Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

IALR Shares Partnerships, Progress and Transformation in Annual Report

Tag: Center for Manufacturing Advancement

IALR Shares Partnerships, Progress and Transformation in Annual Report

IALR Shares Partnerships, Progress and Transformation in Annual Report

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) has published its 2021-2022 annual report, which highlights innovative and collaborative partnerships across departments that are transforming the economy of Southern Virginia.  

“Significant economic growth has resulted due to robust partnerships across the region. IALR stands ready to serve as Virginia’s go-to partner for education and workforce development, business and economic growth, and a globally competitive business ecosystem.” – IALR President Telly Tucker.

View the Full Report 

One of the pivotal moments of the report period is the creation and adoption of the new IALR Strategic Plan, which will guide IALR’s work and efforts for the next five years. With input from key stakeholders, the plan establishes strategic goals to outline how IALR can best capitalize on its unique strengths to impact the region. 

Just some of the new initiatives and programs launched, announced or expanded during FY 21 and FY 22:  

The Great Opportunities in Technology and Engineering Careers (GO TEC™) framework is spreading into schools across the Commonwealth. The GO TEC program is just one component of the newly developed and proven EmPOWER system – an employer-driven model to systematically connect students to careers through career awareness, exposure, and engagement and experience. Future and current members of the workforce, as well as businesses, find joint benefits in problem-solving teamships, apprenticeships, externships and internships, mock interview days and more.  

While striving to promote a diversified economy by serving a variety of industries, much of IALR’s impact in 2021-2022 was in the manufacturing sector. Expanding the existing middle-school-through-college workforce development pipelines, the new Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program is a rapid adult-learner model that prepares talent for jobs in the defense industrial base. ATDM launched in 2020 and is already proving successful and showing what modern public-private partnerships should look like. In addition, IALR partnered with the Commonwealth of Virginia and Danville Regional Foundation to construct the Center for Manufacturing Advancement, a new destination for manufacturers ready to optimize and scale and home to the U.S. Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence.  

Through the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Innovation Center, a joint project with Virginia Tech, IALR has established itself as a global leader in the CEA industry. The presence of the innovative research and state-of-the-art equipment are already making an impact on Southern Virginia. Thanks to best-in-class resources, including lab spaces and staff, the Applied Research team provided 30 companies with applied research and testing services like analytical chemistry, polymer testing and more.  

In partnership with the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance (SVRA) and many other economic development organizations, IALR is proud to champion the area while working with local, regional and state partners. In FY 21 and 22, the Southern Virginia region saw $498 million in announced capital investment and 1,288 new jobs. IALR contributed to economic success by serving as a temporary home for growing businesses by providing critical testing services and lab space to innovative companies across industries. The Bridge to Recovery Program connected companies with suppliers and helped businesses become more resilient post-pandemic.  

The Institute Conference Center hosted a variety of events geared toward the growth of industry sectors and Southern Virginia, including trainings and economic development activities. Numerous companies, including anchor and growing employers held successful job fairs, connecting community members with quality employment. An extensive renovation of the main building and a relaunch of Megabytes, IALR’s on-site café, have allowed the Institute Conference Center to provide even better service for the 20,800 guests who visited.  

Center for Manufacturing Advancement Opens, Welcoming U.S. Navy as First Project Partner

Center for Manufacturing Advancement Opens, Welcoming U.S. Navy as First Project Partner

$28 million center invests in manufacturing technology, industry partnerships to support Virginia’s competitive assets

The Center for Manufacturing Advancement (CMA), a state-funded project located on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR), is open and ready to attract new businesses and jobs to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

“As we strive to make Virginia the best place for veterans to live, work and raise a family, I am thrilled to announce the groundbreaking of our new IALR Center for Manufacturing Advancement in Danville,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This partnership will diversify, transform and grow Southern Virginia’s production capability for the Submarine Industrial Base as well, marking another major win for Virginia’s defense economy and labor market.” 

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin joined IALR and industry partners for a ribbon cutting to recognize the CMA as Virginia’s newest pro-business platform for developing manufacturing technologies that support business expansion in the region and skilled workforce development.

“The Institute of Advanced Learning and Research is a national model of an adaptive education system that delivers the skilled workforce that our business community and industries require today and for tomorrow,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera.  “It shows how a locally driven, state supported and federally shared Institute can quickly meet the needs of the business community and build the advanced manufacturing pipeline.”

The 51,250-square-foot facility is a $28.8 million investment to promote collaboration among technology leaders and to provide state-of-the-art space for industry partners to optimize their operations and scale. Both existing manufacturers in the region looking to expand and manufacturers looking to enter Southern Virginia with a new site location will benefit. The CMA will help these companies improve quality and innovate technologies that aid economic and manufacturing competitiveness.

“The advancements that are to come out of the Center for Manufacturing Advancement will have significant implications for developing the processes that support manufacturing expansion, as well as the workforce needed to support that growth,” remarked Telly Tucker, President of IALR. “Today’s manufacturing and workforce challenges require comprehensive and innovative approaches to the way industry collaborates, along with significant investments in infrastructure, equipment and people. The CMA fosters each of these obligations in a way that will benefit the region, the Commonwealth, and the country.”

Funded largely by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the CMA was built in cooperation with Virginia’s Division of Engineering and Buildings with financial incentives provided by the Economic Development Administration, IALR and the IALR Foundation, and the Danville Regional Foundation. The CMA and IALR campus resides on land owned by the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority.

“The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors has strategically and successfully targeted advanced manufacturing as a major component of our economic development efforts,” said Vic Ingram, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors and the Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA). “We are so excited to see the positive impact the Center for Manufacturing Advancement has on Danville and Pittsylvania County’s recruitment of new advanced manufacturing companies. I am confident this facility will greatly benefit Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, and our entire region.”

“The opening of this center is the next big step for our city and region in our effort to become an advanced manufacturing hub and further transform the community in which we live,” said City of Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones. “By providing manufacturers with everything they need to launch and grow, the center will be an important economic development tool. It will grow the portfolio of companies that decide to call our community home, and provide new job opportunities for our citizens. We are a proud partner in this effort.”

Center for Manufacturing Advancement

The two-story CMA features:

  • rapid-launch facilities that will enable new businesses to begin limited operations off-site during what is traditionally the initial downtime as new businesses wait for their factory to be constructed and equipped to support full operations;
  • an ISO-certified inspection lab that will provide integrated inspection capabilities required to validate product quality. This service will reduce the start-up phase for a new company by 4 to 6 months, the time required to certify an inspection lab;
  • process improvement labs that will enable new and existing businesses to improve their processes in a more expeditious manner, thereby ensuring global competitiveness;
  • an industry 4.0 integration and training lab that will support next-generation manufacturing requirements
  • a platform for collaborative innovation that allows manufacturing companies, technology companies and engineering students to work together to discover, integrate and showcase emerging technology; and
  • concierge service that provides the wrap-around support needed by companies new to the U.S. during their critical start-up phase.

“The opening of the Center for Manufacturing Advancement brings state-of-the-art technological support and increased workforce development capabilities to the economic growth efforts in Danville, Pittsylvania County, and the entire region,” said Representative Bob Good (R-Va.) 

The opening of the CMA took place during the second annual Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) Summit where stakeholders convened on topics pertaining to closing skills and workforce gaps within the naval defense industrial base. United States Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, and other defense leaders, legislators, and industry groups addressed the challenges and opportunities for building a labor pool that supports emerging technologies for supplying the nation’s shipbuilding industry.

“The Center for Advanced Manufacturing will help close critical supply chain gaps and accelerate defense manufacturing. It will enable partners to move and adapt at the speed of technology, and directly complements the ATDM program,” said Craig Crenshaw Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs. “ATDM is a great opportunity for our Veterans who are supremely suited to the culture and competencies of defense manufacturing. They provide an immediate connection to the mission.”

The United States Navy will be the first project partner locating in the CMA, selecting three of the high bays as part of a new center of excellence they announced at the ATDM Summit.

“This investment of $28.8 million is a huge win for the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research as well as Danville and Pittsylvania County. Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and IALR continues to create new opportunities for students in Southside Virginia,” said Virginia Senator Bill Stanley. “I would like to thank Governor Youngkin for his work in this project as we ensure that Southside and Southwest Virginia is the best place to live, work, and to raise a family.” 

The U.S. Navy Opens Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville

The U.S. Navy Opens Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville

Joint Navy-OSD Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing Program to Benefit from new Multi-Million-Dollar Training Facility

The U.S. Navy is launching its Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) within the State of Virginia’s Center for Manufacturing Advancement (CMA) on the Danville Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) campus. The creation of the AM CoE marks the first project partnership for the CMA. It demonstrates the Navy’s commitment to investing in and delivering the skilled workforce necessary to strengthen and expand the Navy’s industrial base to achieve the Nation’s strategic defense objectives.

A first for the Navy, the AM CoE will provide a platform for training a skilled additive manufacturing workforce through partnership with the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program, a rigorous, focused 24/5 training schedule that graduates student cohorts every four months in multiple disciplines critical to the defense industrial base (DIB). Industrial manufacturing partners include major shipbuilders like General Dynamics Electric Boat, Huntington-Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding, Austal USA as well as key industry experts like Phillips Corporation, Industrial Inspection and Analysis, FasTech, Mitutoyo, and Master Gage & Tool, to bring multiple processes utilized by the DIB under one roof to improve efficiencies and reduce barriers to entry for manufacturers hoping to enter additive manufacturing.

Utilizing three full bays dedicated to accelerating and scaling additive manufacturing parts and qualification processes, the AM CoE’s principal functions will be to:

  • Promote adoption of mature industrial qualification processes and data to earn technical warrant holder approval for additive manufacturing production;
  • Enable scale and speed to address material readiness challenges and critical fragilities in the castings/forgings market space;
  • Pave a path for sustainable and scalable additive manufacturing production capability in the submarine industrial base.

“Building and sustaining the Navy’s defense industrial base workforce has become a national security imperative, and the demonstration of partnership and collaboration that is represented here in Danville, Virginia today is part of the ‘Whole Government, Whole of Industry’ approach that must be in place to ensure the domestic manufacturing capacity that is required to maintain the Navy’s maritime edge, and surge to meet a dynamic threat environment,” said Matt Sermon, Executive Director, PEO Strategic Submarines.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the AM CoE was held during the second annual ATDM Summit where the U.S. Navy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and additional federal, state and local government officials joined with partners from defense industry and academia to convene topics pertaining to closing skills and workforce gaps within the naval defense industrial base.

During the ceremony, the announcement was also made that the ATDM program, which aims to provide 800-1,000 qualified candidates to fill critical vacancies in the DIB annually by 2024, will expand with the creation of a regional training facility adjacent to the CMA. The multimillion-dollar investment into over 100,000 square feet of dedicated training capability, capacity, and infrastructure will enable ATDM to rapidly scale up to its full potential and add to the economic momentum in Southern Virginia. The Danville and Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority provided land for the initiative.

“The launch of the AM CoE and the announcement of scale-up potential for ATDM go hand-in-hand with IALR’s approach to support the technological and workforce development needs of Industry. We are excited to leverage our new Center for Manufacturing Advancement and work with the Navy and other partners,” said Telly Tucker, President, IALR. “ATDM is one of the strongest examples of what full integration of industry in the training process looks like, by bringing key partners together to be vested in the time-to-talent process and ensuring the unique requirements of shipbuilders and suppliers are achieved quickly to meet the demands of our nation’s defenses.”

“The events we celebrate today – centered on workforce, technology, and the space where those two priorities must meet – are game changing. The scale and urgency needed in these areas is a fundamental differentiator in our Navy’s ability to preserve peace, and when necessary, compete and win,” added RADM Scott Pappano, PEO Strategic Submarines.” 

Steel in Place for $25.5M CMA Building Project

Steel in Place for $25.5M CMA Building Project

Contractor Blair Construction has worked with architect Dewberry and other partners to complete most of the steel structure of the future Center for Manufacturing Advancement (CMA). Pictured, ADD Equipment Inc. workers install metal roof decking while below, CRB Electrical & Mechanical workers install underground electrical conduits. The 51,250-square-foot building, a $25.5 million project undertaken in cooperation with the Commonwealth, will be a new addition to the campus of the  Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Va. Projected to open in 2022, the Center will feature two floors, offices, meeting spaces, rapid-launch facilities, an ISO-certified inspection lab and process improvement labs. The CMA will allow advanced manufacturing companies to collaborate and enhance processes, improve quality, integrate emerging technology and discover next-generation capabilities. It will specifically target manufacturing companies establishing or expanding their presence in Southern Virginia.