CCAM’s 2022 Digital Thread Post Event Wrap-up

Thank you to everyone who participated in CCAM’s 2022 Digital Thread event which hosted over 150 people on August 30^th and 31^st.

This event was achieved by overwhelming support from our members such as Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Altria, Airbus, RACER, Amsted Rail, Buehler, Creaform, ABB,

Dr. Don Kinard

Air Turbine Tools, NASA, Genedge, Virginia research universities, and more.

Day One focused on digital technology to impact smart manufacturing. CCAM held presentations and demonstrations on digital thread’s influence on cost saving, revenue producing, and talent development for businesses and organizations across multiple industry sectors.

The morning session included keynote speaker Don Kinard (pictured), Ph.D., and Senior Fellow for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Production Operation’s topic: “The Digital T’s – Threads, Twins, Technology, and Transformation,”

a snippet of which is below. Matt Stremler, Director of Research at CCAM and Master of Ceremonies for the event presented and announced the challenges and opportunities for digital thread technology as audience members engaged in discussions on stainability, accelerated development of key technologies, advanced flexible manufacturing distribution, and supply chain issues. MT Connect’s chief architect delivered a comprehensive overview of building self-aware manufacturing systems.

“CCAM’s event participants heard directly from industry and academic experts on how smart manufacturing is applied to Hypersonics and Defense, Aerospace, Medical devices & Agriculture,” said CCAM President & CEO John Milton-Benoit. “As a consortium we build process intelligence for our members.”

Key demonstrations highlighted intuitive robot programing, integration of in process monitoring for material development, flexible and distributed manufacturing, and automated tool wear monitoring. The CCAM team incorporated Air Turbine Tool’s spindle speeder into their automated tool wear monitoring. CCAM also offered live demonstrations on the digital thread of additive manufacturing, tele-operated robotics metrology capabilities, and scanning methods for in-process adaptation. They conducted real-time process monitoring and feedback control while running power flow and coating parts to identify motion and process control.

Other hands-on demos allowed participants to generate 3D point cloud in real time using laser scanning technology.

The afternoon showcased education and workforce developments with GENEDGE, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Central VA Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME). “The purpose of these events is to not just highlight opportunities for digital and smart factories but to also give organizations insight into how they can perfect their production methods, be more competitive, prepare a qualified manufacturing workforce, and grow our economy,” said Lorin Sodell, who serves as both CCAM’s Director of Business Development and Advanced Manufacturing Education & Virginia State University College of Engineering and Technology’s  Director of External and Industry Engagement.

Poster projects from students earning advance degrees while working on project for CCAM members included Old Dominion University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, and Virginia Tech. Including a graduate research assistant Kaustubh Deshmuskh’s (pictured) poster on “The interconnection between the microstructure and processing parameters during additive manufacturing of metals” advised by Professor Reza Mirazaeifar from Virginia Tech and Derek Haas from CCAM.

Selected presentations are available here:

Hypersonics and Defense_CCAM Digital Thread Event

GENEDGE MTIP Presentation_CCAM Digital Thread Event

VSU controlled environmental agriculture the future of possibilities_CCAM Digital Thread Event

Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee_CCAM Digital Thread Event

FAME_CCAM Digital Thread Event

The second day focused on digital thread workshops where participants from industry, academia, and government engaged in comprehensive and complex manufacturing challenges, and offered a collaborative environment to brain storm solutions. An example included flip board workshop (pictured) to determine current barriers to leveraging adaptive processing and the relevant external stakeholders with a focus on key authorities and standards from government entities.

The event concluded with a workshop on federal funding opportunities to enhance technological capabilities and achieve success as a collective.

Special thanks to our board of directors, industrial operations board, technical advisory council; and members: