Material Deposition Center
American Trim included in group that receives $3 million in new funding from Ohio's Third Frontier Wright Projects program to construct a new Materials Deposition Center to commercialize advanced functional and decorative thin-film coating processes.
The funding is the result of a collaborative effort between American Trim, Rhodes State College, Ohio Northern University, The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC), The Ohio Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Center and the City of Lima, Ohio.
Lima, Ohio-June 30, 2008
American Trim announced today that the grant application for the Materials Deposition Center (of which American Trim is a collaborative partner) was awarded $3 million from the Third Frontier Wright Projects Program. American Trim will supplement the grant with a comparable in-kind investment through facilities and personnel.
The MDC will scale up laboratory-proven coating technologies into a production-scale digital application system. The first project will be the development and demonstration of a low cost engineered finish simulating stainless steel sheet material suitable for use in refrigerators, ovens, microwaves, washers, dryers, and control panels for the decorative stainless steel appliance market.
Subsequent projects will include highly complex, patterned finishes targeting additional interior environments including automotive, home and commercial buildings.
The Center seeks to exploit new digital printing and materials deposition processes to produce engineered finishes while avoiding the use of expensive alloys or environmentally hazardous coating processes. Such surface appearances have not previously been producible via commercial printing or industrial deposition but
dramatic new advances in digital printing and materials dispensing technologies are enabling these two industrial arts to converge.
Finally, the MDC will serve as a workforce development facility to train technicians and undergraduate and graduate level engineering students in the new technologies. The Materials Deposition Center will be constructed adjacent to the Advanced Materials Commercialization Center (AMCC) (a product of the first Third Frontier Grant awarded to Rhodes State College and American Trim) which is within American Trim's
Research and Development facility in Lima, Ohio.
American Trim Vice President Rick Pfeifer, commenting on the collaboration efforts of the partners to bring advanced solutions to the marketplace, said, "Based on what I've seen, Lima, Ohio is able to play on the world stage in energy and technology development."
Collaborative partners for the project include American Trim, Rhodes State College, Ohio Northern University, The Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC), The Ohio Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Center and the City of Lima, Ohio.
Contact: John Swigard
Director of Marketing
Phone: (937) 494-6507
Fax: (937) 494-6200
Corporate Address
1005 West Grand Ave.
Lima, OH 45801
www.amtrim.com
