New Kensington Digital Foundry gets federal 'Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center' designation

The U.S. Department of Energy has named Penn State New Kensington’s Digital Foundry as a Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center — one of only seven in the nation.

The designation of the facility, which is under construction on Fifth Avenue in downtown New Kensington, as an “SMIC” was made in partnership with CESMII-The Smart Manufacturing Institute, according to an announcement from the Penn State campus in Upper Burrell.

Funded by the federal government, CESMII-The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute was created in 2016 as a nonprofit to accelerate the adoption of smart manufacturing through the integration of advanced sensors, data analytics, platforms and controls. It is the third institute funded by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.

The six other innovation centers are associated with the University of California Los Angeles, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina State University, Purdue University, Case Western University and Feyen Zylstra Inc.

The Digital Foundry at New Kensington will enable small and mid-sized manufacturers to leverage smart manufacturing, said Howard Goldberg, chief operating officer at CESMII.

“This SMIC brings together a well-appointed facility, domain experts, contemporary smart manufacturing technologies aimed at reducing cost and complexity, and the training that brings them all together,” he said. “The Digital Foundry SMIC’s focus on small and mid-sized manufacturers is strategically important to CESMII, given that small and mid-sized manufacturers represent over 99% of the manufacturing base in the nation.”

The 15,000-square-foot foundry is scheduled to open this spring, and a public celebration and open house are tentatively planned for June, said Corinne Coulson, manager of strategic communications and marketing at Penn State New Kensington.

Touted as an innovation and manufacturing lab space, the foundry will focus on education and workforce training; improving manufacturing competitiveness through technology demonstration and assessment projects; and providing networking events to increase digital awareness for workers, businesses, academia, students and the community.

As an SMIC, the Digital Foundry will house access to the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Innovation Platform, foundry Executive Director Sherri McCleary said.

“The CESMII team, much like the Digital Foundry team, is coming at their mission around smart manufacturing from the perspective of team members who have lived through the challenges and benefits of implementing these technologies in real-world manufacturing environments,” McCleary said. “We share a common mission to leverage smart manufacturing to bring business value to manufacturers of all sizes, and we also speak a common language around the technology and value and believe this will be a very positive relationship focused on results.”

The Digital Foundry was established with a $5.5 million award from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. It is a collaborative effort between the Economic Growth Connection of Westmoreland and Penn State New Kensington, with support and advice from the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp.

Penn State is providing $1 million to help create an endowment for ongoing operating support of the facility.