Abstract: There is a lot of excitement about the potential of smart manufacturing (involving the use of information, automation, computation, software, sensing, and networking technologies) to revolutionize the manufacturing industry, e.g., by boosting manufacturing quality and productivity at low cost. An excellent application for such “smart” technologies is additive manufacturing (AM), another area of manufacturing that is gaining a lot of traction but is plagued by quality, productivity, and cost issues. In this talk, I will share some of my research results in smart AM, aimed at enhancing AM quality and productivity at low cost using smart technologies. Specifically, I will discuss our work on speeding up 3D printers at low cost using advanced controls. I will also discuss our new research on intelligent optimization of scan sequence to minimize thermal induced defects in laser powder bed fusion AM. Finally, I will give a brief overview of efforts I am leading at the University of Michigan to integrate smart AM into our educational curriculum.

Bio: Chinedum (Chi) Okwudire is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Miller Faculty Scholar at the University of Michigan. His research is focused on exploiting knowledge at the intersection of machine design, control and computing to boost the performance of manufacturing automation systems at low cost. Chi has received a number of awards including the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation; the Young Investigator Award from the International Symposium on Flexible Automation; the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from SME; the Ralph Teetor Educational Award from SAE International; the Education Award from SME; and the Russell Severance Springer Visiting Professorship from UC Berkeley. In 2022, he was selected by SME as one of the 25 leaders transforming manufacturing. He has co-authored several award-winning papers in the areas of manufacturing automation, control and mechatronics. He is the founder and CTO of Ulendo Technologies Inc., a company focused on advanced automation solutions for the manufacturing industry.