America Makes proudly commemorates its seventh anniversary this month since its founding by looking ahead to the future.
Driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is the national accelerator for AM and the first of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) established and program managed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as public-private partnerships. America Makes is also a member of the Manufacturing USA® (MFG USA) network, which seeks to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing.
While its undeniable that the contributions the Institute has made to the additive manufacturing (AM) industry and the impact it has had on the local Youngstown area and Mahoning Valley region are significant, America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski is inspired by what the future holds for the Institute and the overall U.S. manufacturing industry.
“This is a really exciting time for the Institute as we have a great deal of learnings and achievements from the last seven years,” said Mr. Wilczynski. “We are acutely aware of the needs of our industry from commercial and defense sectors. We are grateful for all of the support from the DoD, Air Force Research Laboratory, and other government stakeholders. As the pilot Institute, we have proved that the public-private collaborative model is effective and important to the ongoing economic success of U.S. manufacturing industry. We transitioned from the initial start-up phase and then onto an incredibly driven project execution phase to where we are today—promoting and leading innovation.