Wichita State University and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world's leading management consulting firms, have entered into a strategic partnership to increase collaboration and advance the Wichita manufacturing industry.

The partnership allows Wichita State to gain access to BCG's expertise and thought leadership on digital operations, and for BCG to benefit from the extensive advanced manufacturing resources at WSU.

One of the areas of focus will be the university's new 3DExperience Center, where leading-edge technology such as immersive visualization, additive manufacturing and robotics will be deployed to develop advanced product development and manufacturing methods. The center is set to open on campus on in the Experiential Engineering Building on Thursday, April 27.

Many of the technologies used in the 3DExperience Center are also used in BCG's Innovation Center for Operations, a network of model factories offered by BCG in collaboration with leading vendors.

The model factories allow clients to experiment and assess advanced manufacturing technologies, such as collaborative robots, 3D printing, augmented reality and big data and analytics (also known as "Industry 4.0" solutions) to increase companies' competitive advantage through improved productivity, quality, flexibility and speed.