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Dear Friends of AMO,

As we reflect on past efforts from 2015, I want to thank the entire AMO team of professional staff, technology development and technology assistance performers, external stakeholders and partners for all of your work in 2015. It has been a great year! Your remarkable achievements inspire us to build upon these milestones and reach even higher in 2016.

AMO is built upon three pillars Facilities, R&D Projects, and Technical Assistance – each of which has marked major accomplishments in 2015.

Facilities

Our facilities team led efforts to build and grow the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (NNMIs). The year started with the announcement of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), followed by an inspiring event in Knoxville to formally kick-off the technology development and workforce education programs. The team followed up with a ground breaking event for a university research lab facility at Purdue. Then they co-located a facility with DOD's LIFT manufacturing institute in Detroit and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Composite Prototyping Center (CPC) in New York.

This year also marked significant growth in PowerAmerica, the wide bandgap power electronics institute based in North Carolina. Major General (Retired) Nick Justice led the team in establishing a fine program – strengthening the foundation for clean energy. The SMART Manufacturing solicitation was released and we look forward to establishing an Institute in 2016. Over the next year we also hope to announce up to two additional Institute solicitations.

It has also been rewarding to watch the entire AMO team work together to lead an excellent set of technology workshops. Through these workshops, AMO provides leadership on specific challenges which might be addressed on potential future NNMI topic areas.

We had tremendous success at our Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and Critical Materials Institute.

  • The CMI celebrated its first commercial license and helped launch the first online university course concentrated on critical materials.
  • The 3D printed Shelby Cobra, created at the MDF, debuted at the Detroit Auto Show as an all-electric 50th anniversary version of the iconic sports car. It ended the year at the US Pavilion of the COP 21 in Paris where it was visited by a number of foreign dignitaries and US leaders. As the transformative potential of technology was foundational to the resulting framework for addressing climate change challenges, this was a very fitting end to a tremendous year for this truly revolutionary project.

R&D Projects

In the past year, AMOs research and development projects team had an enduring impact in the private sector. For instance, a Combined Heat and Power research project with Fuel Cell Energy resulted in the first of its kind demonstration of a Tri-gen system where both heat, electric power and industrial gas are provided from a single distributed system.

The High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4MFG) program, led by Lawrence Livermore National Labs, was initiated. DOE manages some of the most power computational assets in the world and this program shows how these tools can provide simulation capability to provide new understanding of energy and materials efficiency in manufacturing processes, particularly for energy intensive and energy dependent applications.

The Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM) program connected AMO investments in power electronics with the large scale electric motors used in manufacturing, providing a technical pathway to cost-effective energy efficiency in a range of applications.

To assist our stakeholder community in having a connected and well trained community of innovators for the future, AMO led three efforts:

  • Wide Bandgap Power Engineering, Traineeship Program - this program revitalizes education potentially impacting manufacturing of clean energy systems to the power grid.
  • Cyclotron Road - Partners at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory launched an innovative idea to be a home for top entrepreneurial researchers to advance technologies.
  • Technologist in Residence – this pilot will help catalyze strong Lab-Industry relationships that result in significant growth in high-impact collaborative research and development.

Technical Assistance

AMO’s technical assistance team continues to innovate and provide thought leadership while remaining focused on core principles of partnership and engagement with industry.

Our Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) celebrated fifty years of providing the best technical support and trusted advice anywhere to small and medium sized manufacturers from across the country on energy efficiency technologies and methods. In meeting with the institute directors at the summer workshop, sponsored through ACEEE, it is remarkable to realize that IACs have provided national leadership in training to more than two generations of efficiency experts. Over the decades the energy assessments made by these student leaders have provided insight to help small businesses save millions in energy cost savings. Thank you to our University partners across the country and our students for your dedication to this unique program.

Our Better Plants program added new partners and continues to look at new challenges to solve. Two new focus areas have been the Better Plants Challenge and a focus on energy efficiency in water supply and wastewater treatment. I am particularly pleased by how the team has connected with the largest and technologically advanced wastewater treatment systems in the Nation over the past year. I’m looking forward to the year ahead, as we continue to expand the Better Plants program partnership. And please also join us in May for the Better Buildings Summit in DC.

Both our Combined Heat and Power and Superior Energy Performance technical assistance programs have led the way in providing energy management and energy efficiency know-how and leadership to industry partners in the US and beyond.

Throughout the year many of you joined us for special events I want to highlight and encourage you to join us again in 2016 for similar opportunities. Some of those events included:

  • In partnership with the Buildings Technology Office, “Industry Day”, hosted by ORNL, premiered a next step in 3D printed projects, a house!
  • The AEMC Summit has become an annual event co-sponsored with the Council on Competitiveness and brings new insight, relationships and focus to our work.
  • Updated Bandwidth Studies were released on the most energy intensive industry sectors culminating a year of research by the analysis team.
  • DOE published the second Quadrennial Technology Review 2015 that includes a chapter specifically dedicated to advanced manufacturing technologies for clean energy applications and associated technology assessment reports.

Thank you for your continued support of, partnership with, participation in and contribution to the work of the Advanced Manufacturing Office. It has been a fantastic year and I am proud of all the work you have done.

Next year is going to be even better!

Happy New Year,

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Mark Johnson