The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced $1.87 million for seven projects to advance innovation in U.S. manufacturing through high-performance computing. Part of DOE’s High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program, the seven new public/private partnerships are expected to enable greater collaboration between DOE national labs and the U.S. manufacturing industry.

Each of the seven projects will receive up to $300,000 to support modeling and simulation subject-matter experts at the national laboratories and provide the needed supercomputing power. Industry partners will provide 20-50% cost sharing, including the technical know-how and manufacturing data needed to tackle the project goals. The projects selected for awards will be led by:

• PPG Industries
• Vitro Flat Glass, LLC
• Arconic, Inc. (co-funded by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy)
• Eaton Corp.
• Vader Systems, LLC
• Caterpillar (co-funded by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office)
• General Motors (co-funded by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office)

The HPC4Mfg program, operated by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), leverages technical expertise with high-performance computing to tackle manufacturing challenges uniquely solved by computer modeling. By applying modeling, simulation, and data analytics to key manufacturing problems, the program can aid in decision-making, optimize processes and design, improve quality, predict performance and failure, reduce or eliminate testing, and shorten the time to market.