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Manufacturing an Advantage in a Fiercely Competitive Global Economy 0

A national network of manufacturing innovation — leveraging theresources and know-how of the private and public sectors — is helpingAmerica seize and maintain a competitive advantage.

Good ideas — for new products, new processes or new services — are terriblethings to waste.

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Yet, time and time again, inventions and discoveries that first sprouted in theU.S. have taken root in the factories and economies of other nations. Think ofcomputer-controlled machine tools, solar cells, industrial robots, consumer-electronics devices, lithium-ion batteries …

To many, the list is painfully familiar. And the costs are too: lost jobs, shutteredmanufacturing plants, withering supply chains, trade deficits, lost opportunitiesfor spin-off technologies and more.

But wait, a far better story for U.S. manufacturing is beginning to take shape.Over the past five years, U.S. manufacturers have added an average of nearly15,000 new jobs every month (http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2015/02/06/statement-us-commerce-secretary-penny-pritzker-january-jobs-numbers), and exports have grown at an average annual rate of 10percent — or more than three times faster than the average for the precedingdecade (http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/state-union-2015-enhanced-slides).

And now, U.S. industry and the federal government are taking deliberate stridesto seize and maintain an innovation advantage in the fiercely competitive globaleconomy. One key step is the establishment of the National Network forManufacturing Innovation (http://www.manufacturing.gov/nnmi.html)(NNMI), accomplished with the inclusion of the bipartisan Revitalize AmericanManufacturing and Innovation Act in the government funding bill passed byCongress last December.

This young partnership, consisting of regional hubs of manufacturinginnovation, is devoted to the economy-growing principle that if a technology isinvented in the U.S., we should do our very best to make it here. The NNMIinstitutes (http://www.manufacturing.gov/how-nnmi-works.html) willleverage the individual and collective knowledge, talents, capabilities, and

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resources of industry, university, and government partners. Thesecollaborations will cultivate promising discoveries and ideas into newtechnologies and into cost-effective ways to convert these innovations intoAmerican-made products sold to customers around the world.

There’s no time to waste. The competition has a head start. China, Korea,Germany, Taiwan and other nations intent on building innovation-driveneconomies already have mounted major programs and the supportinginfrastructure to sustain long-term collaborations — the kind required to speedresearch breakthroughs into proofs of concept, then prototypes, and —ultimately — manufacturable products and related services.

In today’s most advanced manufacturing industries — the ones that make thehighest-value goods, pay the highest wages and export all over the world —product and process innovation are two sides of the same coin. Inventing,designing, making, and improving happen in concert. And this back-and-forthinteraction draws on the strengths of varied organizations, many clustered in thesame region. Solo acts can no longer outperform the competition.

So, the NNMI is assembling the diverse competitive assets — the people,organizations, and resources — necessary for the U.S. to stay at the head of packin the global race to innovate and to make. We have all the essential ingredients:universities and government labs that excel at basic science and technologyresearch, top-flight original equipment manufacturers, capable suppliers,enterprising start-ups and a new generation of workers ready to master the skillsand knowledge needed for next-generation manufacturing. Each instituteprovides a shared-use facility for workforce training for veterans, students andothers.

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Funded by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy, eightNNMI institutes have been launched by President Obama since 2012 and noware in various stages of development. The first, America Makes(https://americamakes.us/), is turning additive manufacturing technology — or3D printing — into a more robust, reliable, and widely useful capability forcompanies of all sizes (http://www.gereports.com/post/96961271205/die-casts-3d-printing-makeover). About 125 organizations, including communitycolleges and small manufacturers, are members of America Makes,headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio.

Next to open their doors are the Digital Manufacturing and Design InnovationInstitute (http://dmdii.uilabs.org/) (Chicago), Lightweight Innovations forTomorrow (http://lift.technology/) (Detroit), and PowerAmerica(http://www.ncsu.edu/power/) (Raleigh, N .C.). In January, the presidentannounced that the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will lead a public-private consortium of 122 U.S. manufacturers, nonprofits, and universities inlaunching the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation(http://iacmi.org/).

In the wings are institutes that will focus on photonics, hybrid electronics andsmart manufacturing — all aiming to accelerate the transfer of laboratoryresearch to the factory floor and to prepare prospective workers with the skillsand knowledge required for advanced manufacturing jobs.

In his proposed 2016 budget(http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/fact_sheets/investing-in-american-innovation.pdf), the president has called forexpanding the NNMI. He has requested $350 million spread across fourdepartments: Commerce, Energy, Defense, and Agriculture. Seven new

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institutes would be launched, including the first two Commerce Department-ledinstitutes, under the management of the National Institute of Standards andTechnology.

Existing and future innovation institutes will comprise an integrated,nationwide network that coordinates and leverages their individual andcollective strengths. This ecosystem will create the sorely missing collaborativeinfrastructure and the necessary mass of intellectual might and technologyresources needed for our nation to succeed in innovating, producing, competingand building future prosperity.

This piece first appeared on The Commerce Blog(http://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2015/02/manufacturing-innovation-gaining-advantage-fiercely-competitive-global-economy).

Mike Molnar is Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s(NIST) Advanced Manufacturing Program Office and the interagency AdvancedManufacturing National Program Office.

10/5/2015 Mike Molnar: Manufacturing an Advantage in a Fiercely Competitive Global Economy - GE Reports

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(http://www.gereports.com/post/119326559343/advanced-manufacturing-partnering-for-the-public-good/)Advanced Manufacturing — Partnering for the Public Good 0(http://www.gereports.com/post/119326559343/advanced-manufacturing-partnering-for-the-public-good/)

10/5/2015 Mike Molnar: Manufacturing an Advantage in a Fiercely Competitive Global Economy - GE Reports

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(http://www.gereports.com/post/105445221053/what-states-need-to-do-to-grow-their-advanced-industries/)What States Need to Do to Grow Their Advanced Industries 0(http://www.gereports.com/post/105445221053/what-states-need-to-do-to-grow-their-advanced-industries/)

gereports.com (http://www.gereports.com/post/115058786283/manufacturing-an-advantage-in-a-fiercely-competitive-glo/) · March 31, 2015