Monthly Archives: September 2018

Bluewater Defense Hosts National Manufacturing Day Celebration

Tours of Army Combat Uniform Trouser production will show how manufacturing careers serve and support our Warfighters.

Bluewater Defense, Inc. (BWD) is celebrating National Manufacturing Day for the first time – an appreciation of what 12 million people around the United States demonstrate every day—pride in manufacturing products which improve the quality of life in the U.S. and around the world. The Company will be hosting a Manufacturing Day Celebration event to showcase modern apparel manufacturing technology and the rewarding careers in manufacturing on October 5, 2018 at 8:00 am, inviting local intermediate and high school students, technical schools, neighbors from Corozal Community, government agencies, and the PR Lions Club members.

The event will be held at Bluewater Defense’s Corozal, Puerto Rico manufacturing facility and will include informative presentations and an in-depth tour of BWD’s Corozal production area, where the large scale production of the Army Combat Uniform Trouser takes place. Participants will be exposed to the technology, automation and highly skilled operations needed to make 4,000 trousers every day.
The production supervisors, engineers and other staff members will explain the processes that occur in their stations from the fabric cutting process through sewing and final packaging. Students and community members will see the pride and care shared by each of the employees that goes into every stitch in making the combat uniforms to support those that defend our country.

October 5 marks the Manufacturing DaySM when thousands of manufacturers across the nation will host students, teachers, parents, job seekers and community leaders at open houses, plant tours and educational sessions to feature modern manufacturing and the vital jobs available. Organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Manufacturing Day provides a way for industry, schools, and government to collaborate and offer the public an opportunity to see how U.S. products are manufactured right in their own communities.

The collaborative events across the nation are powerful in educating the public about manufacturing and its rewarding, challenging careers and helping manufacturers throughout the U.S. connect with their communities and the next generation workforce.
About MANUFACTURING DAY 2018

Manufacturing Day is an annual national event, executed at the local level by more than 2,600 manufacturers across North America that host students, teachers, parents, job seekers and other local community members at open houses designed to showcase modern manufacturing technology and careers. More than 400,000 visitors participated in 2015. The official date for the annual event in 2018 is Oct. 5. A panel of co-producers including the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and guest producer Industrial Strength Marketing (ISM) provide the centralized support necessary to coordinate this nationwide array of simultaneous events.

ABOUT BLUEWATER DEFENSE
Bluewater Defense is a leading manufacturer of protective clothing, uniforms and equipage for the United States Department of Defense. With over 29 years of experience, the Company is dedicated to meeting the varying needs of their industry partners and the military through mass production, specialized custom and short run production, rapid prototyping, and a unique focus on innovation. Bluewater Defense is a Puerto Rico based company, currently operating with 600 employees in a five-building campus located in Corozal, Puerto Rico. www.bluewaterdefense.com.

Fiber Computing: The Next Industrial Revolution

The mission of Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) is to enable a manufacturing-based revolution—what we could call Industry 5.0—with the transformation of traditional fibers, yarns, and textiles into highly sophisticated integrated and networked devices and systems. In a recent conversation with Senior Editor Cary Sherburne, the organization’s Chief Marketing Officer, Eric Spackey, explains.

A member of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NMMI) Institutes, the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America(AFFOA) is a non-profit institute headquartered on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Its CEO, Dr. Yoel Fink, is also a professor and former Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Eric Spackey, its Chief Marketing Officer, is also the President & CEO of Bluewater Defense, a military apparel manufacturer located in Puerto Rico. They join other members of the leadership team in driving the development of fiber devices, one of the technologies the Obama Administration believed would be critical to the future of American fiber and textile manufacturing. AFFOA is partially funded by the U.S. Government, but has also raised almost $340 million in direct investment and cost-sharing contributions to ensure its work is carried on beyond the start-up stage.

“Most people don’t think of MIT as an institution involved with textiles,” Spackey said. “They did have a significant fiber and textile program at one time, given the proximity to powerhouse textile cities, such as Lowell and Lawrence, but during the 1960s the study of textiles was significantly reduced as the focus shifted towards bioengineering. Today, it is being revived in the form of new discoveries at MIT enabling the creation of ‘fiber devices.’ What this means is that at the fiber or thread scale, we can incorporate devices – you might even say the ability to process information like a computer—encased in the fiber and draw it as you would a normal fiber, putting it into fabric. This is the next generation of what fabric will look like.”… Read The Full Article Here

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