Rock Island Arsenal has hired a new director in order to move the planning of a Quad-City Manufacturing Lab forward. The Quad-City Manufacturing Lab, developed by a consortium of Quad-City educators and business leaders, has hired Jim Sears of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. A native of Atkinson, Illinois, US, Mr Sears is the school’s director of additive manufacturing. Joining him is Pete Collins of Ohio State University. In early June, Mr Sears’ gathered together leaders of 60 North American companies in Moline, Illinois for a summit to discuss the plans for the proposed lab. The lab is designed to bolster manufacturing at the Arsenal by establishing the Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center as a world center of titanium manufacturing.