Ursa Major and JobsOhio to Establish $14.5M 3D Printing Hub in Youngstown

Ursa Major, the Colorado-based contractor using additive manufacturing (AM) to produce rocket engines for the US defense industrial base, has teamed up with the nonprofit workforce development organization JobsOhio to establish an AM R&D center in Boardman, Ohio, 15 minutes outside of Youngstown. The new center is backed by $14.5 million, which includes $4 million from a JobsOhio R&D grant, and will be used by Ursa Major for research into both AM processes and AM materials development.

Ursa Major has had a presence in Ohio since 2021, when the company established the Ursa Major Advanced Manufacturing Lab in Youngstown, in partnership with Manufacturing USA institute America Makes. I spoke to Ursa Major Chief Operations Officer (COO) Nick Doucette about why the company sees Ohio as such a promising area for building a manufacturing business:

“I think the region just has an incredibly dense industrial base of talent,” began Doucette. “You have amazing universities in the area that, historically, have farmed out their talent to other parts of the country. Suddenly, people are waking up to the fact that, if we set up businesses in this area, we could be the magnet for all this talent, whether it’s engineering, or hands-on labor.”

With everything that Ursa Major has already been able to accomplish in Ohio, it’s a bit astonishing that the company’s existing workforce there comprises a grand total of three individuals. Thanks in large part to the new R&D center, Ursa Major will be able to increase that total to eighteen in the near future.

Of course, in addition to its own strategic vision and relentless focus, and help from organizations like America Makes and JobsOhio, Ursa Major owes its growth to the demand signals for what the company brings to the table, being sent from the likes of the Pentagon, NASA, and the private space sector:

“Our mission is to deploy propulsion where it’s needed most,” said Doucette. “If you look at where the demand is coming from, it’s hypersonics and missile defense. That’s a problem that needs to be solved which is large enough to where it’s allowed us to mobilize private capital from our own investors, matching state-level funding like the grant from JobsOhio, and the federal level funding including contracts related to our work with the US Navy, and combine all of that to put some serious momentum behind our operations.

“Ultimately, the urgency of that demand comes down to an inadequate supply, so that’s the type of thing you have to pay attention to. One of the common problems for startups is a lack of focus, and you have to be very careful about that because, otherwise, it’s easy to overextend yourself. We started with six people trying to make some launch engines, and we only started to do other things — like solid rocket motors — after we’d started to succeed at what we’d set out to do at the beginning. The common thread through all of that though is that we kept answering those demand signals, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

For all the government money flowing into manufacturing workforce development these days, the funding and guidance from the public sector obviously isn’t enough, on its own. The government also needs private industry partners with corporate cultures in place that are genuinely capable of developing talent. Above all, this may be what sets Ursa Major apart:

“I think people who love manufacturing have a hunger to go get stuff done,” Doucette concluded. “I’ve always said that there are three qualities you need to look for when you’re hiring manufacturing workers: they’ve gotta be humble, because the technology is hard. They’ve gotta be hungry — eager — and they have to have the sort of intelligence that allows them to work with others. If you can find a humble, hungry, and smart person, you can throw them into a manufacturing environment and chances are they’ll flourish. It’s a three-person team right now in Ohio. That’s it. But they’re getting the job done and they’re incredibly productive at it. So, I think we’ve done a good job finding the right people to lead us through the next couple years of growth.”

Considering Ursa Major’s success thus far, the entire AM industry can expect to learn much from what the company demonstrates in its next phase of expansion. Ohio, and the rest of the US, would certainly benefit from the emergence of more Ursa Majors.

Images courtesy of Ursa Major