The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation: Novel Automation Solutions for the Biotech, Photonics, and Semiconductor Industries
MIT SEMINAR SERIES IN MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTIVITY
Place: Room 33-116 Time: 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Professor Andre Sharon
Boston University
Fraunhofer has been bridging the gap between academic research and industrial needs for over fifty years. It is Europe’s largest R&D organization, spanning over 55 locations across Europe, Asia, and North America. Each Center is closely affiliated with a partner University, and comprises faculty, students, and a full-time engineering staff focused on scaling up cutting-edge research into real working technologies on an industrial timetable. The Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation is a technology collaboration between Fraunhofer and Boston University, and is focused on the development and deployment of next-generation automation systems for the biotech/biomedical, photonics, and semiconductor industries. This talk will describe the Center’s activities via specific examples of next-generation machines and instruments developed and deployed to Industry both in the U.S. and abroad.
About the Speaker
Prof.
Andre Sharon has accumulated over 20 years of experience, both industrial
and academic, developing and deploying computer-controlled automation equipment
for several industries, ranging from sub-micron, high-precision machinery
for optoelectronics, biotechnology, and semiconductor fabrication to high-speed
assembly of consumer products. As Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing
Innovation and Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at Boston University,
Prof. Sharon works closely with faculty, students and engineers to develop
next-generation manufacturing technologies for local and international clients.
Drawing upon Fraunhofer's and Boston University's vast research base and
working closely with industry, the Center goes beyond the scope of traditional
academic research to develop and deploy actual working technologies all the
way to the factory floor.
Prior to joining Fraunhofer / Boston University, Prof. Sharon co-founded and served as Executive Officer of the MIT Manufacturing Institute, created to bridge the gap that exists between traditional academic research and the needs of industry. Prof. Sharon led a large program aimed at cost reducing the manufacture of optoelectronics and fiber optic systems through the development of cost-effective packaging, pigtailing and handling equipment. He developed and deployed several machines that greatly reduce the cost of fabricating photonic devices. Additionally, Prof. Sharon has consulted extensively for industry in the area of cost-effective automation.
Prior to joining MIT, Prof. Sharon spent seven years at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center and IBM’s General Technology Division developing manufacturing machinery and test equipment for computer components. Prof. Sharon received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal, Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing. In September of 2000, Prof. Sharon founded kSARIA Corporation, a well funded early-stage company focused on providing cutting-edge process automation equipment to the optical communication industry. Recently, he co-founded Boston Array Technologies, a company which develops new diagnostic tools based on peptide arrays synthesis technology.
