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Boeing VMC Boeing-Heath announced plans to establish a Virtual Manufacturing Center (VMC) at the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center.
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October 15, 2007 Project Announcement After today's approval of a $200,000 state grant, Boeing-Heath announced its plans to establish an interactive, real-time visualization system to be called the Virtual Manufacturing Center (VMC). The VMC will be located in an approximately 10,000 s.f. section of Boeing's existing Heath facilities leased from the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority. The virtual reality tool is seen as a quantum leap into a much brighter future for the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center. The $1.25 million VMC will create 10 new jobs and stabilize existing employment for Boeing in Heath. Project funding includes a $500,000 state-local incentive package. A $200,000 Rapid Outreach Grant through the Ohio Department of Development was approved unanimously by the State Controlling Board on Monday, October 15. The Port Authority will combine its funds with an untapped 2006 state planning grant for a total of $300,000 to purchase equipment for the VMC which will be added to Boeing's existing lease at zero cost to Boeing. Port Authority funding is provided under its Next Generation Fund program established by the Port Authority in 2005 to reinvest in building and equipment which serves as an incentive for its existing tenants to expand at the COATC. Port Authority Director Rick Platt credits Lt. Governor Lee Fisher and State Representative Jay Hottinger with making the project investment announcement a reality. "Without Lt. Governor Fisher's personal involvement, I'm not sure this project happens. Boeing was convinced of the project's extreme importance to Ohio because of Fisher's personal attention and the state-local incentive package, " Platt said. "Representative Hottinger championed this project with the State from the start and he stayed on it until the grant approval today." Hottinger is a member of the State Controlling Board which approved the state grant. The VMC will make Boeing-Heath more competitive by expanding its capabilities to inject technical and engineering data in to the manufacturing process in a very cutting edge way. Among its applications, the VMC can display engineering designs in virtual reality while technicians consider ways to improve the manufacturing process. In this system, one can have a real-time visual experience with prototype products that have not yet been produced. Platt sees another future use. "Boeing does over $4 billion a year in business in Ohio. The VMC could quickly become an aerospace product development mecca for the hundreds of Boeing suppliers in Ohio and the Midwest. This investment puts the Aerospace Center on the map in an unprecedented way."
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