October 7 is Manufacturing Day -- a celebration of modern manufacturing aimed at inspiring the next generation of manufacturers.
Businesses, academic institutions, and government agencies, including DoD and its Manufacturing USA institutes, will host events nationwide promoting manufacturing and educating the public about the unique technologies used in modern manufacturing.
Lead by the Department of Commerce and supported nationally by government agencies, industry, academia, and nonprofit partners, Manufacturing Day celebrates modern manufacturing and provides opportunities, through hands-on events, to inspire the next generation of manufacturers.
DoD Seeks Technological Growth
DoD is actively working toward creating an environment for technological growth through its targeted investments in the defense industrial base.
DoD’s leadership realizes the significance of this mission, with Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall writing in the most recent issue of AT&L Magazine, “Manufacturing technology doesn’t just affect weapons systems and technological superiority -- it also drives national economic performance.”
The DoD leads the way in setting up the Manufacturing USA institutes -- each institute a public-private partnership bringing together industry, academia and federal partners within a growing network to increase U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and promote a robust and sustainable national manufacturing research and development infrastructure.
Within the department’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy serves as the DoD’s lead in establishing and administering the Manufacturing USA institutes. The DoD-led institutes focus on a wide range of manufacturing technology areas, from additive manufacturing to advanced textiles.
The DoD Manufacturing USA institutes include:
-- America Makes: Youngstown, Ohio.
-- DMDII: Chicago.
-- LIFT: Detriot.
-- AIM Photonics: Albany, New York.
-- NextFlex: San Jose, California.
-- AFFOA: Boston.
The DoD will stand up two more institutes -- one in advanced tissue bio fabrication, and the other focused on robotics in manufacturing environments -- by the end of the Obama Administration.
The Department of Energy leads three institutes -- IACMI in Knoxville, Tennessee; PowerAmerica in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute, recently awarded and located in Los Angeles.
Each institute within the network is hosting events -- or supporting partners or members with events -- for Manufacturing Day. ODASD MIBP leadership will attend events at DMDII, America Makes, and LIFT, which is hosting a joint event with IACMI. The department recognizes that each opportunity to inspire the next generation of manufacturing talent is an opportunity to increase the domestic workforce supporting the warfighter.
As Defense Secretary Ash Carter proclaimed earlier this year, “The reality is that … we don’t know all the advances this new technology is going to make possible -- that’s the remarkable thing about innovation -- and it’s another reason why America, and America’s military, must get there first.”
The Manufacturing USA institutes are reshaping the technological landscape through manufacturing, officials said, by facilitating innovation to support the warfighter, ensuring the U.S. military’s competitiveness, and proliferating new ideas for America’s industrial base.
October 7 is one more opportunity for DoD to tell that story to the American people, officials added.
In the Department of Defense, every day is Manufacturing Day.