The Manufacturing USA initiative seeks to reinforce U.S.-based advanced manufacturing through partnerships among industry, academia, and government. Started in 2012 and established with bipartisan support by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014, the initiative envisages a nationwide network of research centers for manufacturing innovation. As of May 2017, 14 manufacturing innovation institutes had been established to facilitate the movement of early-stage research into proven capabilities ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. To better understand the role and experiences of the Manufacturing USA institutes to date, a committee of the Innovation Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on May 23, 2017 drawing together institute directors and manufacturing policy experts along with leaders from industry, academia, and government. Participants addressed the role of the manufacturing institutes in increasing advanced manufacturing in the United States, examined selected foreign programs designed to support advanced manufacturing, and reviewed recent assessments of existing institutes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The Manufacturing USA initiative seeks to reinforce U.S.-based advanced manufacturing through partnerships among industry, academia, and government. Started in 2012 and established with bipartisan support by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014, the initiative envisages a nationwide network of research centers for manufacturing innovation. Some 14 manufacturing innovation institutes have been established to facilitate the movement of early-stage research into proven capabilities ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. To better understand the role and experiences of the Manufacturing USA institutes, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on May 23, 2017 drawing together institute directors and manufacturing policy experts along with leaders from industry, academia, and government. Given the continued prominence of enhancing domestic manufacturing and international competitiveness in public policy discussions, the National Academies convened a second workshop on November 14, 2018, to monitor the progress of the Manufacturing USA institutes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from this second workshop.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Manufacturing USA Institutes aim to protect national security and increase U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing. The domestic industrial base is critical to supporting and sustaining both military advantage and economic competitiveness. Through these institutes, the DoD is committed to domestically designing and manufacturing the most innovative defense systems. Intended as intensely collaborative applied research and development endeavors among government, industry, and academia, the institutes are envisioned to become lasting, self-sustaining national assets. A long-term strategy is needed to achieve this goal. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently convened a workshop to discuss the long-term sustainability of the Manufacturing USA Institutes. Participants explored different perspectives across multiple disciplines, discussed public-private partnership models, and considered international programs in advanced manufacturing to inform their recommendations regarding the future of the institutes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Manufacturing USA is a national network of manufacturing innovation institutes. Commerce, DOD, and DOE have together provided $1 billion to establish the network’s institutes and to promote research, development, and commercialization of advanced manufacturing technologies. Among other objectives, this report (1) describes the status of the Manufacturing USA network; (2) evaluates actions taken by Commerce, DOD, and DOE to assess progress of the Manufacturing USA program; and (3) examines planning for institute sustainability beyond the initial 5 to 7 years of federal financial assistance. GAO is making five recommendations, including that Commerce work with DOD and DOE to develop performance goals with measurable targets and time frames, and the three agencies develop criteria to evaluate their institutes’ sustainability.

This book is a study on the developments of a strategic plan to guide Federal programs and activities in support of advanced manufacturing research and development. Advanced manufacturing is a matter of fundamental importance to the economic strength and national security of the United States. Analysis of patterns and trends in U.S. advanced manufacturing reveals both opportunities for Federal policy to accelerate the development of this vital sector and challenges to its continuing health. The acceleration of innovation for advanced manufacturing requires bridging a number of gaps in the present U.S. innovation system, particularly the gap between research and development (R&D) activities and the deployment of technological innovations in domestic production of goods. The strategic plan discussed in this book lays out a robust innovation policy that would help to close these gaps and address the full life-cycle of technology.

How to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector by encouraging advanced manufacturing, bringing innovative technologies into the production process. The United States lost almost one-third of its manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010. As higher-paying manufacturing jobs are replaced by lower-paying service jobs, income inequality has been approaching third world levels. In particular, between 1990 and 2013, the median income of men without high school diplomas fell by an astonishing 20% between 1990 and 2013, and that of men with high school diplomas or some college fell by a painful 13%. Innovation has been left largely to software and IT startups, and increasingly U.S. firms operate on a system of “innovate here/produce there,” leaving the manufacturing sector behind. In this book, William Bonvillian and Peter Singer explore how to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector. They argue that advanced manufacturing, which employs such innovative technologies as 3-D printing, advanced material, photonics, and robotics in the production process, is the key. Bonvillian and Singer discuss transformative new production paradigms that could drive up efficiency and drive down costs, describe the new processes and business models that must accompany them, and explore alternative funding methods for startups that must manufacture. They examine the varied attitudes of mainstream economics toward manufacturing, the post-Great Recession policy focus on advanced manufacturing, and lessons from the new advanced manufacturing institutes. They consider the problem of “startup scaleup,” possible new models for training workers, and the role of manufacturing in addressing “secular stagnation” in innovation, growth, the middle classes, productivity rates, and related investment. As recent political turmoil shows, the stakes could not be higher.

Book & CD. The United States has been the leading producer of manufactured goods for more than 100 years, and the manufacturing sector is once again adding jobs and opening new factories at its fastest rate in two decades. The United States has long thrived as a result of its ability to manufacture goods and sell them to global markets. Manufacturing drives knowledge production and innovation in the United States by supporting two‐thirds of private sector research and development and by employing the vast majority of U.S. scientists, engineers, and technicians to invent and produce new products. Yet, in the 2000's, manufacturing faced major employment declines as factories were shuttered. U.S. strengths in manufacturing innovation and technologies that have sustained American leadership in manufacturing are under threat from new and growing competition abroad. This book discusses the efforts and recommendations for accelerating advanced manufacturing in America.