President Obama toured the Techmer PM manufacturing facility and gained a look at 3-D printed car created using Techmer ES Carbon Fiber Materials. Image Source: Randy Sartin
Company Highlighted for Transformative 3-D Printing Partnership with Oak Ridge National Lab
U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited the Clinton, Tennessee–based Techmer PM, LLC manufacturing site January 9th, 2014. After touring a portion of the facility, the President made a major announcement about the creation of a $250 million manufacturing innovation hub aimed at strengthening U.S. leadership in next-generation composite materials. The Knoxville, Tennessee–based Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) is a consortium of the Department of Energy and 122 company partners and members, including Techmer ES, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Techmer PM, LLC.
Techmer PM is a staunch supporter of the RSA US SDA awards program, which connects academia’s best design students and faculty with industry needs. Techmer PM sponsors the Bill Moggridge Award for Interdisciplinary Design, the Award for Design Innovation, the Award for Sustainable Design Practices, and the Award for Materials Science & Development.
The Institute, which is part of a larger plan to boost manufacturing, foster innovation, and create U.S. jobs will focus on cutting-edge research on advance composites, such as carbon fiber compounds, developed by Techmer PM subsidiary Techmer ES. The composite was recently used to bring to life a 3-D printing project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
“We are very excited to help introduce the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation to Tennessee,” said John Manuck, chairman and CEO of Techmer PM, LLC. “It will add significantly to our regional manufacturing activity, paving the way for further innovations, manufacturing job opportunities, and products in the marketplace. Our successful work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the genesis for the President’s visit and a prime example of composite materials advances achieved through a transformative technical partnership.”
Techmer ES recently partnered with ORNL, contributing its high-performance materials expertise to help the U.S. Department of Energy laboratory develop a large-scale additive manufacturing system, also known as 3-D printing. Techmer ES created a unique carbon fiber-based formula to help meet ORNL’s goal of building a 3-D printing system that is 200 to 500 times faster and capable of printing components ten times larger than was previously possible.
An early success of this partnership is the first full-size 3-D printed electric car, the body of which was printed with materials formulated by Techmer ES. The fully-functioning Shelby Cobra was unveiled during the tour. The President and Vice President also toured the production facility, receiving a behind-the-scenes look at the well-established manufacturer.
“From a new carbon fiber technology to the exciting frontier of large-part additive manufacturing—3-D printing—our working relationship with the National Lab has been a model of cooperation and innovation,” said Tom Drye, Managing Director of Techmer ES.
About Techmer PM, LLC
Techmer PM, LLC, is a major producer of value-added Masterbatch and engineered compounds for the plastics and fiber industries. The company has worldwide manufacturing capabilities focusing on high-performance applications where quality, technical support, and problem solving are critical.
For the past 15 years the company has hosted the annual Fibertech conference series, identifying major technical advances in fibers innovation and technology. Techmer PM was recognized by Plastics News on its “Best Places to Work 2014” list. Learn more by visiting techmerpm.com and techmeres.com.