Small and midsize manufacturers in Wisconsin and Minnesota have a new resource — and ally — in their quest for growth and success.
The Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence — CAM-AI — has been created at UW-Stout to leverage the broad array of university expertise for solving technical issues and conducting research to support private industry.
CAM-AI will partner with the UW-Stout Manufacturing Outreach Center, one of two centers in Wisconsin affiliated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology/Manufacturing Extension Partnership — NIST/ MEP — national network. The centers deliver comprehensive, proven solutions through consulting, training and workforce development.
“CAM-AI will support Wisconsin’s manufacturers through access to expertise and equipment that are generally not available to small- and medium-size business. Our goal is to collaborate with our industry partners in order to help them be even more competitive in a market that is undergoing constant technological change,” said Chancellor Katherine Frank.
The center will provide the bridge between the MOC and academic departments to bring applied research; modern technical methods; and laboratory, fabrication and testing services directly to private industry.
The goals of CAM-AI include:
- Partnering with the MOC to provide timely academic applied research expertise
- Providing direct assistance in solving time-sensitive industry focused problems
- Providing services, such as additive manufacturing and testing
- Engaging with regional and statewide initiatives that support advanced manufacturing and AI.
Manufacturing is one of Wisconsin’s leading workforce sectors, with more than 8,900 companies that employ more than 490,000 workers.
More than a dozen UW-Stout labs, including robotics, plastics, packaging, cybersecurity and Fabrication Lab — Fab Lab — could be accessed to address manufacturers’ challenges.
UW-Stout faculty have expertise in automation, AI/machine learning, robotics, additive manufacturing, plastics engineering, packaging, industrial design, fabrication and material properties and testing. In 2023, UW-Stout added a first-of-its-kind bachelor’s program, automation leadership.
“Modern manufacturing requires not only all fields of engineering but expertise from computer science, cybersecurity, math and the basic sciences,” said David Ding, director of the School of Engineering and an associate dean in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Management.
Ding will be the center’s director. He also serves on Gov. Tony Evers’ Task Force on Workforce and Artificial Intelligence.
UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, business and industry collaboration, and career outcomes.
“UW-Stout's ability to supply expertise across these fields to address practical problems is what distinguishes us as a polytechnic university, and CAM-AI will be the entity through which this expertise can be made available to industry,” said Seth Hudson, executive director of the UW-Stout Office of Corporate Relations and Economic Engagement.
The center plans to leverage the talent in UW-Stout’s Master of Science in manufacturing engineering program, with students working on CAM-AI projects under faculty supervision.
Key elements in CAM-AI success will be rapid response, coordination between UW-Stout entities that engage directly with industry and an industry-focused approach that no job is too small, Hudson said. He noted that CAM-AI will not compete with private industry but allow industry partners a place to refer work that isn’t suited for the private sector space.
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