NEWS & EVENTS

Happy New Year!

From the desk of Executive Director Larry Brown

Larry Brown I hope each of you were able to relax and spend some quality time with friends and family to celebrate the holidays and reflect on all that we are to be thankful for.

Last year at this time, I wrote about what a pivotal year 2017 would be for LIFT and our member partners. It was a busy and exciting year. With that said, it is fair to say that 2018 will be even more significant for our organization. We will be seeing the completion of many programs in our technology portfolio and sharing the impactful results from our workforce education initiatives, yet I am looking forward to the opportunities and challenges which lie ahead and am excited for the chance to work on them with all of you.

For LIFT, the beginning of 2018 means that we are embarking on the final year of our original 5-year agreement with the Department of Defense. That means this is the year in which we are to transition into our next mission – being a public/private, collaborative, self-sustaining, applied R&D organization.

While the DoD will remain an important partner for us going forward, we are setting our sights on being a resource for companies of all sizes to serve as a solution provider addressing lightweight issues.

We are actively working to add new staff (both technical & administrative) and are working diligently with many of our members to pull projects together utilizing the new equipment housed here in our Detroit headquarters. I encourage each of you who are thinking about development work you would like us to help you with to contact our team to begin the process of putting those plans together. You can contact us directly at communications@lift.technology.

Learning From LIFT

Our education and workforce efforts are continuing to show results as well heading into the new year.

In the coming weeks, we will welcome our first intern through the program we announced last year, as well as the first graduates from the Operation Next pilot program at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.
As we complete our original mission and move towards being a self-sustaining organization, we remain committed to educating students in lightweight metals and manufacturing, particularly at our Detroit facility.

The vision we had for LIFT when we embarked on this journey back in 2014 is now our reality. The work we do this year will not be the end, but serve as the catalyst as we forge forward as a partnership for manufacturing innovation.

Here’s to a great 2018!