IMTI's Year in Review—2009 was a Great Year!

IMTI was greatly blessed in 2009! We were fortunate to work for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Defense Logistics Agency in providing strategic support including studies, strategic investment plans, and technology roadmaps. In these roles, we were able to work with all of the armed services, other government agencies, industry, the national research community, and academia. Our mantra has always been and continues to be “serve our customers and the nation in the best way that is possible”. It cannot be emphasized enough that IMTI is a facilitating organization. The credit for the value of the content goes to the participants in our workshops and studies. The credit for visionary leadership goes to our sponsors who make the work possible and provide the strong support that is essential.

The assignments were quite diverse. Highlights from the last two years include:

• The conduct of a workshop and the delivery of a set of white papers on the topic of incentives for industry and government cooperation and collaboration.
• The publication of a benchmarking report of the international state of technology development and deployment for large scale composite structures.
• The delivery of a strategic investment plan for portable power sources (batteries).
• The conduct of two workshops that dealt with the important problem of materials and chemicals management and the publication of the documents from those workshops. The process continues with additional workshops planned for early 2010.
• A benchmarking study of industry best practices in integrated product realization. This study will enrich the knowledge base concerning present and emerging practices in addressing the timeline from requirements definition to delivered and supported product.
• Two events jointly sponsored by DoD and NASA with the intent of continually enriching the knowledge base. The Modeling and Simulation Applications in Design and Manufacturing technical meeting was a feast in practical applications. The Radical Innovation in Design and Manufacturing was a great coming together to explore ideas. These events were a beginning. Now we must build the “foundations under our castles in the sky.”
• The continuous update of the Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing Systems document and its vision.

2010 promises to be a continuation of what has begun. We look forward to working with those who we know and who have supported IMTI over the years. We also look forward to meeting many new friends and setting our goals for higher achievement.