American Resurgence Possible With Additive Manufacturing.

• Date: 01 June 2021
• Author: Handler, David,Lambert, Brett B.,Handler, David^Lambert, Brett B.
• Published date: 01 June 2021
• Author: Handler, David

On Aug. 16, 2012, some 150 leaders of industry, academia and government gathered in Youngstown, Ohio, to mark an historic occasion--the launch of the national additive manufacturing innovation institute, now called "America Makes," focused on accelerating innovations in 3D printing.

Then-President Barack Obama heralded the new institute, saying it would "help make sure that the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow take root not in places like China or India, but right here in the United States of America. That's how we'll put more people back to work and build an economy that lasts."

While critical to America's future competitiveness, innovation remains only part of the benefit this manufacturing process has demonstrated over the last decade.

We believe it serves as a major economic force as well, aligned with Obama's assertion of contributing to a lasting economy as well as President Joe Biden's commitment for America to "Build Back Better." In particular, metal additive manufacturing--often referred to as 3D printing--is now poised to bring back tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs and drive wholesale change to U.S. supply chains in just a few years if new financial, educational and defense measures can be comprehensively pursued.

To discern necessary policy changes, it's important to review the technology's impact and evolution. Since the late 1980s, metal additive manufacturing has been mostly used for tooling and concept modeling in automotive, medical and aerospace industries. But in the 2010s, work in corporate research-and-development labs and federal agencies drove breakthrough applications of the technologies, and by 2015 GE Aviation had gained Federal Aviation Administration certification for the first additively manufactured production part.

Employing new manufacturing technology, engineers dreamt up part-geometries with complexity only buildable by additive manufacturing. These designs were then transmitted to 3D printers full of metal powder. The printers' lasers heated and melted particles together in thin layers, gradually forming structures never before built. 3D printing is now used in lieu of wasteful "subtractive" machining that chips away at blocks to produce shapes, or "formative" manufacturing--time- and cost-consuming processes that stress parts into particular forms to service a national industrial base. That had been viewed as only a goal, but is now a reality.

Additive presents a far greener option--using...