On the Edge of My Seat…

From the desk of Executive Director Larry Brown

Much like a child can’t wait for Christmas to come or for his or her birthday to arrive after waiting an entire year, it is starting to feel that way here around the LIFT Headquarters in Detroit.

Activity in the high bay is ramping up and our LIFT equipment is getting staged and set for installation.

In fact, the Flexible Robotic Joining Cell, from Comau, is close to becoming the first piece of equipment to be fully installed.

Work has also begun on a mezzanine level, which will provide additional office and work space, as well as room for a LIFT Learning Lab so we can continue our workforce education work well into the future.

To stay updated on the progress of the high bay, be sure to visit the LIFT High Bay page.

Technology By Committee

The LIFT Technology Development Committee met in person in Detroit last month to review the ongoing project work as well as look toward the future of LIFT’s technology plans.

The committee reviewed the technical progress being made on several Round 1 projects and discussed the LIFT Technology Roadmap Session coming up in June. Several of the Gold and Silver LIFT members in attendance, agreed to share their roadmaps with the group to help the LIFT consortium plan its way forward.

So far, we have seen some good progress on many of the early projects and are looking forward to completing them and announcing the results soon.

For more on LIFT’s Technology portfolio, click here.

Coming Full Circle

Not only are the technology projects and high-bay construction making progress, but this month, a few of our education and workforce development initiatives are growing and coming full circle.

In Tennessee and Kentucky, students and schools that participated in the MakerMinded platform will be acknowledged with celebration ceremonies with stakeholders in each state. We are looking forward to honoring the students participated.

In Indiana, the high school ex Grand Prix is going into its second year and expecting more than twice the number of teams participating.

We are looking forward to these initiatives continuing to grow and expand as we keep trying to have an impact on manufacturing in the future.