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SCRA takes leading role in global IMS organization
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
Bob Kiggans’ recent appointment to the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems board of directors is good news for South Carolina in general, and the South Carolina Research Authority in particular.
Kiggans, president of SCRA’s federal sector, was appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce to serve as the United States’ head of delegation for the global collaborative organization involved with research and development of best practices in manufacturing.
“Being involved with this group definitely puts us in the forefront of innovation for manufacturing,” Kiggans said. “IMS offers a platform for industrial research to share experiences and best practices and to develop a common global vision for manufacturing technology.”
The IMS program is an international consortium comprised of business, government and academic leaders from seven regions: Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.
The SCRA hosted an international delegation last month led by Kwan Rim, chairman of the IMS international steering committee, to discuss advanced manufacturing technology. Rim’s experience in manufacturing is extensive. He serves as chairman of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Suwon, South Korea, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Industrial Technology Development for the Republic of Korea and vice president of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology.
Rim pointed out that China and India have been excluded from IMS because of concerns over intellectual property issues with those countries.
“IMS deals with process and techniques for sustainable manufacturing. It’s about responsible manufacturing and maintaining standards. And all the members of IMS are of one mind about this, he said.
“Manufacturing is an economic growth engine,” said Jack Harris, director of Advanced Manufacturing Technology at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a member of the delegation. “IMS provides an opportunity to innovatively apply technologies to manufacturing processes. We must find a way to be competitive. It’s ‘change or go south.’ We can’t be comfortable with the status quo.”
Kiggans agreed.
“We’re in a global economy. Even with something like war-fighters, we have to recognize that it’s not a given that (the U.S. Department of Defense) will be buying American all the time.”
IMS currently is deploying the Global Education in Manufacturing initiative in the United States. Kiggans said Clemson will play a leading role in the GEM program.
“I was able to appoint Tom Kurfess to the academic team,” said Kiggans. “He will pursue getting a curriculum for manufacturing processes into the colleges and universities.”
Kurfess, a professor and the BMW chairman of manufacturing in Clemson University’s Mechanical Engineering Department, recently attended a GEM conference in Belgium and is planning a national summit to review and discuss GEM deployment opportunities throughout the United States.
“We know that in the end, all supply chains are global,” Kurfess said. “We’re dealing with global issues and we know we have to compete. The question is whether we’ll have engineers available. And that’s why education is so important.”
Bill Mahoney, president of the SCRA, said IMS is an example of the kind of activity of which SCRA seeks to be a part.
“We facilitate this kind of industry technology because of its importance not only in South Carolina but in the United States and in the world,” Mahoney said.
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