Walmart Hosts US Manufacturing Summit

Walmart, The Walmart Foundation and the U.S. Conference of Mayors hosted the second U.S. Manufacturing Summit in Denver on August 14. The gathering hosted manufacturers suppliers, governors and mayors from across 42 states.

At the summit, seven research and development institutions were awarded a total of $4 million in grants to create new processes, ideas and jobs to grow the U.S.’ manufacturing footprint. The awards were from the Walmart Foundation Innovation Fund, which focuses on the development of domestic manufacturing.

The 2014 Walmart U.S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund grant winners were:

• Georgia Tech Research corporation for innovation of thread-count-based fabric motion control
• Indiana University—Purdue University at Indianapolis to advance and accelerate the industrial implementation of metal 3D printing for plastic injection tooling.
• North Carolina State University College of Textiles to address challenges to manufacturing of furniture cushions.
• Oregon State University to develop novel alternative mold fabricating approaches.
• Texas Tech University to support research on cotton breeding and biotechnology, production and textile manufacturing.
• University of Texas at Arlington to develop a manufacturing system that will autonomously prepare small motor sub-systems and assemble the components.
• University of Georgia Research Foundation to develop an approach to fabric dyeing that will reduce the need for water in dyeing cotton and other textiles.

“Innovation is part of the heart and soul of Walmart,” said Michelle Gloeckler, executive president of Consumables and U.S. Manufacturing, Walmart. “By investing in American ingenuity originating everywhere from the research lab to the assembly line, we can transform our approach to manufacturing to be more cost-effective and efficient. We can bring more jobs and more production back into American communities.”

For more information, visit Walmart.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.