In Falls River, Massachusetts, a textile manufacturing company established nearly 200 years ago is championing “Made in the USA” by embracing the advanced manufacturing technology the U.S. needs to regain competitive advantage.
Charlie Merrow, CEO and 8th generation family member of the Merrow Manufacturing company, is collaborating with Pingbo Tang to optimize his company’s production lines.
“Factories aren’t relics. They’re extensions of the lab,” said Merrow. “When we connect research, universities, commercial problems, and production—we accelerate progress.”
In October 2024, a team of Carnegie Mellon University engineers and scientists led by Tang visited Merrow’s 300,000-square-foot facility to model their production processes with limited data. Their goal was to support business decision-making for using automation to scale up their manufacturing lines. The team visited the factory again in December 2025 to continue integrating human intelligence with artificial intelligence (AI). This was based on the previous work that has already helped the company identify opportunities to achieve a potential three-fold increase in their output of T-shirts they produce for the U.S. military.
