CWRU-led team seeks to boost northeast Ohio communities by helping manufacturers

A team led by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) engineers, computer scientists, and social scientists has launched a project to help modernize small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) as a way to improve northeast Ohio communities.

The team, which includes faculty from Cleveland State University and Lorain County Community College, is supported by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Robert Gao, chairman of CWRU’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is leading the initiative.

“There’s a negative association with the phrase ‘Rust Belt,’ but the truth is that we made—and continue to make—good things here in northeast Ohio,” Gao said. “The problem is that there are a lot of new technologies which many SMMs can’t acquire as easily as [larger] companies. That’s where we come in—by providing one way for those companies to compete.”

That help will include developing and presenting concrete case studies to manufacturers about how to use some of the tools associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), including artificial intelligence (AI) and sensors, to radically update their machinery. The group also hopes to forge strong partnerships among academic researchers and industry to enhance regional workforce development and talent retention.

Collaborators also include CWRU professors, business and development organization TeamNEO, manufacturing advocate MAGNET, industrial manager Dan T. Moore Co., and Lincoln Electric.

The group’s NSF proposal asserted that the success of smaller manufacturers is critical to a community’s wealth generation and well-being.

“We have found that in Cuyahoga County and across northeast Ohio, SMMs mingle with the residents and, in fact, are the residents,” Gao said. “So, in a very real way, if we can help these manufacturers improve, become more efficient and successful, it will directly help their home community.”

However, Gao said, although many SMMS may be interested in using advanced technologies, they suffer a “technological stagnation” by being too cautious to adopt them or lack money, specific knowledge, or even awareness. So the team will focus on three main goals:

• Transforming SMMs in Cuyahoga County into “smart” enterprises that show increased productivity and are more responsive to new supply chain dynamics.
• Rejuvenating SMMs by adding sensing, AI, and IoT technologies.
• Enhancing workforce development and talent retention in Cuyahoga County and northeast Ohio by increasing collaboration among academic researchers, local community colleges, high schools, SMMs, economic development partners, community stakeholders, and multinational manufacturers.