Welcome to the MTRC

The mission of the Machine Tool Research Center is to serve the discrete part manufacturing community. The overall focus of the faculty and students is improving the practicing engineer's ability to produce accurate components in a timely manner; this has important ramifications for both the private and defense sectors. Our approach is to perform fundamental research in support of this goal, while taking care to consider the practical implementation of our research efforts. Through this combined agenda, the center trains students from the high school to graduate levels to have strong analytical/numerical modeling capabilities coupled with good experimental techniques and data analysis skills.

While the historical focus of the MTRC has been macro-scale manufacturing applications, with the addition of new faculty and facilities, new activities in the micro- and nano-scale domains are underway. This multi-scale manufacturing approach matches the current climate within the industry which demands expertise at all length scales. We also recognize that manufacturing in the 21st century requires knowledge in many areas, including structural dynamics, optics and photonics, precision design, heat transfer, and metrology ('the science of measurement'), in order to develop process models and improve efficiency. An important example is the increased use of high-speed machining to produce discrete components in the aerospace, automotive, and biomedical industries from the micrometer to meter scales. This remains a cornerstone of our research efforts.

As you browse our site, we look forward to receiving your feedback, answering your questions, and learning how we can work together to improve global manufacturing capabilities.

Dr. Tony Schmitz
Machine Tool Research Center
University of Florida