Photo of Andrew Friend. Click for large version.

Andrew J. Friend

Industry I4.0: System Integration

515-520-2803afriend@iastate.edu Economic Development Core Facility
1805 Collaboration Place, Suite 2300
Ames, IA  50010 

Expertise

Automation
Industry 4.0

Education

Certified Automation Professional, 2016
MS, Mechanical Engineering, Biorenewable Resources & Technology, Iowa State University, 2013
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Dordt College, 2009

Experience

Andrew is a liaison between Iowa manufacturers and the RAPID institute, which strives to make chemical manufacturers more efficient and lean through the principles of process intensification. He seeks to connect Iowa manufacturers with RAPID and the 13 other Manufacturing USA institutes, in order to keep Iowa competitive in areas such as chemical manufacturing, robotics, digital manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and other advanced manufacturing topics.

In addition to CIRAS, Andrew works as a senior automation engineer for the Bioeconomy Institute (BEI) at Iowa State University. Andrew is intimately familiar with industrial control systems, having designed, built, programmed, and maintained them for eight years while at BEI. His holisticnd modular approach to the design and operation of process control and data acquisition systems has helped cement BEI’s position as a leader in the bioeconomy revolution. He continues to use his extensive experience in process control and data collection to assist Iowa manufacturers in automation-related topics.
Serving CIRAS from 2017.