RICHMOND, VA, MAY 29, 2012 – The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) today announced the appointment of new officers to its board of directors. The appointments, made last week at CCAM’s annual meeting held in Richmond, ensure that global manufacturing expertise and insight continue to guide the organization’s growth as it increases membership, conducts initial research and prepares to open its 60,000 square-foot collaborative research center this fall in Prince George County.
The board unanimously elected the following from its membership to serve one-year terms as noted:
Armand F. Lauzon, Jr. – Chairman
Lauzon is CEO of Sequa Corporation, a global, diversified manufacturer serving the aerospace, metal coating and automotive industries. Sequa’s largest business unit, Chromalloy, is a CCAM Organizing Member. Chromalloy supplies technologically advanced repairs for turbine airfoils and other critical engine components. Lauzon’s advanced manufacturing career includes executive appointments at several companies across two continents. He holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from the University of New Haven.
Johan P. Israelsson – Vice Chairman
Israelsson is President, Market Area Americas, for Sandvik Coromant, a CCAM Organizing Member. Sandvik Coromant, based in Sweden, is the world’s leading supplier of tools, tooling solutions and know-how to the metal cutting industry. Israelsson was appointed US subsidiary president in 2006 and today is responsible for Sandvik Coromant’s business in both North and South America. Israelsson holds a BSME from Colorado State University and an MBA from Fordham University.
Ron Briggs – Treasurer
Briggs is Senior Vice President, Administration Group, for Canon Virginia. Canon Virginia, also a CCAM Organizing Member, produces new products for photography and printing, and it serves as a factory repair and refurbish center for Canon cameras, video recorders and office products. Briggs joined Canon in 1987, focusing most of his career on supply chain and logistics activities to support manufacturing operations. Briggs has a BBA degree from the College of William and Mary.
Keith Williamson – Secretary
Keith Williamson is Dean of the School of Engineering, Sciences and Technology at Virginia State University. Williamson’s research at VSU, a CCAM Organizing University Member, spans a range of topics involving materials and thermal sciences. Prior to joining academia, Williamson served as a naval architect and electronics engineer for the US Navy. He holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and a BSME from Bucknell University.
“Advanced manufacturing is a highly-skilled, hyper-competitive industry that constantly pushes its participants to improve,” said Lauzon. “CCAM brings an innovative solution to how businesses and universities perform cutting-edge research, and I am excited to assume a more direct leadership role in fulfilling CCAM’s game-changing potential.”
CCAM brings together best-in-class manufacturers with Virginia’s top engineering research and teaching institutions to perform collaborative advanced manufacturing research. It allows its member companies (including Canon Virginia; Chromalloy; Newport News Shipbuilding; Rolls Royce; Sandvik Coromant; Siemens; Sulzer Metco and Aerojet) to pool their R&D resources and tap the intellectual capacity of top researchers from the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech to address shared challenges. The result is an efficient and high-return research collaborative that will accelerate the transformation of laboratory ideas to bottom line benefits for CCAM’s members.
CCAM’s state-of-the-art facility, currently under construction in Prince George County, Virginia, will house computational and large-scale production labs, as well as open production space for heavy equipment and surface coating processes, including a thermal spray coating machine, a directed vapor deposition machine, integrated data acquisition systems and a thermal conductivity measurement system. It is scheduled to open in September 2012.
“CCAM’s growth as an organization is accelerating as our state-of-the-art research facility nears completion, key researchers join our team beginning in June and research projects underway at our partner universities now exceed $1.3 million,” said David Lohr,” CCAM’s president & executive director. “The board’s new officers ensure CCAM has the experienced manufacturing leadership that will keep us on track to execute our business plan and thereby strengthen the technological competitiveness of our member companies.”
About the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing
CCAM is a research-based collaboration between the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and manufacturing companies worldwide. Manufacturers join CCAM as members and guide research leveraging both university faculty and CCAM scientists in two focus areas: surface engineering and manufacturing systems. CCAM is building a 60,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility in Prince George County, Va., adjacent to Rolls-Royce’s jet engine components plant. For more information, visit www.ccam-va.com.
