Senator Brown pushes bill to model manufacturing hubs after America Makes in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is pushing to expand a national network of manufacturing hubs based on a company centered in Youngstown.
Brown hosted a news conference call Wednesday to discuss bipartisan legislation he is pushing with Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to expand upon their 2014 legislation, which authorized the creation of a national network of manufacturing hubs, modeled after the first manufacturing institute, "America Makes," in Youngstown.
He also announced that their bipartisan legislation has passed the Senate Commerce Committee.
It will be part of a larger legislative package that comes to the Senate floor.
America Makes National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute on West Boardman Street, which President Obama directed the Department of Defense to create in 2012, served as the basis for Brown and Blunt's initial legislation.
Brown said this new bill would help ensure American industry continues to out-innovate the rest of the world.
"Manufacturing innovation is essential to our nation's long-term economic competitiveness. When American manufacturing moves to other countries, we don't just lose production – we lose innovation," said Brown. "Our bipartisan 2014 bill created a Network of 15 manufacturing innovation hubs. Now, we need to build on that success by helping ensure these public-private partnerships give small businesses, minority serving institutions, industry leaders, and research institutions the tools they need to compete on a global scale."
In 2014, Senators Brown and Blunt introduced and passed bipartisan legislation to create the first-ever national network of manufacturing hubs.
He said their Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act (RAMI) created a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), made up of 15 advanced manufacturing hubs to bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies and all levels of government to leverage resources and spur innovation.
This new bill would expand upon the success of that original legislation by:
1. Expanding the program to create at least 15 more Manufacturing USA institutes, by authorizing $2.4 billion for fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2025 for the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to carry out the program;
2. Promoting more direct collaboration with minority serving institutions, ensuring that our nation utilizes the talent and skill of its entire workforce; and by directing the Secretary of Commerce to coordinate with existing and new institutes, to integrate Minority-Serving Institutions as active members of the institutes;
3. Integrating the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) – which provides critical assistance to small- and medium- sized manufacturers – with the Manufacturing USA institutes so that small- and medium- sized manufacturers can better participate; and
4. Establishing a new Worker Advisory Council for the Manufacturing USA Program to better bring together labor and industry – by directing the Secretary of Commerce to coordinate with the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, and the Secretary of Education, to establish an advisory council for the Manufacturing USA Program on the development and dissemination of techniques, policies, and investments for high-road labor practices, worker adaptation and success with technological change, and increased worker participation across the Manufacturing USA Network.
Senator Brown was joined on the call by Dr. Dean L. Bartles, President and CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, which is the holding company of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) which runs American Makes in Youngstown.
Bartles said their job is to mature these technologies and get them further along and get them implemented in many of those small and medium manufacturers in the Greater Ohio region as well as additional companies throughout the U.S. to keep America first.
"Since the start of America Makes based in Youngstown, Ohio back in 2012, more than $300 million has been invested in furthering the body on knowledge in Additive Manufacturing with numerous developments being implemented in many of the Small and Medium Manufacturers ('SMMs') in the greater Ohio region as well as additional ones throughout the US," said Dr. Bartles, President and CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group. "America Makes has over 220 members. The 'collisions' between SMMs and large corporations have been phenomenal enabling the SMM's to make connections for contract work that would have otherwise never had. The Workforce Development programs created via the consortium have been excellent."
Brown was also joined by Neal Orringer, Senior Technical Leader at GE Additive, which has partnered with America Makes to assist with jet engine production at GE's Evendale campus near Cincinnati.
