Wayne State University Prepares Engineers for the Future with the IntelliMake Laboratory

Wayne State University's College of Engineering provides students with hands-on experience in AI-focused manufacturing processes through the IntelliMake laboratory and digital automation courses created in partnership with Kyndryl.

Wayne State University engineering students learn to make manufacturing processes smarter and more efficient by working with technologies such as robots, conveyor systems, machine vision, and generative artificial intelligence. Operating as a pilot-scale factory and research center, IntelliMake is being developed in collaboration with Kyndryl.

Dr. Ratna Babu Chinnam, chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and co-director of IntelliMake, notes that approximately 75 percent of manufacturing jobs in Michigan will require upskilling due to artificial intelligence and automation. The state estimates that the adoption of responsible AI could generate up to $70 billion in economic impact and support 130,000 jobs.

Raj Sohmshetty, co-director of IntelliMake and instructor of the digital automation course, aims to combine classroom learning with laboratory work to enable students to develop manufacturing systems capable of responding to changing conditions. Through work in the laboratory, graduate Gokula Kumaran Kiruthiga Gopal secured a job as an AI engineer at Panasonic.

Working professionals who trained in the program, such as PHINA operations manager Sushant Lingras and Great Lakes Water Authority data analyst Derek Stringfellow, also state that they apply the knowledge they gained to automation processes in their workplaces.