6
Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL
MANUFACTURING
AMIIC Celebrates with a Ribbon Cutting for Its Workforce Development Hub Many area luminaries and civic leaders, along with those from the neighboring Huntsville and Madison communities, were on hand to celebrate the official opening and ribbon cutting for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center’s (AMIIC) new facility and lab. Greg Brown, Chairman Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Co-CEO & CFO of Brown Precision, Inc. led the event by praising AMIIC and the technologies that they will be providing to help develop a mission-ready, modernized workforce for Huntsville, Madison, and the entire North Alabama region. “AMIIC was established to accelerate the adoption of state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and support building the North Alabama workforce of tomorrow,” said Brown. “AMIIC will work to stimulate Alabama’s economy, workforce, and advanced manufacturing sector through its state-of-the-art demonstration facility, where we’re at today.” Among those in attendance were Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, and Madison County Commissioner Chairman Dale Strong; Huntsville City Council members Jenny Robinson and Frances Akridge; County Commissioners representing Madi-
Pictured from L to R: UAH Interim President Dr. Chuck Karr, Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, AMIIC Executive Director John Schmitt, Drake State President Dr. Pat Simms, Madison County Commission Chair Dale Strong, HSV/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Chairman Greg Brown
son and Limestone Counties; Alabama State Senator Sam Givhan; representatives for Congressman Robert Aderholt, US Senator Tommy Tuberville, and US Congressman Mo Brooks. From the academia sector were Dr. Chuck Karr, interim President for The University of Alabama in Huntsville; Matt Massey, representing Alabama School of Cybertechnology and Engineering; Dr. Jimmy Hodges, interim President at Calhoun Community College; Dr. Pat Simms, President of Drake State, and Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri, Associate Vice President for the Aerospace Center at The University of Texas, El Paso. Members from the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) Executive Leadership team were also on hand to celebrate the historical event. “Thank you all for being here. I’ll be honest, I’m blown away, we are absolutely humbled by your presence and your support,” said John Schmitt, AMIIC’s Executive Director. “What a testament to how this community shows up for each other, it’s truly astounding.” Schmitt, having served in his role since last April, is charged with overseeing the strategic planning and operations, providing leadership and direction to the advisory board and board of directors, as well as working to establish AMIIC as a Regional recognized Advanced Manufacturing
center of excellence in North Alabama. “As we’ve had this opportunity and the privilege to work on AMIIC as a project for our community, we re-
By Lori J. Connors Photos by Lori J. Connors
ally got a chance to see how special North Alabama and Huntsville really are,” said Schmitt. “But we wouldn’t doing our job and setting out what we’re doing if we didn’t do it within context. And that’s the context of our personal and professional lives, the shifting demographics of our workforce, and the incredible growth of our region. “There are often conversations across our community about the power that can be harnessed when government, business, community, industry, and education all collaborate,” said Dr. Pat Simms, President of Drake State. “This facility is a shining example of what that looks like. This is how we meet our statewide goals of putting 500,000 skilled, reliable workers into Alabama’s workforce by 2025.” w
