Collaborative university, private sector venture breaks ground

PRINCE GEORGE — A research center near the site of Rolls-Royce PLC’s new factory in Prince George County will help give Virginia a competitive edge in advanced manufacturing, state officials and business executives said Thursday.

The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, or CCAM, will operate as a collaborative venture of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and private-sector companies.

“It is vitally important for the heart and soul and future of America that we start making things again — that we increase our manufacturing base,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said Thursday at a groundbreaking for the center.

The center is expected to be completed in 2012.

Within five years, it will recruit a staff that is expected to include about 50 with doctorate degrees to conduct research projects, said David R. Lohr, former director of the Virginia Biosciences Development Center who was named executive director of CCAM in February. About 70 graduate research associates and interns will conduct research at the center.

Six companies have joined the research collaborative as organizing members, paying $400,000 each for five years to conduct research on manufacturing processes at the center. A seventh company joined as a second-tier supporter.

Lohr said one goal is to bring manufacturing innovations to the marketplace at a faster pace. “Transparent collaboration between member companies and top university research faculty and students will turn ideas into profit faster than ever before.”

Land clearance has started for the 50,000-square-foot building on West Quaker Road, near the site where Rolls-Royce is building an aircraft engine components plant. The first phase of that project is a 180,000-square-foot factory that will make components for civil aircraft.

Rolls-Royce, which is based in the United Kingdom, donated 20 acres for the research center on its 1,000-acre site in Prince George. The company was the leading private-sector force supporting the research center, which will be modeled after similar research sites the company developed in the United Kingdom and Singapore.

Research and intellectual property developed at the center will be shared among the member companies and universities.

The facility will house computational and large-scale production labs and an open production space for heavy equipment and surface coating research.

State officials touted the research collaborative as the first of its kind in North America and said they want to recruit other companies to join.

“We have to do better at research and development to maintain America’s leadership in innovation,” said Jim Cheng, Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade. “We think Virginia is going to be a great model for the whole country to follow.”

“This is going to generate so much innovation and new technology that companies are going to want to move here,” he said.

Other companies in addition to Rolls-Royce that have joined CCAM as founding members are: Newport News Shipbuilding, the Newport News-based division of Huntington Ingalls Industries which designs, builds and maintains ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.

Canon Virginia Inc., a Newport News-based division of Japan-based Canon that repairs and refurbishes Canon cameras, video recorders and office products.

Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp., an Orangeburg, N.Y.-based company that provides parts, repairs, maintenance and overhauls of gas turbines used in aviation and in land-based applications.

Sandvik Coromant, a Swedish company that makes tools for turning, milling and drilling, and Siemens, a German industrial engineering company that provides software and other tools to improve manufacturing processes.

Aerojet, a California-based provider of rocket propulsion systems, joined CCAM last month as a tier-two member. Tier-two members provide $100,000 a year to support research at the center.

Blackwell reports for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.