IACMI, LIFT to invest nearly $50 million in Detroit manufacturing facility

Two Manufacturing USA institutes—LIFT-Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow and IACMI-The Composites Institute—have announced a combined investment of nearly $50 million in their shared manufacturing scale-up facility in Detroit.

The investment will be made over the next 24 months and will include the acquisition and installation of new manufacturing equipment to increase the capabilities of the institute, as well as construction and infrastructure upgrades for the facility to support the new equipment.

As a part of President Obama's National Network for Manufacturing Innovation initiative, now called Manufacturing USA, these investments will allow institute members, partners, and others in the industry to conduct R&D projects in both lightweight metals and advanced composites at the facility. It also will provide education space for students and adult learners focused on the composites and lightweight materials industries.

The nearly $50 million investment will comprise LIFT's $20.5 million and IACMI's $18 million for equipment, with the rest supporting facility updates and upgrades. For LIFT, some of the equipment to be installed are hydroforming and extrusion presses, a flexible-robot joining cell, and a linear friction welding machine. For IACMI, the equipment includes compression and injection molding presses, prepreg equipment, induction processing, and an RTM/liquid compression molding machine.