The Virginia Tech Center for High Performance Manufacturing (CHPM) will hold its eighth biannual meeting at the Holiday Inn in Blacksburg June 8-9.

Two senior manufacturing executives will keynote each day’s activities. On June 8, Stan Brantley, president of Amadas Industries, will discuss his company’s approach to manufacturing success in the highly competitive specialized markets he serves. Ralph Resnick, chief technology officer of Ex One Corporation will discuss the “Transformation of Manufacturing in the 21st Century” on June 9. The remainder of the meeting will be devoted to reports of the center’s completed research projects and selection of the projects to be undertaken during the 2005-06 academic year.

This year’s spring meeting will offer two additional features. First, on the morning of June 8, a special session on the needs of small manufacturers will be held. The first session will be an overview of the CHPM and its mission to assist Virginia manufacturers during which there will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion. The second session will highlight the “Virginia Small Manufacturers Assistance Program,” an important component of Gov. Mark Warner’s “Virginia Works” economic development initiative approved in the recent budget. Finally, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide an overview of the mission and services in support of manufacturers across the state.

The second new feature of this meeting will be a series of three tutorials based on critical manufacturing topics offered on the afternoon of June 9. Included in the tutorials will be an overview of the emerging RFID technology that will transform the whole supply chain methodology. CHPM’s research and development into LEAN/Six Sigma integration will be the subject of another tutorial. Finally, Advanced Planning and Scheduling using CHPM developed tools will be discussed in the third tutorial.

The CHPM is Virginia’s premier manufacturing research center dedicated to improving the performance of manufacturers across the commonwealth and the nation.

The commonwealth launched the CHPM in July, 2001, using the Commonwealth Technology Research fund. Virginia Tech leads the center with James Madison University and the College of William and Mary participating.

The CHPM works to help manufacturing firms research, develop, and implement new processes, methods, and technologies in order to stay competitive in today's dynamic manufacturing environment. Work is performed in a wide variety of areas, ranging from supply chain design and flexible automation to rapid prototyping and low-cost composite manufacturing.

For more information on this biannual meeting call 540-231-6201 or go to www.chpm.ise.vt.edu.

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