MMX 2024: America Makes State of the Union & Operations Update

I always view the annual America Makes Members Meeting & Exchange (MMX) as my unofficial start to the additive manufacturing (AM) industry’s conference cycle. However, it’s a very different vibe than the massive trade show floors of RAPID+TCT and Formnext, and I appreciate its intimacy and specific learning opportunities. Last week, I drove up to Youngstown, Ohio to attend MMX 2024, which, despite a tornado warning during happy hour, seemed to go off without a hitch.

Driven by the non-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is a public-private partnership for AM. Established in 2012, its mission is to accelerate adoption of the technology in order to advance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and security. It does so by convening the most brilliant minds from government, industry, and academia to speed innovation; coordinating technical and workforce data to help transform the industry; and catalyzing the industry through collaborative projects that offer high value and impact.

State of the Union

As usual, the event began with a State of the Union presentation by John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes. This year, he was joined by materials engineer Robyn Vialva, PhD, the Program Manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). America Makes was the first of the now 17 Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs), and Dr. Vialva runs the institute on the government side. Wilczynski said there’s been “an uptick in membership over the last two years,” with 294 total members as of June 2024. There are 325 projects in the institute’s lifetime portfolio, and he noted the “$500 million worth of work that’s being done” for its three strategic focus areas of Technology Development, Education and Workforce Development (EWD), and Ecosystem Development.

Dr. Vialva explained that each MII has a specific area of focus, and America Makes’ is obviously AM. The institutes serve as a resource for the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, and three chartering principles—Advancing Research & Technology; Establishing & Growing Manufacturing Ecosystems; and Securing Human Capitol—aid the Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology’s (OSD ManTech) mission to support the warfighter and enhance the U.S. manufacturing base capabilities. Part of the MII’s long-term strategy calls for periodic evaluation of the various institutes’ performance, which is why America Makes completed a Joint Defense Manufacturing Council Review (JDMC) a few months ago.

These reviews determine whether the DoD should continue its strategic partnership with an MII. There are four criteria that a JDMC evaluates:

• Is there a continuing need for this Institute?
• Has this Institute performed well?
• Does the Institute have an effective strategy for the future?
• Is the Institute Governance and Management effective?

During the JDMC, Dr. Vialva shared the impact of the America Makes MII, which includes Congress passing the Revitalization America Manufacturing & Innovation (RAMI) Act, the launch of the AM Forward initiative, version 1 and version 2 of the AM Standardization Roadmap, and much more.

“So have we performed well, and do we have a plan? That’s what we asked when we started the JDMC process,” explained Wilczynski. “We presented to four key principals that were the evaluators, and several subject matter experts supported them in decision-making. The scope of the institute has really started to expand, that’s what we shared during the review.”

Priority projects within the institute have had “considerable funding.” Wilczynski said that 77% of the institute’s funded work is for technology development, while 12% is for ecosystem development and 11% is for EWD. He also explained that the “vast majority” of the work that America Makes works on is core-funded via strategic investment dollars from government-identified and non-government-identified Rapid Innovation Calls (RIC) and Open Project Calls, the latter of which is directly influenced by working groups. You can see the specific breakdown below:

There are just under 100 active projects currently being worked on, and Wilczynski said “there’s still a tremendous amount of work to do.” There are plenty of challenges to enabling “pervasive adoption,” including repeatability and reproducibility; qualification of materials, process, and products; certification; cost reduction; scaling to full production; access to capital; and vendor qualification. Many limitations exist that are getting in the way of surmounting these challenges, such as:

• Limited number of commercially available materials
• Limited number of qualified sources of supply
• Limited trained workforce
• Limited size of parts
• Limited knowledge base
• Limited implementation of DfAM

America Makes is addressing the main reasons for these challenges, but as Wilczynski said, there’s still work to be done. That’s the case the institute presented during the JDMC. If you want to help, there are many opportunities for members, like identifying gaps, scaling institute programming so it’s tailored to new audiences and regions, developing materials designed specifically for AM, and expanding access to data.

So, is the strategic relationship between America Makes and the DoD still necessary? Is there a continuing need for this particular MII? Dr. Vialva shared with the attendees that the answer is “yes.”

“This is significant, as it ensures further funding from DoD moving forward,” she said.

The consensus of the JDMC evaluation recommends that OSD ManTech should continue, but evolve, its strategic partnership with America Makes. Additionally, it was recommended that the institute pursue several important actions, such as developing a five-year strategy to improve its focus on U.S. competitiveness in AM, and improving the impact of its satellite centers and regional models. Other action items include finding ways to accelerate strategic efforts on supplier qualification, expanding its efforts in establishing international standards, make data and IP more quickly and readily available to members (while still keeping it safe from non-U.S. competitors), and more.

Operations: Results and Impacts Since Last MMX

Alexander Steeb, the Operations Director for America Makes, told attendees that since MMX 2023, the institute has had a very productive year: over 52 new members, $60.1 million in expenditures from members working on projects, and more than 91 new projects from DoD services and other federal agencies. Nearly 10,600 individuals are participating in EWD activities for the institute, with 69 members engaged specifically on EWD projects. Since July of 2023, there have been 358 deliverable artifacts added to the secure America Makes CORE online platform, for a grand total of 2,611. The overall value of the America Makes portfolio is a whopping $509.4 million.

Steeb noted a wide diversity of industries represented in the expanding America Makes membership, though it’s “no surprise that aerospace and defense leads the pack.” Automotive and energy are the next two largest represented industries, followed by healthcare, the federal government, consumer products, and electronics. Nearly 50% of the membership is comprised of small/medium businesses. Steeb said that a large driver for membership growth is the institute’s increasing focus on the use of AM as replacement or augmentation for casting and forging. In the fall of 2023, America Makes published a roadmap for casting and forging, and also held a workshop devoted to casting and forging, in addition to workshops on Alloy Development and Space Propulsion. Other events include MMX and TRX, webinars, and working group meetings, and the institute also exhibits at more than 10 industry trade shows and conferences a year for the purposes of outreach and lead generation.

Steeb said that, according to member survey information from FY2024, “networking is pretty important to you guys,” but noted a “dip in business opportunities,” which the institute is investigating. He also told attendees that America Makes has “stepped up our game tremendously in terms of strategic communications,” such as its new bi-monthly member newsletter that includes announcements and member highlights. I personally find this email newsletter very helpful, as it also mentions upcoming events and webinars that I can add to my weekly roundup. Steeb says the newsletter reaches over 7,000 members, partners, and stakeholders, and that America Makes reaches 23,000 people via its social media accounts, primarily on LinkedIn and X. The institute also publishes its annual Layers journal, which includes reports on the various roadmaps and workshops, and leverages media partners for increased reach and awareness. 3DPrint.com is proud to be one of these media partners.

Stay tuned for more coverage from MMX 2024!

Images: Sarah Saunders for 3DPrint.com.