Advanced Manufacturing - Oak Ridge Economic Development Initiative

Innovation, Manufacturing, and Movement.

The Oak Ridge Technology Corridor is a place that brings the triple-threat advantage to companies who locate here.

When companies locate in Oak Ridge, they enjoy a privileged place in the advancement of new technologies. That part should be obvious. But the East Tennessee region also brings manufacturing and logistical advantages.

The automotive industry has long found a welcome home in East Tennessee. Along with advantageous adjacency to these manufacturers and their workforce, the nearby intersection of America’s two biggest interstate systems, I-40 and I-75, puts 50% of the U.S. population within a 9-hour drive.

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See what makes Oak Ridge a hub for both R&D and Manufacturing

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The Oak Ridge Corridor: No Better Place

Oak Ridge Advanced Manufacturing Advantages

Solving Industry Challenges

Oak Ridge is in the driver’s seat of solving many of the most challenging problems for automotive and other industries such as emissions reduction, cleaner fuels, and cheaper energy storage.

Oak Ridge Advanced Manufacturing Advantages

Supporting Nuclear

Few places support the nuclear industry like the Oak Ridge Innovation Corridor. Advanced manufacturers like ORTEC-AMETEK are manufacturing advanced systems to support this established industry that’s poised for growth as the world looks to clean energy solutions.

Oak Ridge Advanced Manufacturing Advantages

Strategically Located

Just minutes from both I-40 and I-75, goods and products flow cheaply and easily from Oak Ridge, Tennessee to all across the United States and beyond. McGhee Tyson Airport is a class C airport a half-hour away, and developments are underway to create a new general aviation airport on the West end of Oak Ridge.

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The Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

The Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF), established in 2013, is the Department of Energy’s only designated user facility for carbon fiber innovation. The CFTF, a 42,000 sq. ft. facility, provides a platform for identifying high-potential, low-cost raw materials, including textile, lignin, polymer, and hydrocarbon-based precursors. Using the CFTF, ORNL is developing optimal mechanical properties for carbon fiber material, focusing on structural properties and process optimization.

The facility, with its 390 ft. long processing line, is capable of custom unit operation configuration and has a capacity of up to 25 tons per year, allowing industry to validate conversion of its carbon fiber precursors at semi-production scale. The CFTF supports the technology development and commercial deployment of carbon fiber in the United States for use in clean energy applications. Additionally, research focuses on further understanding the kinetics of carbon fiber manufacturing, energy consumption, and environmental impact.

Across its energy science and technology user facilities, ORNL delivers breakthroughs from generation to distribution and storage to end use, accelerating America’s transformation to a clean, efficient, flexible, and secure energy future.