LCCC AND RAPID PROTOTYPING+MANUFACTURING PART
OF NATIONAL PILOT FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
(Youngstown, Ohio) Two Lorain County entities were named partners in the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Pilot Center announced today by the White House. 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 to award an initial $30 million in federal funding, matched by $40 million from the winning consortium. The proposal was led by the National Center for Defense Machining and Manufacturing, headquartered in LaTrobe, PA and included significant leadership from Lorain County Community College, Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, Youngstown State University and as well as a network of private and public partners.
“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.”
Earlier this year, the White House summarized the planned efforts of the pilot as focusing on additive manufacturing. 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 and revolutionize the way manufacturing is done.
“Lorain County’s economic heritage is built on manufacturing,” commented Dr. Roy Church, President of Lorain County Community College. “This pilot builds on this strength by adopting emerging technologies to transform the way products are designed and built, keeping us competitive in the global environment.”
Lorain County Community College’s Richard Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems will serve as a prime hub in the pilot for helping companies and technologies accelerate commercialization, penetrate new markets and create jobs. The Desich SMART Center will help package and test sensors found in additive manufacturing systems, materials and products.
“The Desich SMART Center positions our community as an essential resource for companies across the Techbelt region and the country,” said Church. “This Center has the potential to be an economic driver for this community. Companies involved in this effort will come here to access this resource and see Lorain County’s unique support system to help them grow causing some to stay here and grow good jobs here.” Lorain County Community College’s Fab Lab also supports the additive manufacturing industry with 3D printing capabilities open to the public and industry.
Rapid Prototyping+Manufacturing (rp+m) (Avon Lake, Ohio) is an industry leader in Ohio and the country in fostering the growth of additive manufacturing technologies. rp+m, a sister company of Thogus Products, helps companies large and small develop new products in new materials through the use of additive manufacturing technologies. Thogus and rp+m will serve as a key resource of the supplier base for emerging additive manufacturing technologies.
“Additive Manufacturing allows our engineers and designers to build parts for companies and entrepreneurs that could not be fabricated as a single part by any other manufacturing method,” said Matt Hlavin, President of Thogus Products. Rp+m’s vision is to continually expand capabilities by researching and purchasing new technologies, developing new materials, getting involved in new industry markets, and fostering education for the youth.
“This pilot, right here in northeast Ohio, reinforces our vision of creating ‘a new way to innovate. This is an exciting opportunity for the region, Ohio and for our company,” Hlavin said.
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, Thogus, Timken, Touchstone Research Lab, Westinghouse Nuclear, Wohlers Associates
- Nine 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
- Five Community Colleges: Eastern Gateway Community College, Lorain County Community College, Northampton Community College, Penn College of Technology, Westmoreland County Community College
- Eleven 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.