Audience Opinion Piece

Learn more about Marcel, a leader in South Carolina's manufacturing and tech scene, before he takes the stage in Greenville on April 23, 2025. Marcel oversees all of Fraunhofer USA's activities in SC and coordinates the SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance, for Fraunhofer USA.

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‍How long have you been in your current role and what do you enjoy the most about it?
3.5 years, also the time I’ve been in SC. I enjoy the fact that with this cash-match program I really have an impact on manufacturing in the state. The innovation we bring to companies plays an important role to keep SC manufacturing strong.

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In today's rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape, what do you think are the most pressing challenges that manufacturers are facing?
Workforce (in all its aspects) and change management. The technology is there and it’s ready. It is everything around that is still struggling with the tech adoption.

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When addressing these challenges, what steps do you think manufacturers can take to secure some quick wins?

- Create a culture of innovation (before rolling out the innovation).
- Create reasonable goals and verify their feasibility.
- Don’t follow the shiny object. Request help from honest and truthful experts.

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Can you share a specific case study where you have helped a manufacturer achieve a significant improvement in productivity, efficiency, or sustainability?
The SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance program has helped an SME with their investment in innovation by having the state cover 50% of the project cost. The cost savings for this client as a result of this project are roughly $300K per month(!).

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What role does data play in your role and/or solution? How do you help manufacturers leverage data to gain valuable insights and make data-driven decisions?
Just one example: Many companies struggle with training data for leveraging AI-based solutions. Oftentimes the amount of training data just isn’t enough or it’s not the right data. We help manufacturers by artificially creating enough, and more importantly creating the right training data to simulate actual edge cases on the manufacturing floor. With this training data, the AI model is well equipped for whatever its task is. After all, a well-trained AI model prevents manufacturers from a bad awakening after rolling out an AI project.

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What emerging technologies are you most excited about in the context of manufacturing, and how are you integrating them into your solutions?
I firmly believe that we are getting more and more clarity on what LLMs can and what they can’t help manufacturing with.

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How does your company contribute to the development of a skilled workforce in the manufacturing sector, ensuring that employees have the necessary skills to thrive in this digital age?
Projects within the SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance program not only involve the experts at Fraunhofer but always also faculty and students from a local university. Therewith we are not only informing the university of what the industry really needs, but we are also preparing the students for ‘the real world’. Oftentimes students involved in these projects become the future hires for the company they worked with.

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Why do you support the 4^th MX.0 Southeast event and what are you hoping to take away from the conference?
The concept of ‘from manufacturers for manufacturers’ makes this conference special. I haven’t seen such an open knowledge exchange discussion between manufacturers on any other conference yet. I’m hoping that this will also help manufacturers understand that they shouldn’t simply follow the shiny object, but elaborate their case first, then identify and seek advice from the real AI/digitization experts.

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