Fraunhofer Collaboration

The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI), in collaboration with Boston University, provides manufacturing solutions to industries in the United States and abroad. The Center is collocated with the Manufacturing Engineering department on campus and employs a staff of ~40 people comprised of full-time engineers and scientists, students and administrative personnel. Fraunhofer works closely with the University to streamline the process of scaling up academic research into real working technologies for industry, bridging the gap between academic research and industrial needs. Our activities range from concept development and evaluation through prototyping and factory floor implementation, all on an industrial timetable.

It is our objective to:

• provide an international clientele with state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and research & development services
• scale-up university research into working technologies for industry
• produce a pool of highly qualified manufacturing engineers capable of working in an international environment.

CMI's core competence and focus is in the development of next-generation, high precision automation systems.: We primarily target the following market segments, although we are involved in other high-precision labor intensive applications:

• Optoelectronics
• Biotechnology/Biomedical
• Specialty semiconductor
• Microsystems

Specifically, our services include design and build of automation equipment, manufacturing process development, and product development assistance. Examples of active projects during 2003/4 include the development of a continuous crystal growth process, an in-vacuum positioning system, an automated heart cell extraction system, and the development of a high-precision fiber optic winder for the production of strategic grade gyroscope sensing coils.

Fraunhofer's activities are supported by a 17,000 square foot facility. Collocated with the Department of Manufacturing Engineering at 15 Saint Mary's Street, it offers a full machine development laboratory for high precision automation, advanced metrology, rapid prototyping, a class 1000 clean room, and a variety of CAD / CAM packages. Additionally, in support of our fabrication needs we have an advanced machine shop comprising three and five axis milling and turning machines, a high precision CNC lathe, an ultra precision diamond machining center, and a variety of CNC controllers.

Fraunhofer is associated with the Department of Manufacturing Engineering's Global Manufacturing Program. The program focuses on solving industrial problems in a multicultural environment. This highly selective 2-year research program prepares students to become international engineers and managers who are trained to operate in the global business environment.