The Agile Manufacturing Program sponsors analyses and experiments to more completely define the vision, development activities to provide tools and technology for the nation's industrial base, and demonstrations to show proof of concept to industry. The IFAM provides a continuation of the national level industry forum activities that created the initial vision. The AMRIs teams university and industry to develop a deep understanding of the principles, practices, and metrics of agile manufacturing within an industrial sector. The objective is to build upon existing bitways and network services, adding the functionality and application services needed to support distributed engineering, manufacturing, and electronic commerce. The pilot program demonstrates the combination of enabling technology and new, innovative business practices in agile manufacturing applications with dual use potential.
Technology transfer is built into all elements of the program.
The IFAM and AMRIs are designed to be technology transfer and training vehicles for industry, both within and across various industry sectors. The pilot programs will involve industry users and potential vendors, and will be coupled with the AMRIs in a way that promotes rapid deployment and implementation of new technologies and improved business methods. The network services and tools will be made available both on the Internet and commercially.