Matsuura Machinery USA partners with Purdue University

Matsuura Machinery USA and Purdue University announce an innovative collaboration to advance a new approach to integrated additive and subtractive manufacturing for multi-materials referred to as convergent manufacturing.

“Our critical partnership acknowledges a tremendous collaborative opportunity to assist North American customers with their evaluation, investigation, and analysis of Metal AM – and in particular the Matsuura LUMEX Series of Avance-25 machines,” says Tom Houle, director, Matsuura LUMEX North America.

“Through the combined expertise of Matsuura, the North American expert in Metal 3D Printing and High-speed Milling, and Purdue University, a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges and ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, we will address the challenges of today and tomorrow,” Houle adds.

Manufacturing has been a central focus of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, going back to the 1800’s. Today, researchers study every aspect of manufacturing and materials processing, from automotive and aerospace to electronics and medical applications.

"Purdue Mechanical Engineering students have always been makers – from the earliest 'Boilermakers' of steam engines to the 3D printing of today. Convergent Manufacturing is the future of this industry, and this partnership with Matsuura shows that Purdue is committed to being at the forefront of Convergent Manufacturing research," says Eckhard A. Groll, Ph.D., William E. and Florence E. Perry head of mechanical engineering, and Reilly professor of mechanical engineering, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering.

“Our partnership with Matsuura USA is strategic to foster innovations in Convergent Manufacturing as we converge an array of processes in one platform to enable breakthroughs in manufacturing science and engineering, says Michael P. Sealy, Ph.D., associate professor, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering.

According to Dr. Sealy, a team of Purdue University and Matsuura USA is the best of the talents in hybrid additive manufacturing to push the boundaries of the discipline and benefit our collaborators in Indiana and US at large with applications for biomedical, defense, space, die and tooling, automotive, and other sectors.”

“Purdue Engineering has a long tradition of leading manufacturing research with a deep and broad foundation in talents and capabilities. The partnership between our Convergent-manufacturing Research Institute (C-MRI) and Matsuura will accelerate the pace of exploration on convergent manufacturing and the pace of technology translation” says Prof. Wayne Chen, associate dean for research and innovation and Reilly Professor of aeronautics and astronautics & materials engineering.

As a result of this partnership, Purdue University will be hosting two world-class hybrid additive manufacturing cluster tools for reactive and non-reactive materials for industries, national labs, and academia.

“At Purdue, we are embarking on a path to advance Industry 4.0 and look beyond to solve the world’s big problems and create new opportunities. That invites a philosophy of convergence including in manufacturing, called Convergent Manufacturing, and such partnerships are invaluable to enable that grand objective,” says Prof. Ajay Malshe, Ph.D., R. Eugene, and Susie E. Goodson distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering

Research institutions have increasingly moved to implement programs that foster convergence - the integration of knowledge and ways of thinking from multiple fields to tackle complex challenges and achieve new and innovative solutions.