Institute to play a pivotal role through piloting standardization and education and workforce development programs
YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – White House and President Biden today announced the AM Forward program, a voluntary agreement between America Makes members GE Aviation, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Siemens Energy, designed to improve the competitiveness of America’s small and medium sized manufacturers, and strengthen the manufacturing workforce and domestic supply chain through additive manufacturing (AM). The program will include America Makes working closely with the participants and U.S. government to develop standardization and workforce development programs that help further the adoption of AM throughout the U.S. supply chain.
“We are honored to be a part of this new initiative launched today by the White House,” stated America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski. “As America Makes continues to build the foundation for the acceleration of additive manufacturing, the AM Forward program represents a proof of concept for the original vision of the institute – to utilize the public-private partnership model in collaboration with private sector innovation to propel advanced manufacturing industries forward. We look forward to working to engage our membership as the program evolves.”
AM Forward builds upon the foundation created across the Manufacturing USA network, specifically America Makes, the Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute dedicated to additive manufacturing. Created in 2012 by the White House as the first Manufacturing USA Institute, America Makes has worked over the last ten years to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing through successfully implementing programs that advance additive technology, develop common standards, and train the current and future workforce to help close the skills gap.
Since its inception, the institute has engaged the additive community on close to 200 projects to help accelerate additive technology, regional partners across the country to develop additive ecosystems, and over 65,000 participants education and workforce development initiatives.
###
About America Makes
America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education. America Makes members from industry, academia, government, workforce and economic development organizations, work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. Founded in 2012 as the Department of Defense’s national manufacturing innovation institute for AM and first of the Manufacturing USA network, America Makes is based in Youngstown, Ohio and managed by the not-for-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). Visit americamakes.us to learn more.
