Craig Blue, pictured with Energy Sec. Chris Wright, was recently named an ORNL Corporate Fellow. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
A self-described “builder at heart,” Craig Blue has built many things over his storied career: the concept and realization of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF), strong teams of experts and a reputation as a leader, no matter his location or science area.
Blue was recently named an ORNL Corporate Fellow, the highest recognition for members of the ORNL research staff. The fellowship is one of many accolades for ORNL’s chief manufacturing officer and defense manufacturing program director. Blue’s progression through increasingly impactful roles at ORNL mirrors the lab’s rise to recognition as an advanced manufacturing leader, beginning in 1995 with his postdoctoral fellowship, during which he developed ORNL’s first additive manufacturing machine and infrared processing capability.
Blue chats below about his prolific career, building things, and his desire to grow the next generation of U.S. manufacturers.
Q: Congratulations on the Corporate Fellowship! What does the recognition mean for you?
The thing that's most exciting about this is further opening the door for manufacturing science, manufacturing engineering, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and for the young people who are a beacon to our evolving manufacturing front. I'm more excited about that and the fact that it's peaking. If I have anything to say about it, we're going to mentor young people such that we end up with half a dozen Corporate Fellows.
Q: You’ve been at ORNL for 30 years. What has your path to today’s success looked like?
When I came to the lab in 1995, I started in the Metals and Ceramics Division, which at the time was a cross-disciplinary division. It included both fundamental science and engineering, the applied science and was well known for taking science to impactful applications. I rose through the research ranks and became the deputy division director for the newly formed Material Science and Technology Division. I helped stand up that division and it merged Metals and Ceramics Division with Condensed Matter Physics Division. Again, there was the theme of bringing together people with different backgrounds and disciplines.
In 2004, I pitched an advanced materials and manufacturing center, which ultimately became the MDF. I studied all the international public-private partnerships, including the Fraunhofer in Germany, SEMATECH (from Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) and the Edison Welding Institute.
For the MDF, we developed a new model that would take the pulse from industry on their greatest manufacturing challenges and bring the right talent to address it. Today, co-located within the MDF, you have the world's best material scientists, manufacturing engineers, machinists and software developers.
The MDF is still evolving. We've taken the basic model, a fertile ground for rapid innovation, and it's evolved to add things such as America's Cutting Edge, a national machinist training program.
Q: Looking at the ORNL research landscape, the MDF is certainly unique compared to fundamental science laboratories and facilities. How does it fit in with the broader laboratory strategy?
Recall, Oak Ridge was originally put here to take concept to reality. We made the first graphite reactor in nine months.
I'd like to think the MDF is reaching back into the roots of ORNL. A lot of the core focus in manufacturing really comes from our roots. When you look at additive manufacturing, you have to have computation, fundamental understanding of advanced materials characterization and data analytics.
It's about leveraging those key pieces.
Q: How do you attribute the success of advanced manufacturing at ORNL?
At the end of the day, it's all about the people and the team. We're either mentoring and bringing people along or we're recruiting people. We're looking for people who are focused on the bigger picture and are looking to have impact for this country.
I think the strength of the MDF is the ecosystem that we've really brought together where you can take technical experts and plug them into the bigger vision with a common goal and purpose. We're always looking for good people who want to pull in the same direction.
Q: What advice do you give to aspiring leaders like the ones you’re mentoring?
I always say everybody's smart. Listen to them. You never know who's going to have that next great idea. We're doing things today that I never thought we would have done. We've created this environment where people feel free to speak their mind. No idea is a crazy idea.
Trust is a very important thing. Business moves at the speed of trust — so does our integrated research.
Q: You’ve accomplished a lot in the last 30 years. What’s next for you?
My docket over the next one to three years is bringing people along to step into critical roles. I'm very comfortable with breaking new ground, working side by side with people, and then handing the reins to someone else. And then I'm moving on so we can build again, and we build again and then we'll recruit people to ensure we deliver. It's a cycle.
ORNL is such a unique environment. Our capabilities allow us to stand alone in terms of what we have to deliver for the greatest needs for this country.
Q: Do you have time to do anything for fun?
I'm big into woodworking now. A lot of times at work it takes months or years to see the results of your work. But when you take a piece of wood that looks ugly, run it through a plane and it comes out the back changed, there’s instant gratification. I'm a builder at heart.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.
