040616_MIT to lead RFI-MII

Carter announced that a leading consortium of 89 universities, manufacturers and non-profits organized by the MIT will spearhead a new manufacturing innovation institute in partnership with the Department of Defense to secure U.S. leadership in fibers and textiles manufacturing.

The RFT-MII is a collaborative effort between government and the private sector to accelerate the development of the next generation of highly functional textiles from both a commercial and military perspective.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has committed $75 million, a figure matched by almost $250 million in money and other in-kind contributions from the U.S. textile industry and other sources.

NCTO welcomes announcement

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) welcomed the announcement.

“We are pleased that the RFT-MII has gone from concept to reality,” said NCTO President Augustine Tantillo. “This investment in advanced manufacturing will add to the substantial ongoing efforts associated with innovation in fiber and textile science in the United States.

“This long range investment will help the United States maintain its current position as the most innovative and technically advanced textile industry in the world,” he added. “We expect that it will ultimately spur jobs and investment in our sector while also making our military stronger.”

In a release, Tantillo noted that domestic industry supplies more than 8,000 different textile products to warfighters.

Integrating nontraditional partners

The institute will bring together nontraditional partners to integrate fibers and yarns with integrated circuits, LEDs, solar cells and other capabilities to create textiles and fabrics that can see, hear, sense, communicate, store energy, regulate temperature, monitor health, change color and more.

For example, the institute will pair the likes of leading audio equipment maker Bose, computer chip maker Intel and nanofiber manufacturer FibeRio with textile manufacturers and textile users such as Warwick Mills, Buhler Yarns and New Balance. In doing so, the institute will accelerate technology transfer to enable revolutionary defense and commercial applications such as shelters with power generation and storage capacity built into the fabric, ultra-efficient, energy-saving filters for vehicles and uniforms that can regulate temperature and detect threats such as chemical and radioactive elements in order to warn warfighters and first responders, according to the DoD.

The combination of novel properties such as exceptional strength, flame resistance, reduced weight and electrical conductivity through this institute will lead to significant advancements in this industry.

President Obama announced the formation of the RFT-MII on March 18, 2015 as part of his National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) initiative. The NNMI brings together industry, academia and federal partners to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, by promoting a robust and sustainable manufacturing research and development infrastructure.

Participants from South Carolina are the Clemson University Center for Workforce Development, Milliken, Inman Mills and the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, according to a release by Clemson. Other organizations or companies involved were not announced.

Related news about the announcement:

Posted April 6, 2016

From staff reports

BOSTON – After more than a year in the works, a Revolutionary Fibers & Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute (RFT-MII) was announced on April 1 by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Alliance, a new nonprofit research and development consortium comprised of partners from industry, academia and state governments, has been selected to lead this effort following a highly competitive nationwide bid process. The agreement will be managed by U.S. Army Contracting Command – New Jersey Emerging Technologies contracting center and combines $75 million in Department of Defense (DoD) funds and nearly $250 million in cost sharing from non-federal investments for a total of over $317 million.

MIT to spearhead Fibers & Textiles Institute