New 3D printing R&D facility opening in North Carolina

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North Carolina may become the next 3D printing hub in the near future after Swiss company, Oerlikon, announced it will be opening a new R&D production facility for advanced 3D printed parts in Charlotte, NC.

The new facility will offer clients integrated, end-to-end services for advanced additive manufacturing. 3D printing offers manufacturers a number of advantages over traditional manufacturing processes, such as customization and efficiency in terms of materials, lead time, and cost.

Oerlikon, the globally recognized technology group, will be investing roughly CHF55 million (Approximately $55 million USD) into the new facility over the next two years and will create over 100 new jobs.

The company says additive manufacturing has been identified as a potential growth area, and is primed to leverage its strong materials heritage, service reputation, access to markets, and more.

With its new 3D printing R&D and production facility, Oerlikon is aiming to further establish itself as a global leader in surface solutions and advanced materials. The expansion of the company’s global additive manufacturing business can be owed to the simultaneously growing demand for advanced 3D printed metal parts in various industries.

The planned R&D facility in Charlotte will be an important step in Oerlikon’s plans to grow their additive manufacturing business and investment in key technology areas.

To find out more about R&D or to determine whether you may be eligible for an R&D Tax Credit  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.

Minnesota Researchers Develop Groundbreaking Process

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A groundbreaking one-step, crystal growth process for making ultra-thin layers of material with molecular-sized pores, has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota. Researchers demonstrated the use of the material, called zeolite nano-sheets, by making ultra-selective membranes for chemical separations.

This new discovery could  improve the energy-efficiency of chemical separation methods used to make everything from fuels to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

“Overall, we’ve developed a process for zeolite nano-sheet crystal growth that is faster, simpler, and yields better quality nano-sheets than ever before,” said Michael Tsapatsis, the lead researcher on the study. “Our discovery is another step towards improved energy efficiency in the chemical and petrochemical industries.”

Today, most chemical and petrochemical purification processes are based on heat-driven processes like distillation. These processes are very energy-intensive. For example, chemical separations based on distillation represent nearly 5 percent of the total energy consumption in the United States.

Several companies and researchers are developing more energy-efficient separations based on membranes that can separate molecules based on size and shape. One class of these membranes is based on zeolites, which are silicate crystals that have pores of molecular dimensions. However, the multi-step processes for manufacturing these membranes are costly and difficult to scale up, and commercial production remains a challenge.

The researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed the first-ever, bottom-up process for direct growth of zeolite nano-sheets, which can be used to make high quality molecular sieve membranes. The new material, is only about five nano-meters in thickness, and several micrometers wide. The new nano-sheets also grow in a uniform shape making it much easier to make the membranes used in chemical purification.

Mi Young Jeon, the first author of the study describes the new material as being like tiling a floor with large, uniform tiles compared to small, irregular chips of tile. Jeon explains that uniform-shaped zeolite nano-sheets also make a much higher-quality membrane with surprisingly high separation values that can sieve-out impurities.

The research findings are a big step forward and researchers are looking forward to the future changes the discoveries will make to energy efficiency in chemical and petrochemical industries.

To find out more about R&D or to determine whether you may be eligible for an R&D Tax Credit  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.

New La-Z-Boy Innovation Center In Dayton

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Exciting times of innovation lie ahead for La-Z-Boy – Users may soon be able to operate their chairs with their iPhones!

Chief Executive Kurt Darrow, says innovation at the company is vitally important and is one of the things that makes the company different from others. In light of this, La-Z-Boy have opened a new $16 million research and development center in Dayton, Tennessee. The 70,000-square-foot center will serve as the innovation hub for the entire company.

The innovation center will be located directly across the road from its 1.2 million-square-foot manufacturing plant, which is also due to receive a $10 million upgrade and renovation.

The R&D center will add an additional 115 employees to the existing 1,400 people who already work at the Dayton site, where more than 800,000 pieces of furniture are made every day.

Gregg Schweir, the company’s vice president of R&D, said the work is a commitment to customers, employees and the Dayton community. “We build great products and spend a lot of time innovating,” he said. “It’s an investment in people and will keep us competitive for years to come.”

Allen Borden, assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said the state’s workforce and improved education offerings are the biggest reason why Tennessee is making R&D strides.

The new R&D center, which is planned for opening in approximately 12 months, will about double the size of the company’s existing facility in Dayton. It will have much more equipment and hold added space for working teams. The facility will house approximately 75 people and will have a model shop, technology center, test lab and 3-D printing capabilities.

The Dayton plant is the only La-Z-Boy facility that makes furniture in all three upholstery categories — recliners, motion sofas and stationary upholstery. It also makes about 90 percent of the various frame styles in the company’s manufacture-branded product line and services the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast parts of the country.

Don Mather, vice president of La-Z-Boy Tennessee, said the work produced at the new innovation center will “drive a stake in the ground” for Dayton. It will help the company be an innovative leader in its industry.

To find out more about R&D or to determine whether you may be eligible for an R&D Tax Credit  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.

Navy to conduct drone flight research

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The short-term R&D project, in which unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will be tested, is being conducted by the Office of Naval Research with the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University.

According to the office of Naval research, the flight testing to evaluate UAS capabilities will commence at the Stennis Space Center in coastal Mississippi in May and continue through to June. One of the features planned to evaluate are drone-mounted lasers that can measure water depth from the air, known as Light Detection And Ranging technology (LIDAR).

LIDAR measures the distance to a target by shining a laser light beam on the target, it is the same technology being used by law enforcement agencies now, in replace of radar guns, to measure the speed of a moving vehicle.

The drone in use for the test is called the Outlaw SeaHunter, developed by Griffon Aerospace in Huntsville, Alabama. The twin propeller drone has a 16-foot wingspan and a length of 9.9 feet, according to Griffon Aerospace. With a payload capacity of 90 pounds, the drone can fly for over four hours and over eight with an external fuel tank.

SeaHunter is the most capable member of Griffon’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) family, it is designed as a cost effective, reliable, Class III Multi-engine platform. SeaHunters are currently being used by military, universities, and research agencies for training, testing, data collection, and system R&D.

The demonstration of the LIDAR technology will be a short-term project, so there won’t be a permanent presence of the Navy. That being said, it is suggested that the research associated with the project could lead to a better understanding of coastal ecology and wetlands ecology.

To see whether your company can take advantage of the R&D tax credit, speak to one of our expert advisers at Swanson Reed.

Kansas is the new hot spot for global baking innovation!

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Plano county in Kansas is now home to a state-of-the-art, 30,000 square-foot, innovation baking center. Middleby Bakery Group has installed their truck-sized innovative baking machinery into the innovation center and is already churning out diet-busting sweets at almost the speed of sound.

The collection of machinery at the facility work together to automate baking in a way unimaginable to most bakers. The $2.3 million center will serve as a test kitchen, allowing commercial bakers who have been testing new products in small batches, to ramp up production and see what tweaks are needed when the muffins, buns or breads roll out at a rate of four tons an hour.

The facility is an extended R&D lab for bakers worldwide who want to try new things without having to shut down their own production lines to conduct tests. It allows bakers and food makers to test-drive their ideas at the center instead of spending large amounts of money in producing experimental lines in their stores. For consumers, the benefits consist of significantly reducing the time its takes innovative goods to come to the market, and also providing better consistency in the products out now.

Mark Salman, president of Middleby Bakery Group, says with the equipment available at the center, adjusting products to specific consumer dietary requirements or providing less fat and sugar options, can now be developed and produced in weeks and months, as apposed to several years. Additionally, the facility will also work on projects to improve the overall shelf life of its baked goods.

In addition the the hundreds of highly innovative and world class machinery at the facility, the R&D baking center also contains the world’s widest tunnel oven and is expected to draw commercial baking customers from across the globe to the industrial area. The center is also expected to bring people to the area from outside the state that want to partner with Middleby on improving the food production process and using automation and leveraging technology.

Currently the most impressive piece of machinery at the center is the Auto-Bake Line, a 46-foot long by 11-foot tall oven with three baking levels, which can produce more than 25,000 golden-topped blueberry muffins an hour.

While the introduction of the new equipment is a significant adjustment, the majority or workers have been able to embrace the change. Ron Baker, strategic campaign coordinator with the Grain Millers International Union, says “As a union, we don’t reject technology, we embrace it and make sure people are treated fairly when innovation comes into the workplace.”

To find out whether your experimental activities are eligible for the R&D tax credit, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers for an obligation-free assessment.

Could human gene therapy be the next cancer cure?

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Perry Hackett, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, had a significant breakthrough in using DNA to fight cancer. Hackett received significant research and development funding due to his form of cancer treatment using viruses like no other treatments do.

Hackett has invented the Sleeping Beauty Transposon system, which is a basis for many cancer-fighting immunotherapies. Transposons are DNA that are not uniform throughout an organism, a concept which is easily seen throughout Indian corn, where the kernels are multicolored because a DNA element is hopping around the corn genome. It is named Sleeping Beauty because it was a gene that was active 13 million years ago, however went extinct.

Hackett began his research journey almost 40 years ago when he first started genetically engineering larger fish, however now his more recent work can reprogram a person’s immune system to fight cancer. Hackett explains that an immune system has memory, and it can target specific things that are bad for your body by targeting virus-infected cells. His breakthrough was introducing a gene into a cell that will recognize such foreign cells in the body.

Hackett’s virus differs from others in that traditional viruses are expensive to make and take a long time, however, the Sleeping Beauty Transposon is simple enough for an undergraduate student to make.

Hackett calls his research, “One of the grandest Minnesota fishing stories ever,” as initially he was working to find a way to improve the lives of fishermen by genetically engineering fish and eventually this research lead him to immunotherapy and finding a cutting-edge tool to treat cancer.

In addition to treating cancer, Hackett’s research has also lead to further understanding into how cancer progresses and how to correct genetic diseases that people inherit. In the future, therapies based on Hackett’s Transposon system could eliminate  or correct the symptoms of inherited diseases.

The university will continue working on this research, as a cancer treatment like this can provide 80% of people who use it with complete recovery or remission of cancer.

As a result of R&D grants, such as the one Perry Hackett received, innovative thinking and research can be rewarded, continue to progress and ultimately save millions of lives.

If your company is undertaking certain R&D activities, you may be eligible to claim the state and federal R&D tax credit, which can then be reinvested into the business. To find out whether your business qualifies, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers.

ND company invests $240m into soybean production facility

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Minnesota soybean processors are in the early stages of doubling in production with a new $240 million soybean facility starting up in North Dakota. The new facility will crush approximately 125,000 bushels of soybean a day, which is 10,000 more than the Minnesota facility.

With the high market demand for soybean, a second facility with higher crush capacities was necessary in order for the co-op to remain competitive with other soybean processors. As there has not been much recent growth of soybean processing in recent years, investing into such a facility, which will research alternative, innovative and effective methods to soybean processing was highly necessary.

General Manager, Scott Austin, says there is a large market for soybeans and the current facility in Minnesota has already been expanded and is reaching its limits, which lead to the rationale of purchasing additional land and researching into more effective methods to process soybeans and increase crush capacity.

As soybeans are the number one crop in North Dakota from an acreage perspective, it was seen as an appropriate location to open the new facility.

The new North Dakota site will consists of 150 acres and is located in the center of regions growing soybeans. When completed, the facility will create 55-60 full time jobs and will produce 900,000 tons of soybean meal for livestock feed, along with 490 million pounds of soy oil, both from bio-diesel and food-grade oil.  Currently the feasibility and engineering stages of the projects are being completed.

If your company is incorporating innovative production methods into its business practices, it may be eligible for the R&D Tax credit, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers to find out more.

Boeing Research and Development Center in Charleston, SC

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A Boeing Research and Development center has opened in Charleston, South Carolina. The new 100,000 square-foot facility has created 300-400 jobs and focuses primarily on advancing manufacturing technology and composite fuselage development.

Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager of Boeing Research and Technology, says the project is reorganizing and realigning the research and technology operations to better meet the needs of commercial airplanes and defense, space and security business units, as well as government R&D customers.

The South Carolina facility is the 11th Boeing R&D facility established. Boeing currently already employ over 8,000 people in South Carolina and over 80,000 in Washington state.

The North Charleston factory is capable of producing all three variants of Boeing’s newest and biggest Dreamliner widebody aircraft.

In addition to South Carolina, Boeing has also opened new R&D centers in Seattle, Alabama, Missouri and California.

If your business is undertaking R&D, you may be able to benefit from the R&D Tax Credit. To find out whether you qualify, have a chat with one of our R&D Specialists today.

$100 Million R&D facility opening at Rowan University NJ

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Rowan University, together with the senate president, Steve Sweeney, and lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, have announced that the Spanish multinational veterinary pharmaceutical company, HIPRA, will establish its North American headquarters in South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University, New Jersey.

HIPRA will purchase 25 acres of the technology park’s 180 acres on Rowan’s west campus and invest $100 million into building the 375,000 square ft research and development facility, which will create over 200 new high-technology jobs.

“The United States is a critical market for our firm and its continued growth, the South Jersey Technology Park will provide the company with an ideal location to expand its operation in the United States and distribute its products worldwide. ” said Arnau Nogareda, HIPRA’s managing director.

According to Nogareda, the technology park was selected after evaluating numerous first-class host sites and consideration of research that had already been carried out, which showed to be impressive, particularly in the areas of science and engineering.

It is anticipated that by establishing the North American research headquarters in New Jersey, HIPRA will create short and long-term employment opportunities in diverse fields, such as construction and biomedical engineering. In addition, the facility also plans to open the door to spin off companies, benefit local businesses that will serve its employees, and will be especially valuable for the faculty and students working in the sciences, engineering and business.

HIPRA’s r&d technology park will be an excellent fit for the University’s overall goals, as it will attract new partnerships that provide opportunities for the faculty, and will allow students to conduct and produce real life research that will help to further develop the regional economy.

The HIPRA and Rowan University board are excited about the future outcomes resulting from the collaboration and are thrilled to be able to grow the concept of R&D projects in New Jersey, in hope it will spark encouragement for other companies to do the same.

To find out whether your company’s activities may qualify for the R&D Tax credit, contact Swanson Reed R&D Tax Advisers.

3D printing shows potential to create wearable electronics

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Researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) have started the project of creating stretchable electronics that can be elongated, compressed, or twisted to fit practically any surface.

Integrating the wide variety of materials needed to make such an electronic device with such components is proving to be challenging and researchers at Missouri S&T have decided to tackle this challenge using 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing has the benefit that it can easily change from one material to the another and integrate all the different materials together in one print.This process allows manufacturers to print highly conductive materials onto an elastomer surface layer by layer to create a stretchable electronic device.

At Missouri S&T, researchers are experimenting with a 3D printing approach called ‘direct aerosol printing’. The process involves spraying a conductive material and integrating with a stretchable substrate to develop sensors that can be placed on skin. A working prototype has been created of a stretchable electronic device that can adhere to the face. This project is still in the early phases, however it is believed the technology has a lot of potential, particularly in the biomedical engineering space, because of the soft and conformable nature of the device.

One of the most significant benefits of these electronics is that they can be completely wearable, and can form to any kind of motion, for example, being mounted on the face and detect any small motion from your face. Stretchable electronics could also be developed and installed in shoes and used to measure pressure and weights, the possible applications are extensive.

However, several challenges must be addressed before stretchable electronics become widely used as components in consumer electronics, medical devices and other fields. All the materials needed to make each stretchable electronic device needs to be printable, which means developing ink and printable materials that have all the necessary properties for each type of electronic device. In addition, there are also integration challenges, such as varying temperature requirements among different materials. It is also important to ensure that the stretchable electronics and the malleable surfaces they’re built upon perform and age well together.

One of the biggest research focuses right now is to develop an effective, long-lasting stretchable battery, as the energy device is a very critical component in order for stretchable electronics to be realistic.

Following the perfection of the technology, the products will also need to be scaled-up. 3D printing does make that process more streamlined as it can be easily moved to any location, however there are still a lot of unknown factors. The device itself will also need to be low-cost to create, and eventually biodegradable. Despite these hurdles, researchers are optimistic that stretchable electronics, made using 3D printing, will become more commonplace going forward.

If your company is using 3D printing, you may be eligible for the federal R&D Tax Credit.  Contact a Swanson Reed specialist to see if you qualify.