President Obama first announced his plan for manufacturing institutes in March in Virginia. He said universities and companies could combine to work together on the latest manufacturing techniques.  And he promised to fund a pilot program as a model.

 “With that pilot in place we’ll keep pushing Congress to do the right thing because this is the kind of approach that can succeed.  We’ve got to have this all across the country.  I want everybody thinking about how we can make the best products, how we’re harnessing new ideas and making sure they are located here in the United States. “

That pilot will be in Youngstown and it’s called the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII). “Additive manufacturing” is another term for 3-D printers that can layer on coats of a material to create a solid product.

Barbara Ewing of the Youngstown Incubator, says the Defense Department is investing money for what could seem like fantasy.

“The Department of Defense interest in this is that they want to do rapid prototyping or actually produce new parts in the field of battle so that if any plane or tank or any piece of equipment is damaged out in the theater... that they would have the drawings stored right on a thumb drive and be able to do rapid prototyping right in the field.”

In fact, Ewing has part of an airplane wing that was made that way.  NAMII will be led by the  National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and include these partners:

 40 Companies: Allegheny Technologies, AlphaMicron, Applied Systems and Technology Transfer, Autodesk, Boeing, Catalyst Connection, Energy Industries of Ohio, ExOne, FMW Composites, General Dynamics, General Electric, Honeywell, IBM, Johnson Controls, Kennametal, Kent Displays, Laser Technology Assts, Lockheed Martin, Lubrizol, M-7 Technologies, MicroFab Technologies, Morris, Northrop Grumman, nScrypt, OSRAM Sylvania, Optomec, Oxford Performance Materials, Paramount Industries / 3D Systems, Parker Hannifin, Plextronix, POM, RTI, Ruger, Sciaky, Stratasys, Stratonics, Timken, Touchstone Research Lab, Westinghouse Nuclear, and Wohlers Associates.

 9 Research Universities: Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Lehigh University, Penn State University, Robert Morris University, University of Akron, University of Pittsburgh, and Youngstown State University

 5 Community Colleges: Eastern Gateway Community College, Lorain County Community College, Northampton Community College, Penn College of Technology, and Westmoreland County Community College.

 11 Non-Profit Organizations: Association for Manufacturing Technology, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, JumpStart Ohio, Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, MT Connect, NorTech, National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Consortium, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Robert C. Byrd Institute, the Youngstown Business Incubator, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.