EDINBURG, Texas - UTRGV recently received $5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense's Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) program.
With the funds the university has set up the America’s Additive Foundry (AAF) consortium.
Dr. Jianzhi (James) Li, an endowed professor at UTRGV, heads up the consortium. He boldly stated that the consortium is poised to play a crucial role in revitalizing U.S. manufacturing.
“We are in a golden time to revitalize US manufacturing excellence through research, development, and high-tech manufacturing processes and materials,” Li said. “The AAF consortium will serve as a critical cornerstone in reaching this goal. We expect this project will transform the regional economic landscape and create much-needed high-paying jobs in our region.”
Li, founding director of the UTRGV Manufacturing Center and the AAF Consortium, recently gave the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service an exclusive video interview. The interview is posted at the end of this story.
Li said the consortium’s objectives include job creation, tech-driven business development, establishment of a defense manufacturing hub, workforce development, and strengthening partnerships.
In his interview with the Guardian, Li said consortium will initially serve the Southern Gulf Coastal Plains of Texas. This includes the RGV, the Gulf Coast, Alamo, and Texas Capital metropolitan areas.
He said the consortium’s work will “focus on securing U.S. supply of tactical alloys through research, workforce training and business development leveraging technology development in additive manufacturing and intelligent Casting and Forging (C&F).
“We invite all interested partners to join us to revitalize the excellence of American advanced manufacturing. This is just the starting of a great journey. Leveraging our national network through DoD I-DREAM4D Consortium, we hope to serve as a seed to spur the manufacturing renaissance across U.S.”
Li said maintaining strong C&F operation is crucial for military equipment production. He pointed out that American C&F capabilities been in decline over the years, resulting in reduced casting facilities. He said this decline has had an impact on the country’s military production.
“Texas and the TX-SGCP region, which ranks at the top in the United States in fabricated metal product manufacturing, has a pressing need for a secure supply of tactical alloy and modern casting and forging manufacturing technologies to support both national and regional manufacturing needs,” Li said.
With the OLDCC funding, Li said, UTRGV aims to become the region’s hub for advanced tactical alloy manufacturing. He emphasized the importance of a secure supply of tactical alloy and manufacturing technologies.
“At UTRGV, we will prepare a world-class manufacturing workforce who can design and operate Intelligent Robotic Casting and Forging for tactical alloys.”
This initiative will benefit the TX-SGCP region, which includes Brownsville-Harlingen, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Corpus Christi, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, San Antonio-New Braunfels, and Greater Austin.
Key consortium partners include the UTRGV Center for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Cyber Systems, UT Austin, UT San Antonio, University of Houston, Georgia Tech, Texas Manufacturing Assistant Center, Army Research Laboratory, America Makes, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, and Tooling U-SME.
Here is the video interview with Dr. Li:
https://youtu.be/-V9JycSr4QM
