Welcome to the Manufacturing Moment, a monthly dose of advanced manufacturing updates hot off the factory floor.

This month’s newsletter includes upcoming deadlines, program highlights, a Q&A interview, events to join, news you may have missed, and job/fellowship openings. Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.

Upcoming Deadlines

Highlights

Phase 1 winners of the Re-X Before Recycling Prize are in! The prize seeks to recognize out-of-the-box ways to extend the lifetimes of products or parts via reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, or repurposing (“Re-X”) before recycling. The three-phase competition is designed to stimulate innovation and private investment in circular economy approaches that can transform current and future waste streams into diverse, integrated circular supply networks and contribute to a robust, environmentally sustainable economy. 

Each of the 20 Phase 1 winning teams have been awarded $50,000 in cash and $5,000 worth of analysis consultation with a DOE national laboratory for identifying new or expanded Re-X supply chain opportunities and creating a plan to develop the innovation needed to realize the opportunity. The Phase 2 competition is open until Oct. 22, 2024. New competitors are welcome in addition to Phase 1 winners.

The Electrochemical Society held its annual meeting last month in San Francisco, California. AMMTO Technology Manager Changwon Suh presented AMMTO’s perspective on energy storage technology development and manufacturing, highlighting current gaps and challenges that need to be addressed. Speaking to a full audience, Suh led a robust discussion of DOE’s efforts in the context of technical and manufacturing challenges regarding scale-up and performance that still prevent the electrochemical energy storage community from achieving cost targets and commercial viability.

Do you know when the first battery was invented? Find out and learn the basics about today’s most-used batteries and tomorrow’s next-generation batteries–like flow, sodium-ion, and solid-state batteries–in the first installation of our new manufacturing basics explainer series! Breaking It Down aims to inform and inspire people by putting advanced manufacturing technologies and processes into simpler terms. Discover how AMMTO supports the production of safer and more efficient batteries and how you can get involved!

Last month, representatives from over 80 countries attended Auto EPCON in Troy, Michigan. The event brought together leading engineers and scientists involved in specifying, designing, and recommending engineering plastics. AMMTO Program Manager Huijuan Dai and Technology Manager John Winkel presented on smart manufacturing and participated in a joint workshop with EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Office on composites/plastics in automotive applications.

Additionally, DOE staff attended the SAMPE conference in Long Beach, California, which brought together top experts and organizations, C-Level executives, engineers, scientists, students, and professionals from the advanced materials and processes ecosystem. AMMTO co-hosted a workshop with EERE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office on Advanced Materials for Hydrogen Infrastructure Technologies. During the workshop, Winkel discussed composites for clean hydrogen production. He also spoke about upcoming market needs and supply chain analysis of the carbon fiber industry. The presentation was well-received with over 100 conference attendees in the audience.

Making It

Have you caught up on our Making It! series? This series spotlights the fresh perspectives of our fantastic fellows who are making next-generation materials and manufacturing processes possible for our clean energy future. Our third subject is Francisco Aguirre, who, while simultaneously pursuing a fellowship at AMMTO, just completed his master's degree this month! To his parents, two emigrants from Mexico who worked physically taxing jobs, that makes him already successful, but he feels like he's just getting started.

At AMMTO, he's getting a rare inside look at the latest ideas and advances in manufacturing and materials—and helping the country move closer to its goal of decarbonizing all industries, including manufacturing. “That fits with what I want to do—make an impact on people. That’s my cup of tea,” Aguirre said.

Read his Q&A interview on what it’s like to be a first-generation minority student, why he wants his work to have a positive impact on people’s lives, and what advice he’d give to students hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Upcoming Events

In Case You Missed It

Job & Fellowship Openings