Speaking to the importance to expand innovation and create job opportunities for Americans, President Obama recently announced the next expansion of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) with The Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDI), to be located in Chicago. AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology applauds the White House for this focus and commitment to advanced manufacturing, and will work collaboratively with the partners involved in these innovation hubs.

The DMDI will change the way that America does manufacturing by focusing on the democratization and data integration across the supply chain. AMT and a number of its member companies have been active in the development of DMDI, in addition to other manufacturing hubs as part of the NNMI. AMT is committed to helping this effort by assisting in the planning and organizing of programs that support advanced manufacturing in the United States.

“Digital manufacturing is clearly one of the most exciting and fundamentally game-changing technologies impacting our industry and providing a platform for U.S. manufacturers to excel in a highly competitive global marketplace,” said AMT President Douglas K. Woods. “The DMDI provides a unique opportunity for industry, academia and government to collaborate and accelerate the commercialization of digital technology based manufacturing products and services.”

“We are especially pleased to have the MTConnect Institute, which was founded by AMT, as one of the industry partners in the DMDI,” Woods said. “MTConnect is accelerating the digitization of manufacturing by allowing disparate manufacturing equipment and devices to communicate through an open-source interoperability standard, therefore enabling better collection and analysis of data from the plant floor. We think that this partnership with DMDI will further the use of the MTConnect standard and foster a more seamless operating environment for manufacturers of all types.”

The DMDI launch announcement coincided with the news of another manufacturing hub, the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation Institute (LM3I), to be located in Canton, Mich. DMDI and LM3I join the two existing NNMI hubs: America Makes - The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in Youngstown, Ohio, and the Next-Generation Power Electronics National Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Raleigh, NC.

In his announcement speech, Obama noted that manufacturing is a good ticket for a well-paying job and economic security, in addition to ensuring that R&D and innovation stays within the U.S. He noted that the NNMI facilities are a way to develop U.S. technology and to train workers for high-tech manufacturing jobs.