Greetings from ASTRO!
In today’s issue:
- ASTRO to Manage $95 Million OTA from U.S. Army to Develop Additive and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
- ASTRO Receives Award from Guam Economic Development Authority (GEDA)
- Boeing and Northrop Grumman Join AM Forward!
- AM Forward Media Round-Up
- ASTRO Brings New Talent to Rock Island Arsenal
- America Makes Celebrates 10 Years
- Mark Your Calendar!
- Follow ASTRO on Twitter!
ASTRO to Manage $95 Million OTA from U.S. Army to Develop Additive and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
ASTRO will manage a $95 million Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to develop additive and advanced manufacturing technologies for the U.S. Army. ASTRO will carry out this work over a period of five years, to begin immediately, under the direction of the United States Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) on behalf of the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC).
Under the OTA, ASTRO will leverage the world’s largest 3D Printer located at the Rock Island Arsenal and the subsection tool AM machine located at Detroit Arsenal. ASTRO will utilize those machines in order to build prototype models based on material and process application and exploration, capability modeling, development, and implementation of Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Advanced Manufacturing (AdvM) specific to development of large-scale components.
ASTRO will soon announce a schedule of workshops, industry days, and funding opportunities available through the OTA.
Click here to read our press release.
Click here to follow us on Twitter and receive updates.
ASTRO Receives Award from Guam Economic Development Authority (GEDA)
The Guam Economic Development Authority (GEDA) has announced ASTRO America will conduct a comprehensive study on the economic readiness and capacity for additive manufacturing (AM) in Guam. It will provide a capstone blueprint for building a local industry for manufacturing parts and products of all kinds, on-demand.
The study is the first step in a bold plan led by Governor Lou Leon Guerrero to modernize and diversify Guam’s economy, encourage growth for local small businesses, address supply chain issues and eventually create a process that will allow Guam to develop a new 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) capacity. If all goes as planned, this could change their economic future forever. But this effort has larger implications for the rest of the United States as well, in addressing productivity and inflationary pressures compounded by the COVID-19 crisis and for strategic geo-political challenges we now face in the Indo-Pacific region.
ASTRO America is honored to conduct the study and looks forward to reporting on our findings and thoroughly researched plan.
Click here to follow us on Twitter and receive updates on the project.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman Join AM Forward!
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have committed to helping smaller U.S. based suppliers increase their use of Additive Manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, as members of AM Forward. They join founding partners including GE Aviation, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, and Siemens Energy who have all made clear, public commitments to purchase additively produced parts from smaller U.S.-based suppliers; train the workers of their suppliers on new additive technologies; provide detailed technical assistance to support their suppliers’ adoption of new capabilities; and engage in common standards development and certification for additive products.
Among other public commitments:
- Boeing will target an increase of Boeing qualified small and medium sized supplier capacity by 30% and provide technical guidance to meet Boeing and industry qualification requirements including delta qualifications; and target small/medium sized suppliers to compete on request for quote (RFQ) packages sent out for products utilizing additive manufacturing technologies.
- Northrop Grumman will target 50% of RFQ packages sent out for products, machinery, manufacturing tooling, and/or manufacturing process development utilizing additive or related technologies will be competed by US-based SMM suppliers; and target the external sourcing of additively manufactured processes and parts from a SMM supplier.
Click here to read a press release announcement.
More information on AM Forward, including all letters of commitment, can be found here.
AM Forward Media Round-Up
Momentum in the ASTRO-led AM Forward program, including the announcement of new partners Boeing and Northrop Grumman has led to a number of recent media clips. In a piece titled, “Boeing, Northrop to join White House-backed advanced manufacturing program,” Reuters reporter David Shepardson said “Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman (NOC.N) are joining a White House-backed compact to help smaller U.S.-based suppliers increase the use of 3D printing and other advanced manufacturing technologies.” He quoted ASTRO CEO Neal Orringer as saying, “The supply chain crisis isn’t just about building out ports. It’s about building up parts – right here in America’s small business factories.”
DefenseOne reporter Marcus Weisgerber wrote about the announcement in a piece titled, “Boeing, Northrop Grumman Join Group Pushing 3D Printing to Small Suppliers” saying, “Pentagon leaders spanning three presidential administrations have pushed the military and defense companies to expand their use of 3D-printed parts in weapons and equipment. The technology could allow troops to more easily and quickly repair or even replace weapons on the battlefield without large supply depots.”
From Matt Kremenetsky with 3DPrint’s piece titled, “Boeing & Northrop Grumman Join Biden’s AM Forward 3D Printing Initiative”:
Sue Helper, senior advisor for industrial strategy at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), commented, “…one of the best ways to [lower prices] is to make more things in America, with more secure and more resilient supply chains. AM Forward focuses on [AM] to help us achieve these goals.” The corporate VP of global operations at Northrop Grumman, Matt Bromberg, explained, “…the competitiveness of the U.S. defense industrial base relies on the capability of thousands of small to medium size manufacturers (SMM) producing and post-processing critical aerospace parts.”
ASTRO Brings New Talent to Rock Island Arsenal
This month, ASTRO is proud to welcome new talent to the team embedded at Rock Island Arsenal!
Ricardo Rodriguez will join ASTRO America as Principal Project Engineer to manage major projects under a new $95 million OTA with the U.S. Army, supporting critical warfighter needs and resulting in economic growth in the Quad Cities region. To achieve the OTA’s purpose of developing additive and advanced manufacturing technologies for the Army, Rodriguez and his team will leverage the world’s largest 3D printer located at the Rock Island Arsenal and the subsection tool AM machine located at Detroit Arsenal.
Ricardo comes to us from Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire where he worked as a Principal Research Engineer. Prior to this, Ricardo worked as a guest researcher at the Army Research Lab for 3D Systems as part of the Open Campus initiative for 3D Systems Corporation; worked as a contract research engineer focusing on early term R&D projects utilizing additive manufacturing systems for aerospace and defense applications for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory; and spent time working as a research assistant for The University of Texas at El Paso.
Click here to read our press release.
America Makes Celebrates 10 Years
This week, America Makes celebrated 10 years at a very special MMX 2022. The annual event, which brings together the AM community for two days of high-level conversations, presentations, and panels, kicked off with a local Additive Manufacturing Community Day and anniversary celebration.
On Wednesday, August 17, America Makes welcomed the new Ambassadors. Past Ambassadors include our own Neal Orringer (2018) who was part of the original team that launched the Manufacturing USA’s pilot institute ten years ago, now called America Makes.
Best wishes to the America Makes team on such an amazing journey so far!
For more information on the anniversary celebration, click here.
Mark Your Calendar!
On November 10, ASTRO CEO Neal Orringer will speak about AM investment opportunities as a panelist on SmartTech’s AM Investment Strategies 2022. The half-day summit dives into the investment environment and competitive landscape for the 3D printing industry.
Register to attend this virtual event here.
Follow ASTRO on Twitter!
ASTRO is on Twitter! Follow us for quick updates and thoughts here.