Fluid Power Advanced Manufacturing Consortium

Goal: Create a consortium that will advance fluid-power manufacturing in the United States through industry-led technology road mapping for the next generation and manufacturing of hydraulic and pneumatic fluid power.

Lead: Regents of the University of Minnesota
200 Oak Street SE, Suite 450
Minneapolis, MN 55455-2070

Award Number: 70NANB15H061

Federal Funding: $413,269

Project Duration: 24 months

The Regents of the University of Minnesota, in collaboration with the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA), the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP), and the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) will launch the Fluid Power Advanced Manufacturing Consortium (FPAMC) to collaborate to address manufacturing challenges in this technology. Already, 52 companies and organizations have committed to participating in FPAMC. More than 70 percent of these partners are medium- or large-sized enterprises that play a critical role in the United States fluid-power industry. Industry partners from NFPA, AMT, and CCEFP have already planned two collaborative technology road-mapping events.

The objectives of the new consortium are:

• Build a collaboration of experts from the fluid-power industry, academia, and government labs and agencies.
• Create a technology roadmap identifying the major technical barriers that can be addressed by advanced manufacturing and prioritized research.
• Develop new applications for emerging manufacturing technologies, improved efficiency of factories, lighter weight components, more energy efficient components, wider adoption of fluid power in new applications, the launch of new start-up companies, improved international competitiveness, increased market share, and job growth.

Fluid power is the use of fluids under pressure to generate, control, and transmit power. Its technology is a foundational, cross-cutting technology used in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, transportation, aerospace, agriculture, construction, mining, forestry, and renewable energy. Nearly all U.S. manufacturing plants rely on fluid power to produce goods; more than half of all U.S. industrial machines have fluid-power components. Its advance is a vital interest to the United States.

Fluid power has a significant impact on the U.S. economy. In 2008, shipments of fluid-power components exceeded $17.7 billion and employed 68,000 Americans. Sales of systems using fluid power exceeded $226 billion and employed 683,000 Americans. However, U.S. and global shares are declining, and R&D programs in Europe and Asia threaten U.S. competitiveness.

The potential business benefits of meeting these challenges are compelling, but to do so requires technical and financial resources beyond the reach of individual companies. Formation of an industry-driven FPAMC will accelerate innovation of fluid-power technologies.

For project information: Amy Rollinger, (612) 624-5599, amyg [at] umn.edu (amyg[at]umn[dot]edu)

Funded Participants:

• Albright Strategy Group
• KoMotion Technologies
• Dr. Tom Kurfess (Georgia Institute of Technology)

AMTech Project Manager: Jean-Louis Staudenmann, (301) 975-4866, jean-louis.staudenmann [at] nist.gov (jean-louis[dot]staudenmann[at]nist[dot]gov)