Manufacturing Lab at CU-ICAR
Welcome to the research group site of Dr. Laine Mears in Clemson University's Automotive Engineering Department. The group is located at the Clemson University - International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), a 250-acre academia+industry research campus in Greenville, SC, USA.
The lab’s research covers physical modeling of manufacturing processes, particularly error sources in machining, and application of these models to state estimation and process control. The application area is in the sensing and use of available information in manufacturing processes to improve time and quality consistency, particularly for lightweight and energy-efficient materials used in the automotive industry. The goal is to enable the cost-efficient use of these materials for reduced energy consumption in vehicle service. Models of process physics are developed and incorporated directly to machine control, and alternative processes and control systems are designed, modeled and prototyped.
Prior to coming to Clemson, Dr. Mears worked 7 years for a global bearing manufacturer and 4 years for a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer. This industrial experience includes machine, tooling and control system design for high-volume automotive component manufacturing. Specific process experience includes injection molding, cold ring rolling, precision grinding, superfinishing, coil winding, and different types of non-destructive testing process design. Dr. Mears also worked on setup time reduction and process optimization through lean manufacturing analysis. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, and is currently training in the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program.
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