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The TechBelt's National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute

Thursday, August 16, 2012 

Today in Youngstown it was announced that the proposal for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation pilot, titled the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute was selected as the winning proposal by the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce. 

This proposal was led by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing, headquartered in Latrobe, PA and it’s development included significant leadership from Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, Youngstown State University and many other regional partners. 

Earlier this year the White House summarized the planned efforts of the pilot with the following statement. 

“The Pilot Institute will focus on additive manufacturing and aims to demonstrate the value of collaborative problem-solving and asset-building that could occur on a broader scale if the Network were to be established. Additive manufacturing is the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer.  It has the potential to meet defense and energy challenges and support U.S. manufacturing companies of all sizes by minimizing the need for tooling, compressing the supply chain, and reducing waste—better enabling them to compete on the international stage”

The TechBelt Initiative will support the work of the Institute as it develops and positions the region for accelerated growth of this exciting manufacturing sector.

The TechBelt Initiative is a network of technology and innovation stakeholders who perceived the value of a collaboration to accelerate economic growth within the Northeast Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia region. The over 40 organizational members are broad-based, representing the region’s technology-related economic development organizations, foundations, researchers and chambers of commerce. 

Since its inception in 2008, TechBelt has been forging new industry and university partnerships, responding to competitive grant opportunities and connecting cross-state resources to attract new investment. 

The TechBelt Initiative demonstrates how communities can collaborate across geographic and political boundaries to foster shared economic opportunity and work together to implement solutions to enhance our competitiveness.

 

For more information contact: Rich Overmoyer or Jerry Paytas at 412-325-2457.


From the White House Office of Legislative Affairs:


We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Announces New Public-Private Partnership to Support Manufacturing Innovation, Encourage Investment in America

 

Consortium of Businesses, Universities, and Community Colleges from Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania Co-Invest with Federal Government in a Manufacturing Innovation Institute

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Following through on our We Can’t Wait efforts, the Obama Administration today announced the launch of a new public-private institute for manufacturing innovation in Youngstown, Ohio as part of its ongoing efforts to help revitalize American manufacturing and encourage companies to invest in the United States.  This new partnership, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), was selected through a competitive process, led by the Department of Defense, to award an initial $30 million in federal funding, matched by $40 million from the winning consortium, which includes manufacturing firms, universities, community colleges, and non-profit organizations from the Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia ‘Tech Belt.’ 

 

In order to create an economy built to last, America needs to make more things the rest of the world wants to buy.  After losing millions of good manufacturing jobs in the years before and during the deep recession, the economy has added over 530,000 manufacturing jobs since February 2010 —the strongest growth for any 30 month period since 1989. Companies are also increasingly choosing to invest in the U.S. and bring jobs back.  While there’s more work to be done, steps like today’s announcement build on this momentum.

 

“I’m pleased that we are taking steps to strengthen American manufacturing by launching a new manufacturing institute in Ohio,” said President Obama. “This institute will help make sure that the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow take root not in places like China or India, but right here in the United States of America.  That’s how we’ll put more people back to work and build an economy that lasts.” 

 

On March 9, 2012, President Obama announced his plan to invest $1 billion to catalyze a national network of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes around the country that would serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help to make our manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment in the United States.  The President called on Congress to act on this proposal and create the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). 

 

As part of his Administration’s We Can’t Wait initiative, President Obama also announced immediate steps to launch a pilot institute to serve as a proof-of concept for the NNMI.  Five federal agencies - the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce, the National Science Foundation, and NASA – jointly committed to invest $45 million in a pilot institute on additive manufacturing.  Today's announcement of an initial $30 million award under existing authorities is matched by $40 million from the winning consortium.

Youngstown, Ohio and the surrounding region knows what happens when manufacturing production declines. But in this area once known as the ‘rust belt’, investments like this new pilot institute demonstrate the potential within a region to bring together the capabilities of America’s companies and universities, in partnership with the federal government, to invest in the cutting-edge technologies and skills our manufacturers need to compete. With this initiative, Youngstown is poised to become the epicenter of burgeoning new industries from its leadership in additive manufacturing or 3-D printing. 

 

Director of the National Economic Council Gene B. Sperling,  Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca M. Blank and Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall along with other Administration and local officials, will announce the award at M7 Technologies in Youngstown, Ohio.  The winning consortium is led by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining and consists of leading research universities like Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve University, world-class companies like Honeywell, Boeing, and IBM, innovative small manufacturers like M7 and ExOne, and community colleges spread across Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania (see full list below).

 

The President’s proposal for a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation was endorsed by his Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee. The AMP’s final recommendations, released last month in the report Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing, outlined a set of actions to enable innovation, strengthen our workforce, and accelerate investment in America. 

 

The President’s proposal for a NNMI is part of his comprehensive plan to revitalize American manufacturing, which includes providing tax incentives to encourage manufacturers to invest in America, eliminating of tax breaks for manufacturing firms that ship jobs abroad, investing in community colleges and workforce training, supporting innovation in cross-cutting manufacturing technologies, investing in the 21st century infrastructure our manufacturers need, and leveling the playing field so American workers can compete on the merit of their hard work.

 

Background on the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute:

 

The NAMII will provide the innovation infrastructure needed to support new additive manufacturing technology and products in order to become a global center of excellence for additive manufacturing.  This pilot institute will bridge the gap between basic research and product development for additive manufacturing, provide shared assets to help companies, particularly small manufacturers, access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an environment to educate and train workers in advanced additive manufacturing skills. 

 

Additive manufacturing, often referred to as 3D printing, is a new way of making products and components from a digital model, and will have implications in a wide range of industries including defense, aerospace, automotive, and metals manufacturing. Like an office printer that puts 2D digital files on a piece of paper, a 3D printer creates components by depositing thin layers of material one after another using a digital blueprint until the exact component required has been created.  The Department of Defense envisions customizing parts on site for operational systems that would otherwise be expensive to make or ship.  The Department of Energy anticipates that additive processes would be able to save more than 50% energy use compared to today’s ‘subtractive’ manufacturing processes.

 

NAMII is led by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, and includes:

 

40 Companies:  Allegheny Technologies, AlphaMicron, Applied Systems and Technology Transfer, Autodesk, Boeing, Catalyst Connection, Energy Industries of Ohio, ExOne, FMW Composites, General Dynamics, General Electric, Honeywell, IBM, Johnson Controls, Kennametal, Kent Displays, Laser Technology Assts, Lockheed Martin, Lubrizol, M-7 Technologies, MicroFab Technologies, Morris, Northrop Grumman, nScrypt, OSRAM Sylvania, Optomec, Oxford Performance Materials, Paramount Industries / 3D Systems, Parker Hannifin, Plextronix, POM, RTI, Ruger, Sciaky, Stratasys, Stratonics, Timken, Touchstone Research Lab, Westinghouse Nuclear, Wohlers Associates

 

9 Research Universities: Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Lehigh University, Penn State University, Robert Morris University, University of Akron, University of Pittsburgh, Youngstown State University

 

5 Community Colleges: Eastern Gateway Community College, Lorain County Community College, Northampton Community College, Penn College of Technology, Westmoreland County Community College

11 Non-Profit Organizations: Association for Manufacturing Technology, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, JumpStart Ohio, Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, MT Connect, NorTech, National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Consortium, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Robert C. Byrd Institute, the Youngstown Business Incubator, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. 

From the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining:

NCDMM is Chosen to Manage National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII)

Latrobe, PA – August 16, 2012. Frank Kendall III, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Acquisition, today announced the NCDMM was selected to manage the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), the pilot institute for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI).

In March 2012, President Obama announced the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), with up to fifteen Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation located around the country. These institutes will bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and the states to accelerate innovation by investing in industrially relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications. Each Institute will bridge the gap between basic research and product development, provide shared assets to help companies – particularly small manufacturers – access cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an unparalleled environment to educate and train students and workers in advanced manufacturing skills. These Institutes will serve as regional hubs of manufacturing innovation, and will be known as world-class centers for applied research, technology incubation, and commercialization.

In addition, President Obama announced that immediate steps be taken to launch a pilot institute which will serve as a proof-of concept for the NNMI Institutes. To answer this call to action as part of the Administration’s We Can’t Wait efforts, an inter-agency team of technical experts was convened. The collaborative inter-agency team determined that the topic of Additive Manufacturing would garnish the most benefit for the defense, energy, space and commercial sectors of the nation and should be the area of concentration of the pilot institute. Additive Manufacturing, also commonly known as 3D printing, is an emerging and evolving manufacturing process that builds parts made of metal, plastic, ceramic and electronic parts using a layer-by-layer technique, precisely placing material as directed by a 3D digital file.

A competition for the pilot institute was launched through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in May. This BAA stipulated the proposals address criteria such as technical vision and scope, example collaborative applied research projects, technology transition plans, institute management and infrastructure, educational outreach and workforce development, and plans for sustainability of the institute. Proposal evaluations were led by an inter-agency advisory council of technical experts from the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Based on the evaluation process stated within the BAA, the advisory council selected the NCDMM to manage the pilot institute. This public-private partnership between NCDMM and the Government will be awarded as a cooperative agreement using $30M of federal funding and an additional $30M provided as cost share, mostly from industry and the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The NCDMM led proposal team which will form the nucleus of the NAMII organization and governance board, consists of numerous leading universities, community colleges, large and small manufacturers and economic development groups principally from the Western Pennsylvania, Northeast Ohio and Northern West Virginia region. This I-80/I-79 corridor with nearly 32,000 manufacturers, commonly known as the “TechBelt,” represents a smaller geographic area but larger manufacturing output with more combined average production workers per year (1.01 million) than the two largest manufacturing states (TX, CA). Specific organizations on the NCDMM Team include: Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris University, Robert C. Bird Institute at Marshall University, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, Lehigh University, Case Western Reserve University, Youngstown State University, University of Akron, Kent State, Westmoreland County Community College, Lorain County Community College, ExOne, Optomec, Stratasys, Sciaky, 3D Systems, nScript, Paramount Technologies, Morris Technologies, Thogus/RM&P, M7 Technologies, Autodesk, IBM, Timken, Kennametal, ATI, RTI, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Osram Sylvania, FMW Composite Systems, Touchstone, Parker Hannifin, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Association for Manufacturing Technology, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, NorTech, Youngstown Business Incubator, Fourth Economy, Wohlers Associates, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, JumpStart, numerous TechBelt small manufacturers and the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships of Ohio and PA.

“We are honored to be chosen to lead this significant effort and we look forward to addressing the challenge set forth by President Obama to help revitalize our nation’s manufacturing industry,” said Ralph Resnick, NCDMM President and Executive Director and Acting Director for NAMII, “NCDMM feels privileged to be part of such a high quality and comprehensive collaborative team. There was keen competition for the Institute from other high quality teams and we will be reaching out to these other national assets to assist our core team in meeting the mission of NAMII.” Mr. Resnick went on to say, ““For nearly a decade NCDMM has been delivering manufacturing innovation to the U.S. Defense Industry and we are enthusiastic about applying our successful, self sustaining model to the NAMII.”

 

About NCDMM

The NCDMM delivers optimized manufacturing solutions that enhance the quality, affordability, maintainability, and rapid deployment of existing and yet-to-be developed defense systems. This is accomplished through collaboration with government, industry, and academic organizations to promote the implementation of best practices to key stakeholders through the development and delivery of disciplined training, advanced technologies, and methodologies. For additional information, visit the NCDMM at www.ncdmm.org.


 

 

 

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