It tracks manufacturing processes’ data and correlates the data to the initial state of a part. With his unique experience, Ragai established one of the first Design-for-Manufacturing platforms.

Ragai worked in industry 23 years before joining academia. Ihab Ragai, Associate Professor of Engineering, Penn State University, The Behrend College Ihab Ragai, Associate Professor of Engineering, Penn State University, The Behrend College Dr. Vlasea is an active volunteer with SME and her university’s chapter of Women in Engineering.ĭr. In 2015, she designed an open platform laser powder bed fusion test bed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She collaborates closely with industry while pursuing research to address the high material and process-optimization costs associated with metal AM, as well as causes of the high rate of part failure and gaps in signal and data analytics. “This is in part due to the high costs required to set up and run equipment, as well as the need to have the right trained personnel to successfully execute R&D.” “In the field of metal additive manufacturing, industry often finds it challenging to explore technology adoption on their own,” she said. She trains students in metal AM and is the co-research director of the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab at Waterloo, where industry can explore a wide range of metal additive manufacturing tech and digital manufacturing. Vlasea’s focus is on metal additive manufacturing, with a sub-focus on binder jetting and powder bed fusion. Mihaela Vlasea, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo Mihaela Vlasea, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo Dr. These include layered depth-normal image, DesignForFab, and cross-parameterization.Īs for translating academic work into industrial applications, Kwok said he is directly helping manufacturers who want to employ smart manufacturing but don’t know how.ĭr. Additionally, he has published scientific articles on several new tools for smart manufacturing that he helped develop. He has proposed a new concept of information reuse for mass customization. As a researcher, Kwok has committed to generate new fundamental knowledge on necessary design and manufacturing techniques for smart manufacturing. “I have been working on automating the customization process since 2009, and my accomplishments are twofold: computational design methods to customize products efficiently, and advanced manufacturing technologies to deal with changes of every product effectively,” he said. His remark may be somewhat lighthearted, but this professor’s attitude toward smart manufacturing and democratizing customization is serious. When mass customization via smart manufacturing is realized, that will be the end of blisters from new shoes, itchy plaster casts and seeing someone else wearing your outfit, Kwok said. Tsz Ho Kwok, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University Tsz Ho Kwok, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering, Concordia University Dr. And, speaking of the younger generation, almost all of the honorees list among their top achievements educating and shaping the next cohort of “pioneers and dreamers.”ĭr. One started an online company to help parents pick the right STEM-related products for kids, ensuring the children build a solid foundation in the hard sciences. Three of the honorees worked in industry before joining academia, giving them valuable perspective. Another opened the doors of her metal additive manufacturing lab to companies interested in trying out the advanced technology. Others want to put their work and discoveries to use on earth-and have worked with legacy equipment owners to help them join Industry 4.0. One dreams so big that he wants to enable distributed manufacturing on the moon. Review the accomplishments and aspirations of the 20 most influential academics identified by Smart Manufacturing magazine this year, and you may spot some patterns in the data-no artificial intelligence required.Īs one of the professors profiled on the next 10 pages put it, they are the “pioneers and dreamers” exploring opportunities and creating new ones in smart manufacturing. Yuri Hovanski, right, developed coursework that promotes the implementation of Industry 4.0, specifically via “sprints,” or rapid implementation of focused principles.

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