In February of this year, President Obama announced that Michigan had won a competitive national bidding process to host the new, $148 million American Lightweight Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMII) created as part of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) initiative. This week, officials revealed that ALMII will be headquartered on Rosa Parks Boulevard in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood, utilizing a 107,000-square-foot facility that was vacated by Mexican Industries more than a decade ago.
A public-private partnership led by the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Ohio-based manufacturing technology nonprofit EWI, and the U.S. Department of Defense. The institute will receive $70 million in federal funding over five years and will concentrate on innovations in lightweight materials—high-strength steel, aluminum, titanium, and magnesium—for land, sea, and air vehicle applications.