In response to today's announcement by the President of the United States regarding the awarding of funding under the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation Institute (LM3I) initiative to the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute (ALMMII), ABS Chairman and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki issued the following statement: 

ABS is consistently focused on identifying novel and innovative concepts that aid the marine and offshore industries in improving the design, construction and maintenance of their assets. The institute is a natural avenue to leverage ongoing ABS technology development in next-generation materials, metals and joining technologies. We are proud to be members of ALMMII and are thankful for the trust placed upon the team by the US government.

The mission of the ALMMII will be to develop the application of innovative, lightweight metal production and component/subsystem manufacturing technologies to aid the US in becoming a global leader in these new technologies. The institute will have a particular focus on technologies that assist multiple modes of transportation - aviation, land transport and marine.

A key area of focus for the ALMMII is streamlining the often lengthy process for material certification. ABS will take a leadership role at the early stage of technology development in order to identify the optimal path for testing and certification of new materials and manufacturing concepts, with a particular focus on both commercial marine and US Navy requirements.