White House announces Additive Manufacturing Forward

President Biden and his Administration have launched Additive Manufacturing Forward.

Part of the Bipartisan Innovation Act, AM Forward is expected to improve the competitiveness of America’s small and medium enterprise (SME) manufacturers; creating and sustaining high-paying manufacturing jobs; and improving supply chain resilience through adoption of additive manufacturing.

Several large, iconic American manufacturers have made a voluntary pact to support their U.S.-based SME suppliers’ adoption of AM.

For example, GE Aviation will target SME suppliers to compete on 50% of the requests for quotes that are sent out on products made using AM or related technologies; and will target 30% of its total external sourcing of AM parts from U.S.-based SME suppliers.

Siemens Energy will target to purchase 20-40% of externally sourced AM parts and services from U.S.-based SME suppliers and partners.

Lockheed Martin will work with its SME suppliers to conduct research to improve the performance of AM processes as an alternative to castings and forgings; and it will further participate in university and technical college programs for AM workforce development, including coursework and apprenticeship.

Honeywell will target U.S.-based SME suppliers to compete on request for quote packages sent out for products, machinery, manufacturing tooling, and/or manufacturing process development utilizing AM or related technologies.

The initiative will be supported by the non-profit Applied Science & Technology Research Organization.