MT Magazine September/October 2022

FEATURE STORY

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022

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things in the United States. “There has always been a focus on manufacturing in the Department of Defense,” she says, and there was a big boost given to manufacturing during the Obama administration when the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation was established. This organization includes industry, academia, and federal and state governments, with the objective of advancing U.S. technological leadership in a variety of fields. Nine institutes were established during that administration: • America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (Youngstown, Ohio) • Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (Chicago, Illinois) • Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (Detroit, Michigan) • Power America (Raleigh, North Carolina) • Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (Knoxville, Tennessee) • American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (Rochester, New York) • Next Flex, the Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute (San Jose, California) • Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (Cambridge, Massachusetts) • Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (Los Angeles, California) Since then, there have been the addition of: • Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) • BioFab USA (Manchester, New Hampshire) • Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem (St.

Paul, Minnesota) • The Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (San Antonio, Texas) • The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (Newark, Delaware) • Reducing Embodied-energy and Decreasing Emissions (Rochester, New York) • Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute (New York, New York) Each of these is meant to advance the capabilities of not only large corporations, Thomas explains, but to help small companies get a handle on emerging technologies and a workforce that can help with their deployment. Thomas says that the Trump administration “came out with a strategy for technological dominance around the world and for national security that included a list of critical technologies.” Advanced manufacturing was part of that list. “The Biden administration updated the list and broke down the items into specific categories,” Thomas adds. There are 19 “critical and emerging technologies” (CETs) on the list, ranging from advanced computing to space technologies and systems. The advanced manufacturing CET is subdivided into: • Additive manufacturing • Clean, sustainable manufacturing

• Smart manufacturing • Nanomanufacturing

Regarding how the White House and Congress perceives manufacturing, Thomas says, “This is one area where you have bipartisan support. How you go about strengthening