America Makes marks 10 years promoting additive manufacturing

Ten years ago, the White House announced a new initiative, one that aimed to establish centers of excellence in different areas of manufacturing across the country.

The first of these consortia was the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, now known as America Makes. In its first decade, the institute has helped move the technology of additive manufacturing forward, as well as put Northeast Ohio on the map as a place of expertise for the field.

Additive manufacturing, including 3D printing, combines layers of material together to form a part, as opposed to traditional manufacturing methods that may cut or otherwise subtract material from a whole to create something.

America Makes was established as a public-private partnership, offering companies and individuals a way to work together in a "pre-competitive way" to adopt additive manufacturing, said executive director John Wilczynski.

"It was all built on the idea that sharing information will be helpful to everybody," Wilczynski said.

Ten years later, that goal is the same. The institute's three main pillars remain focused around technology development, education or workforce training and creating a community.

Wilczynski became executive director at America Makes about three years ago, but he's been involved in the institute since its start in 2012, helping set up the facility and manage projects.

Generating and sharing data around the technology is a critical part of the institute's work, Wilczynski said. And it takes time.

"Funding into research and development and building and developing a technology is not a short-term activity," he said. "It's a long game in the end."

But the aim is to increase and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing throughout industries. Wilczynski said the institute has about 230 members that are "fully bought into this idea." And the institute knows just about everyone working in the additive manufacturing space.

That's not necessarily what he wants.

"There are thousands of manufacturers," he said. "It's not important that they're members or not members. It's about how many people are working within the technology space. And today, there's just not that many."

He wants to reach manufacturers who aren't using additive manufacturing, so they can learn from America Makes and America Makes can learn from them. He wants companies to realize additive manufacturing is a tool they can use in their own business.

"Engagement" and creating a community have so far been the most important part of the institute's public-facing side, Wilczynski said. Now, the need for a trained or reskilled workforce and a strong supply chain are coming to the forefront. The technology will always be critical, he said, but the "ecosystem" around it is becoming ever-more important.

America Makes helped to "catalyze" a lot of activity in additive manufacturing, showing the industry that it was a real option and making those connections along the supply chain, said Paul Prichard, corporate research fellow at Kennametal in Pittsburgh. Kennametal makes tooling for different industries. The company used to be headquartered in Latrobe, Pa., where it shared its campus with the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, which manages America Makes. Kennametal became a founding member of America Makes and took part in some of the institute's initial projects, Prichard said.

Howie Marotto, additive manufacturing business director at engineering and research services organization EWI in Columbus, Ohio, first got to know America Makes in 2015, when he was named the director for additive manufacturing for the Marine Corps. The institute showed him what additive manufacturing could really do and helped create the network for the Marines in that space. When he switched to the commercial side of the business a few years later, working for equipment distributor Phillips Corp., America Makes helped him make sure the products the company was selling were aligned with the federal government's needs and goals.

While networking and creating a collaborative space for companies has been important, Marotto thinks that need will only grow as the industry does.

"People are seeing the possibilities of additive manufacturing," he said, noting that access to the technology and the number of new companies entering the market are both "exploding."

America Makes has been critical in collecting a base of knowledge about the technology that isn't held in a technical journal or someone's thesis, said Rashid Miraj, director of technical operations at engineering software company AlphaSTAR. Making that available means people don't have to "reinvent the wheel every time we try to build a new part or use a new material," he said.

AlphaSTAR in California, which creates programs to predict material behavior, joined America Makes in 2015. Sarah Abdi, marketing communications manager at AlphaSTAR, said working with America Makes has helped the small business make connections and build relationships it otherwise wouldn't. Everyone knows about the big OEMs, Miraj said, but the community created by America Makes has brought awareness to some of the smaller players in the industry that would be otherwise hard to find.

And while the formal project calls and programs are helpful, Miraj said that the real benefit of America Makes is that it's "creating that forum" where members can interact and share ideas and collaborate on outside projects.

"America Makes really acts as an engine for pushing AM technology," he said.

America Makes gives the Mahoning Valley the chance to be a "national and, frankly, international leader in an industry," said Rick Stockburger, president and CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators in Warren. The nonprofit economic development organization, which supports entrepreneurs in the energy space, bases its work in part on what America Makes has been able to accomplish in the region, Stockburger said.

America Makes, along with the Youngstown Business Incubator, has been able to draw companies in additive manufacturing to the region, he said, and others have changed how they do business. There's "momentum" in the space, he said.

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said awareness of additive manufacturing has grown, and a number of companies throughout the Mahoning Valley have been able to "reinvent" themselves with the technology. Awareness of the importance of training and reskilling in this area is also growing, as existing manufacturers start to incorporate additive manufacturing in their processes.

Having America Makes in Youngstown has helped bring attention to that need for Northeast Ohio's manufacturers, educators and workforce development groups, Coviello said. There's still a ways to go, but he doesn't think the region would be where it is today in that journey if it wasn't for America Makes.

And America Makes gives the region the chance to serve as a hub for additive manufacturing, a place where lots of companies embrace the technology and employees know how to use it. Coviello said this is especially important as the auto industry moves from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, and as companies need to adapt and enter new supply chains.

America Makes has made an impact in its first decade, but Bill Koehler, CEO of economic development organization Team NEO, thinks the institute will be even more important in the next 10 years. Like any startup, it takes time to build a solid strategy and a strong team. And they've done a good job of that, he said, and of forming the relationships they need for the future.

And as the institute has grown, so has the technology of additive manufacturing, Koehler said. He thinks it will play an increasingly larger role going forward, as industries like automotive and aerospace change rapidly.

"I think we're fortunate to have an organization like theirs in our market, and the opportunity for us is to figure out how to take advantage of that, to capitalize on their presence and extend it," Koehler said.

In the 10 years since America Makes' founding, the region has seen a concentration of additive manufacturing companies starting or locating here, Wilczynski said. He attributes that not just to the institute but to a collaborative effort made by area organizations like the Youngstown Business Incubator and higher education institutions.

And it's not just locals who are glad to see Youngstown making its mark. The region has a history to it. Miraj of AlphaSTAR said he's grateful America Makes' home is in Youngstown.

"Because so much of American industry started in Ohio," he said. "To see it kind of getting rebuilt there, through additive, is a really positive thing."