Manufacturers rely on many different computer programs to design and produce machined parts.
To work together, the systems need to communicate with each other, transferring digital data among several software applications. Researchers in the Center for Advanced Software Systems Integration at Ohio University are developing a system that will integrate different computer systems in a way never done before, said Charles Parks, center director and professor and chair of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. If we can find a way to allow these systems to integrate with one another, we can apply the technology to almost any other type of manufacturing software system. Each grant includes funding for research based in a university research lab and on-site research at a partnering company. Ohio University is working with Elano, a division of General Electric that produces tubing for jet engines.