Manufacturing & Design Enterprise
Tennessee-made solutions for the nation’s next-generation manufacturing industry
UT’s Manufacturing and Design Enterprise houses advanced manufacturing technologies, equipment, and processes that create a competitive advantage for Tennessee companies in the defense, transportation, and advanced energy sectors. Co-located partners have access to UT’s world-class research, facilities, and talent.
UT researchers are national-leading experts in machine tooling, advanced manufacturing, systems thinking and design, and global supply chain.
Elevate your Business
Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities.
Marc Gibson
Associate Vice Chancellor for Partnerships and Economic Development
Email: rgibso14@utk.edu
Benefits for External Partners
- Co-locate adjacent to other industry partners in a high-bay space or occupy second-floor office space. Private spaces also available
- Option for customized lease length
- Industry-relevant, state-of-the-art equipment and capabilities for users
- Access to UT faculty and top students from undergraduate through doctoral levels to tackle your real-world challenges
Strategic Location
The facility is ideally located in the heart of Knoxville’s burgeoning technology innovation district and five minutes from the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Additionally, dozens of companies in the aerospace, energy, defense, and manufacturing sectors have a nearby presence.
Workforce Development
In partnerships with Tennessee community colleges and colleges of applied technologies, UT supports the preparation of a world-class workforce for the industries of the future in Tennessee and the United States.
America’s Cutting Edge (ACE) is a proven, operationalized workforce development curriculum created at UT that benefits industry partners looking to develop and hire student talent in machining. ACE is supported by the Department of Defense and is managed by IACMI—The Composites Institute and has been adopted by universities and community college networks in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
Capabilities & Infrastructure
Research and development takes place in a large high-bay, sub-divided into spaces as well as other separate lab spaces. Machine Tools Research Center faculty and students will collaborate with organizations who acquire space.
Equipment
- Haas UMC-750 five-axis CNC machining center
- Haas UMC-1000 five-axis CNC machining center
- Haas VF-4 three-axis CNC machining centers (2)
- Haas VF-4SS three-axis CNC machining centers (2)
- Haas CM-1 three-axis CNC machining center
- Haas ST-15 CNC lathe (2)
- MELD Manufacturing L3 additive friction stir deposition machine
- KUKA robotic wire arc additive manufacturing (Fronius CMT power supply)
- KUKA robotic milling (PushCorp high-speed spindle)
- KUKA linear pallet shuttle with two rotary axes
- Mitsubishi CNC wire EDM machine
- GOM ATOS Q structured light scanner
- GOM ATOS Core structured light scanner
- ZEISS Duramax coordinate measuring machine
- Alicona 3D measuring system
- Kistler 9257B cutting force dynamometer
- MLI MetalMax testing kit
- Lion Precision amplifier and capacitance gages
- Polytec laser vibrometer
Flexible office workspaces and conference rooms are provided for researchers and support staff as well as capabilities for hosting workshops and conferences.
In-House Programs
- Machine Tool Research Center
- Southeastern Advanced Machine Tools Network
- America’s Cutting Edge (ACE) machine tool workforce development program
- Gene Haas Machine Tool Research Academy