LANDING, N. J. – U.S. Army officials from nearby Picatinny Arsenal lauded the opening of a new multipurpose facility here on July 19 as the type of partnership between industry, academia and government that would spur innovation and help to develop a highly skilled future workforce.
COMET, or the Collaborative Operationalized Manufacturing Engineering and Training facility, has 20,000 square feet of space for labs, event spaces, offices and other uses. COMET will also function as a satellite facility for development of Printed Electronics, Energetics, Materials, and Sensors (PEEMS) Technologies.
The initiative is a partnership consisting of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the New Jersey Innovation Institute, and two major organizations at Picatinny Arsenal: the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center, and the Joint Program Executive Office Armaments and Ammunition. Various other organizations were also involved in supporting the creation of COMET, such as the Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institutes.
“The challenges that we face as a nation are formidable, and therefore we must avail ourselves of every opportunity to form relationships in which we can tap into and nurture talent and ideas that would otherwise be unavailable to us,” said Chris J. Grassano, Director of the DEVCOM Armaments Center.
“This facility and the associated partnerships will expand the Army’s ability to evaluate and mitigate risks for advanced technologies, while developing the processes and procedures to make sure that we are always ahead of our adversaries,” Grassano added.
“By investing in the future of our engineers and fostering innovation, we are also contributing to the safety and effectiveness of our armed forces.”
Paul Manz, Chief Technology Officer, Joint Program Executive Office, Armaments and Ammunition, noted that COMET extends the state of New Jersey’s legacy of innovation and manufacturing.
“New Jersey, still to this day, is an innovation hub and muscle for this country for doing things, not just on the technology side, but also on the manufacturing side,” Manz added.
“The things that you have here for technology manufacturing and for workforce development --- you can’t have things happen without people who have understanding and knowledge who are pushing manufacturing forward --- are literally rebuilding the arsenal of democracy,” said Manz, who spoke on behalf of Maj. Gen. John T. Reim, Joint Program Executive Officer Armaments and Ammunition.
Stephen Luckowski, Program Manager, Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, noted that MII includes a network of more than 2,000 partners and universities, and has invested more than $1 billion in advanced manufacturing.
“It’s really critical for us (Office of Secretary of Defense) to have partnerships to extend the value of what we can do with commercial companies to build a healthy, resilient supply chain and build the workforce of the future. These are all things we have to do with partners.”
Luckowski said facilities like COMET are needed to train people where they have access to relevant manufacturing technologies, not just traditional classroom settings.
Other speakers at the COMET ribbon-cutting were Michael Johnson, President, New Jersey Innovation Institute; Atam P. Dhawan, Senior Vice President for Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology; and U.S. Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr., representing New Jersey’s 7th congressional district.
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