TROY ? Automation Alley won a $2 million appropriation from Congress to work with the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center to work with Southeast Michigan automakers that will make parts no longer in production, but needed to maintain more than 3,000 weapons systems.

Approved by Congress and signed Wednesday by President Bush, the $2 million appropriation, known as the Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages Case Resolution Program, will be coordinated out of Macomb County.

?We are proud to bring this opportunity to Michigan businesses and look forward to working with TARDEC on its significant parts obsolescence problem,? said Ken Rogers, executive director, Automation Alley. ?Not only will this project help the military, it?s sure to help Michigan companies find new opportunities to showcase their high-tech capabilities while ensuring long-term stability by diversifying outside the automotive industry.?

The DMSMS program is part of an appropriation to the Army in the recently passed Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2008. With bipartisan support from Senators Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Representatives Sander Levin, D-Mich., Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., and Candice Miller, R-Mich., the program promises to help the Army by providing it the resources needed to secure high-quality sources for advanced-manufactured parts. Additionally, by placing the DMSMS program in Southeast Michigan, the Army has access to some of the nation?s top automotive suppliers, many of whom have the extra capacity needed to fill these orders.

?This funding will help the Army provide improved obsolescence support for weapons systems supporting the Global War on terrorism,? said Randal C. Gaereminck, associate director, engineering business group, TARDEC.

?By serving as a bridge between government and business, we can facilitate real solutions to the complex issues faced by the Army as well as Southeast Michigan,? said Tom Anderson, senior director, entrepreneurship, Automation Alley. ?Through our partnership with TARDEC, we?re providing new avenues for businesses in our region to achieve success, maintain employment and build the relationships needed to spur future innovations.?

Automation Alley and TARDEC have a history of cooperation. Since 2002, the two organizations have forged strong, mutually beneficial bonds that continue helping both the Army and Southeast Michigan. Automation Alley operates under a formal Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) and through TARDEC?s Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) helps companies gain access to apply for seed funds for technology commercialization in dual-use and homeland defense technology. This early stage commercialization funding represents a difficult but critically needed type of technology business development funding.

Automation Alley plans to house the DMSMS project at a Delphi Corp. leased laboratory facility in Shelby Township. Delphi, currently restructuring under bankruptcy laws, announced plans in early 2007 to dispose of certain assets by 2008, including this 56,000 square foot facility.

Concurrently, discussions are underway with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN, one of the premier national Department of Energy laboratories to use part of that former Delphi facility as an Automotive Research and Development Center. A mission of the Center would be pre-competitive, collaborative research and development amongst automotive suppliers with the DOE. The effort, known as USAutoPARTs, presents an opportunity for Southeast Michigan to redeploy a major research facility.

The name USAutoPARTs embodies the goal of the project: improving the competitiveness of Michigan?s advanced automotive companies. This will be accomplished in two ways: through pre-competitive and collaborative research in partnership with federal laboratories, and through assisting TARDEC in finding resolution to its high-level DMSMS cases that require reverse engineering and first article testing.

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