The President of the United States announced yesterday a series of executive actions meant to strengthen advanced manufacturing. Intended to propel innovation and trigger the introduction of new jobs in the market sector, these efforts led by the White House will include a $300 million investment in specific technologies thought to be critical to improving the country’s broader industrial competitive advantage.
From the White House:
In response to an earlier report of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, which began in June 2011, the President has already launched four manufacturing innovation institutes with four more on the way; invested nearly $1 billion to upgrade our community colleges to train workers for advanced manufacturing jobs; expanded investments in applied research for emerging, cross-cutting manufacturing technologies; and launched a new initiative to deploy the talent of returning veterans to in-demand jobs, including in advanced manufacturing.
The final AMP report makes recommendations addressing three key pillars that support American manufacturing: 1) enabling innovation, 2) securing the talent pipeline, and 3) improving the business climate. The executive actions announced today align with the report’s recommendations by making investments in emerging, cross-cutting manufacturing technologies, training our workforce with the skills for middle-class jobs in manufacturing, and equipping small manufacturers to adopt cutting-edge technologies.
President Obama will meet with the Partnership’s steering committee — a working group of the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology — on Monday, November 3 to enact the planned actions, and to direct the necessary funds.
NASA, and the departments of Defense, Energy, and Agriculture will invest heavily in emerging technologies and advanced materials that include composite and bio-based materials. Investments are to be matched by private-sector resources, and are intended to drive advances in the manufacture of “new steel alloys that are twice as strong and lighter than today” and in new processes that eliminate American reliance on foreign materials.
Two manufacturing “centers of excellence” established the National Science Foundation will combine basic research efforts on a university level with the larger industry in an effort to develop advanced sensors for manufacturing, and digital manufacturing.
And that’s still not all. $100 million of the earmarked funds will back the Labor Department’s new American Apprenticeships Grant Competition, “a national effort to communicate the value of careers in manufacturing to the nation’s youth.” Another $130 million will bankroll a trial competition sponsored by the Commerce Department’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Spread over five years and ten states, the contest — for which full details have yet to be released — aims to help small manufacturers “adopt new technologies and expand into new markets.”
Manufacturing is central to the foundation of our economy, adding more than 700,000 jobs since 2010. As the White House makes moves to stimulate more industry growth, Bay Industrial Group is poised to embrace the bright future ahead.