Penn State Behrend is continuing to make progress on a new $21 million manufacturing facility.
 
Behrend officials met with elected leaders and other stakeholders Tuesday to provide an update on the project.
 
The 40 thousand square foot facility will be built in Knowledge Park. It will be known as the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness.
 
It will house the first heavy-haul battery testing facility in the nation.
 
"What Penn State has in its favor [is] not only the largest academic plastics lab in the nation, but we also have the talent that can understand the molecular level of characterization,"  Penn State Behrend Assistant Dean for Innovation and Corporate Strategies Amy Bridger said. "Those two things together actually set Erie apart, and they set Penn State Behrend apart.  It's one of the reasons why we are a location for the Center for Manufacturing and Competitiveness."
 
The new facility is part of the county's 10-year initiative known as Project Resolve, which aims to boost manufacturing while reducing plastic and waste pollution throughout the region.
 
"There is nowhere in any time in history where we would have been able to say that Erie County is a global leader in much of anything," said Erie County Executive Brenton Davis.  "We've staked that claim to fame definitively today.  We are laying down the gauntlet, and this is only the beginning.  As always, let's get to work."
 
Architecture firm Weber Murphy Fox hopes to finish the design process by the end of the year and begin construction next spring.
 
The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.