THREE KEY R&D PRIORITIES FOR FUTURE MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing the Future: Federal Priorities for Manufacturing R&D identifies these three critical high-tech U.S. manufacturing areas and the interdependencies between them as R&D priorities for the future.

Manufacturing R&D for Hydrogen Energy Technologies

In order to improve energy security and clean air, the U.S. government is committed to replace petroleum with alternative energy technologies including hydrogen to power cars and light trucks.  Meeting this challenge requires developing low-cost, high-volume manufacturing processes to produce affordable and reliable fuel cell vehicle technology and to build and maintain a hydrogen fuel infrastructure. Other manufacturing challenges include standardizing components and systems design for production, overcoming the technical problems of delivering hydrogen and mass producing fuel cells, and developing high-volume storage tanks.

Nanomanufacturing

Nanotechnology is expected to be a critical driver of future economic growth, affecting potentially every industry from aerospace and energy to health care and agriculture. Nanomanufacturing encompasses industrial-scale production of materials, structures, devices, and systems with nanoscale components whose unique properties derive from engineering at the nanoscale (roughly 1 to 100 nanometers or billionths of a meter).  In order for nanomaterials to be mass produced reliably and affordably, scientists and engineers have to overcome hurdles relative to developing  top-down processes (miniaturizing devices and structures to their smallest possible sizes) and bottom-up approaches (building nanostructures and nanodevices from the ground up by using tiny building blocks).

Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing R&D

Information technology can reshape almost all features of manufacturing, from product development and design, through distribution and customer support. Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing applies computer software, controls, sensors, networks and other information technology to the entire process.  This includes using software to rapidly design and test new products, or linking “smart” supply chains to make sure there are always enough raw materials to build products and efficient methods to get them to customers on time.  These computer-enhanced processes are central to creating a hydrogen-powered economy, improving national security, developing innovative real-world applications of nanotechnology and to other national goals for the future.  Increasing computing power and the availability of inexpensive sensors and network devices opens the door to designing new processes to optimize capabilities, performance and value.

Interdependencies

These three research sectors are also interdependent.  For example, the design and cost-effective production of nanomaterials to store hydrogen may be critical to our country’s transition away from an oil-dependent transportation system.  Also, intelligent, flexible manufacturing may reduce the time and cost of incorporating nanoscale components into real world applications, according to the report. Finally, the three research sectors offer an opportunity to contribute to sustainable manufacturing by incorporating materials, processes, and systems that use energy and materials effectively and use environmentally preferable materials.