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Nourredine Boubekri
Nourredine Boubekri

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News Release

Contact: Joe King, Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-4299

March 7, 2005

NIU and Ingersoll Cutting Tools
partner to study “green manufacturing”

DeKALB , IL – The Manufacturing Systems Research Group of the Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology announced today that it has partnered with Ingersoll Cutting Tools Corp. to study the effectiveness of dry and semi-dry machining and reduce the use of metal working fluids.

More than 100 million gallons of metal working fluids are used in the United States each year, exposing about 1.2 million employees to potential health hazards. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, such exposure may result in a variety of respiratory disorders, including asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis and also may cause conditions such as dermatitis and cancer.

The research, which is being directed by Professor Nourredine Boubekri, is of particular importance in Illinois , where metal-cutting industries account for about 37 percent of the state's manufacturing sector, but also could have implications in the metal-cutting industry worldwide.

“The potential reduction of health hazards makes this project unique, even special, to Ingersoll” said Don Yordy, Ingersoll die/mold product manager. “In addition, Dr. Boubekri's projects will help us in our ongoing efforts to improve our products and processes to benefit our customers.”

Under the partnership, NIU researchers will benefit from the use of Ingersoll's tools and facilities as they explore ways to design and build new tooling technologies and determine feasible conditions for dry and semi-dry machining a variety of materials that normally require flood cooling.

Boubekri has been doing research in this area for some time and his work is funded in part by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. This new partnership with Ingersoll formalizes a collaborative relationship that Boubekri has had with Ingersoll for the past two years. Boubekri also has been working in recent months to form a group on the NIU campus comprised of faculty and students from engineering, physics and mathematics to collaborate on ways to improve “green manufacturing” technology, particularly in the metal cutting industry.

“The future looks very bright in this area as the whole industry is searching for new tooling technologies and machining processes that are economical and environmentally friendly,” Boubekri said. “Our collaboration with Ingersoll Cutting Tools, a world leader in this field, provides us with the necessary partnership to be able to lead this type of research and make a difference.”

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