$148 million Detroit lightweight manufacturing center opens

DETROIT (AP) - The American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute has opened a $148 million, 100,000 square-foot center in Detroit.

The nonprofit institute says the center that opened Thursday will be called Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow, or LIFT.

The institute says the center "will facilitate partnerships among major research institutions and manufacturers to accelerate the transfer of new manufacturing technology from the research lab to the production floor."

The center will work with lightweight metals such as aluminum, magnesium and titanium. It also will work with advanced high-strength steel alloys and on new technologies to cast, heat treat, form, shape, join and coat them.

The institute was founded by the University of Michigan and Ohio State University, along with the Columbus, Ohio-based research and development group EWI.

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Online:

http://www.lift.technology