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 March 2012, President Obama announced a 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).

To create 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.

The NAMII is intended to provide the innovation infrastructure needed to support new additive manufacturing technology and products 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.

The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA-12-17-PKM) soliciting a recipient to establish the pilot institue noted that with the NAMII, the government anticipates advances could be made in the following areas:

• Process Development. Examples include:

  • Incorporation of in situ metrology, process controls, and non- destructive evaluation to measure and improve part quality and system performance.
  • Improved as-built geometric accuracy, surface finish, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance.
  • Improved build rates, manufacturing throughput, process reliability, and yield.
  • Hybrid material builds for integrated, multifunctional properties such as tailored stiffness, electrical conductivity or cooling passages.
  • Improved resolution of printed features; micron-scale printing to enable high-performance electronic components.
  • Fabrication methods requiring lower energy-intensity.
  • Advanced methods to qualify and certify additive manufacturing processes and products rapidly and affordably.

• Materials Research, for example:

  • Materials, part, and component characterization to better understand structure/process/property relationships, to exploit the greatest potential for additive manufactured parts.
  • Materials applied research as it pertains directly to improving multifunctional material properties for raw materials used in additive processes and for additive manufactured parts, such as thermal and/or electrical properties.

• Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise Methodologies, for example:

  • Enabling the rapid design and fabrication of current and future platforms through integration of digital product designs and manufacturing capability models.
  • Leveraging computational tools and techniques to realize innovative designs though additive manufacturing.
  • Predictive physics-based modeling to improve part quality.
  • Modeling and simulation of additive manufacturing processes to include the integration of processing information, non-destructive evaluation, and stress analysis into the design process.
  • Computational modeling of material property variabilities resulting from additive manufacturing process variabilities, contributing to the digital thread to enable a single computer based technical description of the product at any point within the life cycle.

• Open Architecture Development. E.g., Flexibility in raw materials, processing conditions settings, and utilization of open architecture machine control software that can be customizable for specific applications.

• Mobility and Logistics of Additive Manufacturing Networks. This could include development of robust processes to enable part production at remote locations for point of use and supply chain analysis for component distribution and logistics optimization.

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