NAMII Advances Its Work as Media Spotlight Shines
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Wednesday became a day for fulfilling media requests at the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute.
An interview of Ralph Resnick, president of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining -- which was awarded the federal contract for NAMII -- conducted by National Public Radio’s Don Gonyea led a wave of interest by national, state, regional and local news organizations.
The media interest, spurred by President Obama mentioning NAMII in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, comes as the organization enters a new phase since its opening last September. NAMII officials are in the process of evaluating the 40 proposals submitted as part of its first project call, which ended just two weeks ago; funding announcements are expected in March.
Ed Morris, formerly the director of mechanical engineering and manufacturing on Lockheed Martin’s corporate engineering and technology team, started as NAMII’s director last week, and is in the process of bringing on board staff, including the hiring of deputy directors to fill the positions that have been held on an acting basis since last year.
"I'm in a hurry but I'm not desperate. We're looking for the right people," Morris told The Business Journal.
Additive manufacturing offers two major advantages, particularly in high-value, mission critical types of applications such as aerospace and biomechanical, “where we end up processing a lot of material and then using a relatively small amount of that,” said Darrell Wallace, NAMII acting deputy director for workforce and educational outreach.
The process is being applied in areas such as medicine where it can be used for lightweight structures similar to bones in prosthetics. Other near-term applications of the technology include vehicle manufacturing or anything that contains weight-critical mechanical structures, and printed electronics integrated with mechanical design. That presents “fascinating opportunities” in aircraft, Morris said.
“This has applications for just about everybody,” said Barb Ewing, chief operation officer of the Youngstown Business Incubator, where NAMII is based. “Everybody can find a way, everybody will find a way to take advantage of this at some point.” Beyond manufacturing, there are applications for the technology for everything from art to jewelry, she noted.
Additive manufacturing isn’t a new process, or even one new to the Mahoning Valley. Auto parts manufacturer Delphi, which has a technical center in Champion, has used additive manufacturing since 1989 to increase the speed of design development, said Tom Kho, superintendent, Delphi Connection Systems Engineering. In fact, “the Ohio area is one of the original users of additive manufacturing,” he said.
Using additive manufacturing reduces the lead time of the development process, providing more time to develop improved and enhanced product designs, Kho said. “And, if needed, Delphi can re-design a product much faster,” he added.
Among local companies investigating additive manufacturing technology is Fireline Inc., a refractory manufacturing company in Youngstown. Fireline now uses traditional tooling to make molds for the parts it makes.
“It’s a way to open up opportunities for us,” whether for prototyping or making parts that can’t be produced using current technology,” said Mark Peters, Fireline’s director of engineering and general manager of Fireline TCON Inc. “We’ve not pulled the trigger on this yet but it’s definitely something we’re taking a closer look at.”
Among the issues being considered is whether Fireline will purchase equipment or contract work out to a firm that employs additive manufacturing. Although unsure how soon Fireline will move forward, “It’s more of a question of when, not if,” Peters said.
M-7 Technologies Inc. a NAMII member, is looking at additive manufacturing from the supplier end. “Actually, our technology would enable the process,” said Mike Garvey, president of the metrology and reverse-engineering firm.
There are two primary challenges to the process today, the cost of material and the rate of deposition or build, Garvey continued.
“Our technology will enable knowledge gathering, the building of knowledge, to address those challenges, so we’ll be able to measure fusion rates, we’ll be able to characterize material going in being laid down, and do it all real time in a very multidimensional, multisensory fashion,” he said.
People are awakening to the possibilities offered by additive manufacturing, said Scott Deutsch, manager of communications and special programs for NCDMM. While many manufacturers are “focused on creating parts that are already in the value stream somewhere,” he said. “one of the things that NAMII starts to open up is the expectation that we can make a lot of things that we're not even thinking about yet. So I would say that we're not overselling it. If anything we might be underselling it because we are probably not touching on things that 10 years from now will be obvious to additive."
Obama's mention of NAMII is “validation of just how very important it is,” observed YBI's Ewing. “The message I’m always trying to convey is everybody needs to be looking at what this means for them,” she remarked. “Every business that in any way, shape or form touches manufacturing or process needs to understand how they can take advantage of it and what it could mean for the future of their operations and for their specific industry.”
Beyond that, Ewing added, high school and college students need to be looking at potential career opportunities, whether in engineering products that can be made using the process or, if they’re not interested in a four-year degree, getting a two-year degree or certification to run the equipment.
“There’s really very few things you can’t make using this type of technology,” Ewing added. “It’s an opportunity for somebody to start to design products or come up with a great idea and start a business in their garage.”
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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