“Nose presses” is not an official metric of workforce recruiting success for the Penn State Digital Foundry on 5th Avenue in New Kensington, PA, but it is hugely symbolic in the quest to expand the manufacturing talent pipeline in underserved communities, according to Sherri McCleary, the Executive Director of the foundry.

A nose presser is a...

It’s a challenge for any company to efficiently invest in research and development (R&D) for advanced manufacturing applications. Costs are high and success is not a given. Joining industry peers in R&D to reduce risk also presents a dilemma: How do you help drive your company and the industry forward with technological innovation without...

Today, manufacturing accounts for 25 percent of U.S. energy consumption and carbon emissions, and the industrial sector as a whole is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, at 30 percent. Changing how industry produces materials and products is...

Industry is among the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the U.S., producing an estimated 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA. While great progress has been made – greenhouse gas emissions from industry, including electricity generation, have declined by 22 percent since 1990 – in many cases, alternative production...

Manufacturing evolved in the United States through geographic clusters that produced competitive advantages in expertise, scale of operations, research prowess, and skilled labor. The origin of the automotive sector is an example of a regional cluster, with vehicles assembled in the Detroit area from parts and components manufactured in the upper...