Oakland University, Automation Alley Launch Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence
Posted By: DBUSINESS on August 4, 2026. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
Oakland University in Rochester and Automation Alley in Troy today announced the launch of the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence, a new collaboration that brings together the university’s engineering research, student talent, and Automation Alley’s industry network to accelerate advanced manufacturing innovation.
The new center is located at 2871 Research Drive in Rochester Hills, two miles from Oakland University’s main campus. It will become the new home of Automation Alley’s Project DIAMOnD Digital Transformation Center — a hands-on facility where manufacturers can test new technologies, develop additive manufacturing applications and receive technical support and training to accelerate digital transformation.
The Project DIAMOnD Digital Transformation Center first opened in Troy in 2024.
Moving our Digital Transformation Center into this facility is more than a change of address,” says Pavan Muzumdar, CEO of Project DIAMOnD. “It places our distributed manufacturing network next to the research that will define the next era of smart product recipes and metal additive manufacturing.”
The center is a collaboration between Oakland University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, and Automation Alley.
“Innovation in advanced manufacturing happens fastest when academia and industry stop working in parallel and start working together,” says Tom Kelly, executive director and CEO of Automation Alley. “This center formalizes that partnership. It gives our members and the broader ecosystem a place where the capabilities of a great engineering college and the reach of the Project DIAMOnD network come together in one location, in service of manufacturing across Michigan and the nation.”
The center is designed to foster collaboration among researchers, students, and manufacturers so that research moves more quickly into real-world applications.
“This collaboration gives our faculty and students a place to work shoulder to shoulder with industry on problems that matter,” says Louay Chamra, dean of the Oakland University School of Engineering and Computer Science. “The location, between the campus and the plant floor, is exactly where the next generation of manufacturing talent and research should be developed.”
As the center develops, Oakland University and Automation Alley say they announce new research initiatives, workforce development programs, industry partnerships, and opportunities for manufacturers to engage with the facility. The organizations say they expect the center to become a hub for innovation, collaboration, and advanced manufacturing throughout Michigan and beyond.
“Oakland County launched Project DIAMOnD in partnership with Automation Alley because we believed a distributed manufacturing network would make our small and medium-sized manufacturers more competitive and more resilient,” says Oakland County Executive David Coulter. “This center is the next chapter of that work. Bringing Oakland University’s research strength together with Automation Alley’s network under one roof creates new opportunities for our manufacturers, our workforce and the students who will build the next generation of this region’s economy.”
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