Fairfield University's School of Engineering co-sponsoring "Automation in Manufacturing" conference featuring leading-edge technologies from top corporations | Press Releases

Starting with the Industrial Revolution and continuing through present day, manufacturers and factories have utilized machinery to perform repetitive tasks, usually with the goal of making something faster, more accurate and more profitable. In the modern world, these ‘machines' may be computers or computer controlled devices.

On Friday, Feb. 20, Fairfield University's School of Engineering will co-sponsor a conference that will bring together leaders from top engineering firms to talk about cutting edge manufacturing technologies and applications based on automation. "Automation in Manufacturing, Leading-edge Technologies and Applications," taking place in the Barone Campus Center's Oak Room from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will feature presentations, simulations, and displays of modern automation techniques from Siemens, National Instruments, Rockwell Automation, Festo, and Objet, among many other corporations. The event is open to professionals, faculty and students involved in all facets of automated manufacturing.

'Automation in Manufacturing' refers to the use of machines and programmable controls to aid in the planning, from the factory floor to the creation, production or distribution of goods. The study of it is a growing program in the School of Engineering.

Vagos Hadjimichael, Ph. D., dean of Fairfield's School of Engineering, said the conference will serve as an avenue for introducing the School's automation program to the manufacturing community. "This event will also be a way to learn from the manufacturing community the latest in instrumentation and applications. We can use the information gained from it for a better orientation of our program."

conference is co-sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT), Rockwell Automation, FESTO Didactic, Objet, OpStat, National Instruments, Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, Siemens and Delmia Automation.

Representatives of those corporations will join engineers from Sikorsky Aircraft, Northrop Grumman, Cisco, and others in making presentations that will highlight some modern automation techniques, from both hardware and software perspectives.

Conference topics include an overview of the impact of automation, both domestically and globally; computer-aided engineering/rapid prototyping; integration of design tools into automation tools; systems engineering in the aerospace industry; and manufacturing challenges in the United States. The keynote speaker at the conference will be Richard Morley who is considered the "father" of the Programming Logic Controls (PLC) technology, the most substantive component of automation in manufacturing.

The registration fee is $25, and an online registration form can be found at www.fairfield.edu/soe . Lunch is included. For more information about the School of Engineering, visit www.fairfield.edu/engineering or call (203) 254-4147.