NNMI Pilot for Additive Manufacturing Planned for Youngstown

A new pilot institute for manufacturing innovation will be established in Youngstown, Ohio, and will focus on additive manufacturing, announced the Commerce Department. The institute will form part of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), announced in March, which will consist of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes around the country to be regional hubs of manufacturing excellence.

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, Commerce said.

The NAMII 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, Commerce said.

(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. 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.)

(See ITT’s Online Archives 12031224 for summary of President Obama’s March announcement of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation initiative.)