Parker Hannifin Corp., a manufacturer of motion and control technologies, announced on June 19 that it opened a new advanced manufacturing learning and development center.
The center is located at the company’s Corporate Technology Ventures facility in Macedonia, Ohio.
The facility will serve as a center of excellence and will focus on additive manufacturing and collaborative robotics.
"Material printing technology is moving quickly towards commercial viability," said Craig Maxwell, vice president - Chief Technology and Innovation Officer.
"The new facility and engineering talent located here represent an investment in the future of manufacturing," Maxwell added.
Advanced manufacturing is seen as an important sector in the U.S. economy. Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, told IndustryWeek that “the advanced sector is where we can see the promise of the U.S. economy. “
He cited this sector as the “single most important source of innovation,” due to the fact that the industries in this sector dominate the private sector expenditure on R&D.
Parker sees the promise of the technology and points out that the “ability to create multiple configurations of a single component without developing additional molds or customized tooling, additive manufacturing has emerged as a quick and inexpensive prototyping solution. “
