-on education of Industry 4.0, a term used to describe today’s manufacturing environment that incorporates smart technologies and the Internet to better connect and automate the industrial process.ĭirector Matt Earnest oversees the 1,800 square foot space which includes: Launched in 2019 inside Durham Hall, the Learning Factory is housed within the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Michael tich learning factory