In many manufacturing spaces, “What if?” is often constricted by reality — the issues of time, expertise, and employee knowledge.

But what if manufacturers had a place where they could test ideas without affecting their current processes or deadlines?

That’s the solution offered by the newly upgraded Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), a 60,000-square-foot lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The facility’s recent expansion offers new opportunities to manufacturers while realizing a major goal of Georgia AIM to connect companies to AI and smart manufacturing.

More importantly, AMPF now serves as a closed-loop innovation environment. In this space, manufacturers can explore everything from materials development to production automation, inspection, and testing in a single, collaborative space.

Georgia AIM is co-led by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) and the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). GTMI also runs AMPF, and its expansion was funded in part through Georgia AIM’s Project 8.

Rather than focusing on a single type of equipment, AMPF brings together a connected set of advanced manufacturing capabilities that span materials synthesis, additive and traditional fabrication, automation, metrology, and testing. These combined capabilities, alongside faculty and student researchers, allow manufacturers to evaluate complete production workflows in a “proving ground” for new technology and processes.

Now, it’s a world-class space for research and industry collaboration, and manufacturers are invited to try it out. Here is a glimpse of the new technology featured at AMPF.

Metal 3D printing and fabricating

Several stations at the facility allow companies to experiment with multiple additive manufacturing modalities, including powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition using both powder and wire feedstocks, and hybrid manufacturing systems that combine printing and machining.

A key fixture in this area is a Mazak hybrid machine that can add and remove material on a five-axis printing platform. It’s the only publicly accessible machine of its kind in the United States and is a powerful tool for prototyping part repairs. In one test case, a partner manufacturer was able to replicate a $60,000 part for around $700 using this advanced technology, showing the promise it holds for advanced manufacturing systems.

Elsewhere, a custom wire-based additive system takes arc welding to a new level. By preheating wire with a laser, it creates a more efficient process and can even be used with custom metals, such as those used in the aerospace industry. And throughout the processes, Georgia Tech researchers are studying the composition and potential for failures in each process. For example, another laser-based machine uses sensors to find imperfections, measure object sizes as it’s manufactured, and “listen” to the welding sounds to better map the sounds made by successful welds.

Automation in action

Throughout the facility, robots quietly beep as they move about the space. They serve as an automated backbone for the work taking place, carrying build plates to 3D printers, transporting heavy metal parts to the next stage in their development, and transferring experimental metal builds to a wet lab for structural testing.

Rather than operating as isolated machines, systems at AMPF are connected through integrated automation workflows. Robots handle machine tending, material transfer, and part movement between processes, providing a real-world example of how to build efficiency into in a manufacturing space. For example, automating the process of retrieving a build plate, grinding it down to a smooth surface, and returning it to a machine allows people to focus on more complex tasks.

Another automated station provides a powerful test that’s universal to nearly every manufacturer: tensile testing. Companies can send a sample of their metal part to AMPF, then remotely conduct the test under their own specifications. This destructive mechanical test is essential to understanding how a part behaves under pressure, and the remote testing option adds capacity to small or midsized manufacturers who may not be able to complete it in-house.

Custom metal mixing, efficient testing

In some industries, it’s necessary to work with parts made from a custom mix of metals. The specialized equipment at AMPF can help manufacturers better understand the metal composition, test the strength of different compositions, and dramatically reduce the time it takes to test a variety of samples.

Part of the research into alloying metal also involves sanding samples down to a glass-like finish and then examining their structure. This process is typically tedious for materials scientists, but now it’s more enjoyable thanks to automation. Robots deliver samples to the wet lab from across the facility, passing them to another robot through a window opening into the lab. The sample is then placed on a machine that uses a pre-set, exacting process to smooth its surface to a high gloss ideal for examination.

Complementing these capabilities is a robust metrology suite, including advanced X-ray and scanning technologies that allow manufacturers to inspect internal structures, verify dimensions, and ensure quality without damaging parts.

3D printing with polymers

Along with machines for producing metal parts through additive manufacturing, the lab includes a suite dedicated to 3D printing with a variety of polymers, such as resin or silicone. While also used for prototyping, polymer-based printing is also making inroads in the medical field. For example, embedded materials can help change the shape of a device to customize it to the patient, or layers of silicone can be printed with varying levels of flexibility to simulate human organs — ideal for training surgeons, but also useful for creating custom grips for robots, for example.

This is just a sample of the materials and processes in use at AMPF. Together, these capabilities position AMPF as a groundbreaking space where manufacturers can explore new materials, validate processes, and build confidence in advanced technologies before implementing them on the factory floor

Tours are available for companies looking to learn more about the facility’s capabilities; for greater access and collaboration with lab researchers, manufacturers may join the Georgia Tech Manufacturing 4.0 Consortium. This member-driven organization connects Georgia Tech research with industry needs and provides greater access to the facility and Georgia Tech’s expertise.

“We built the consortium to close the gap between innovation and implementation in manufacturing,” said Steven Ferguson, executive director of the consortium and deputy director of GTMI. “Our role is to translate research into practice, working side by side with industry to deploy advanced technologies in real production environments.”

Learn how the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Consortium is helping companies scale for the future.