Tom Sheridan has been promoted to President of Royal Products. He has been with Royal for 28 years. He has risen through the ranks within the company from Applications Engineer, Design Engineer, Director of Sales and Marketing, Vice President of Marketing, and now, to President. Tom has a BS in Mechanical Engineering
Chris Jakubowsky has been promoted to Executive Vice President. Chris has been with Royal Products for 22 years and has ascended through the ranks at Royal as well, from Industrial Engineer, Director of Production, Director of Operations, VP of Operations, and now, to Executive Vice President. Chris has a BS in Industrial Engineering as well as an MBA.
With an aggressive plan in place, Mazak Corporation has announced it will invest $8.5 million in new manufacturing technology for its Florence, Kentucky, Mazak iSmart Factory operations.
Mazak continuously invests in its North American operations, which have grown and advanced into a sophisticated and extremely productive Mazak iSmart Factory,” said Dan Janka, President of Mazak Corp.
Two leaders in U.S. manufacturing innovation, Thomas Kurfess and Scott Smith, have joined the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to support its pioneering research in advanced manufacturing. Kurfess and Smith’s expertise in control systems and machine tooling expands the capabilities of DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, and their broad experience with industry, academia and the public sector will enhance lab partnerships and promote adoption of new technologies by U.S. manufacturers.
“We’re pleased to welcome these industry leaders to our advanced manufacturing team,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said. “ORNL has been at the forefront of rapid advances in manufacturing technology, and Drs. Kurfess and Smith will lead critical programs in advanced manufacturing, automation, and robotics that support the lab’s mission of delivering scientific and technical solutions to national challenges.”
Kurfess will spearhead the development of new manufacturing platforms and control systems that will enable autonomous manufacturing through robotics and controls. He comes to ORNL from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is the HUSCO/Ramirez distinguished chair in fluid power and motion control and professor of mechanical engineering.
“I look forward to joining the team at ORNL in creating, implementing, and scaling next-generation technologies to move the U.S. manufacturing base forward,” Kurfess said. “With the facilities and personnel at ORNL, we will be second to none and ensure the leadership of the United States in manufacturing for generations to come. It is both exciting and an honor to be on such an amazing team.”
Smith, Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, will lead ORNL’s advanced machining and machine tool research, focused on developing the systems, processes, sensors, and controls needed to reinvigorate the U.S. industrial base and bolster national security.
For Smith, who grew up in Tennessee, this new opportunity is also a homecoming. “I am excited about returning home to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, building research and development capabilities in machining and machine tools,” Smith said. “I hope to add a powerful new dimension to the strong manufacturing expertise already in place at ORNL.”
The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL is supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO). AMO supports early-stage research to advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing and promote American economic growth and energy security. UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
For more information, please visit http://science.energy.gov/ (http://science.energy.gov/).
