Sep.27, 2012

The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) in Youngstown, Ohio, will open its doors today. NCDMM is hosting an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the $70 million National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) facility from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) Annex, 236 Boardman Street, Youngstown, OH 44503.

NAMII is the pilot institute for revitalizing American manufacturing and will bring together 65 colleges, universities, private companies and nonprofit organizations to vastly improve additive manufacturing.

What will happen at the advanced manufacturing hub and what it means for both Youngstown and American manufacturing? According to a local website, it signals a coming shift in the industry.

The machines require far fewer workers, they use far less material, and it takes less time to manufacture parts. If the technology is further developed, mass production and labor would no longer be the linchpin of successful manufacturing — the technology has the ability to give American manufacturing greater dominance.

With a history rich in manufacturing, Youngstown was selected to be the home of NAMII because it remains the geographic center of a regional manufacturing cluster within the Eastern Ohio / Western Pennsylvania / West Virginia "Tech Belt" region.

For Youngstown and the TechBelt region, the consortium's benefit will be in workforce training, retaining high-tech jobs, hands-on education at regional universities and a trickle effect that could find prominent companies such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin coming to the area if the consortium's research catches on.

 

"The goal is to take the technology from where it is today to a level where it can be more easily incorporated and it is more widely used and economically advantageous," said Martin Abraham, dean of the STEM college at Youngstown State University, referring to the consortium's mission.

 

"We want to ground the technology and make it more ubiquitous."

rp + m, a company in Ohio got an order for 200 retaining clips. With traditional methods it would take about eight weeks. Engineers at rp + m designed 3D models using computer and it took only one day to print them out on 3D printers.

"Where China can't compete with domestic suppliers -- especially the ones in your own backyard like some of the NAMII partners -- is speed to market," said Jim Bednar, sales manager at rp + m.

 

Source: vindy

 

Posted in 3D Printing Events

 

 

 

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