II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3120 

To improve the productivity and energy efficiency of the manufacturing sector 

by directing the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the National 

Academies and other appropriate Federal agencies, to provide assistance 

to small and medium manufacturers in implementing smart manufacturing programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2021 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To improve the productivity and energy efficiency of the 

manufacturing sector by directing the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the National Academies and 

other appropriate Federal agencies, to provide assistance 

to small and medium manufacturers in implementing 

smart manufacturing programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Smart Manufacturing 

5 Leadership Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the industrial sector— 

4 (A) represents approximately 20 percent of 

5 the economy of the United States; 

6 (B) provides approximately 13 percent of 

7 employment in the United States; and 

8 (C) accounts for more than 

9 30,000,000,000,000,000 Btus of energy, a 

quantity that is equal to almost 1 10 ⁄3 of the en11 ergy consumption of the United States; 

12 (2) smart manufacturing is set to transform the 

13 manufacturing sector and the use by the manufac14 turing sector of energy, water, raw materials, and 

15 labor over the 10 years following the date of enact16 ment of this Act; 

17 (3) the transformation described in paragraph 

18 (2) will result in savings in electricity, natural gas, 

19 transportation fuels, chemical feedstocks, and many 

20 other fuels; 

21 (4) the interconnection of the many components 

22 of manufacturing within a manufacturing plant with 

23 other business functions within a company and 

24 across companies within a supply chain will enable 

25 new production efficiencies; 


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1 (5) the improvements in automation described 

2 in paragraph (4) are estimated to produce between 

3 $5,000,000,000 and $25,000,000,000 in energy sav4 ings per year across the manufacturing sector for 

5 electricity alone by 2035; 

6 (6) smart manufacturing technologies are esti7 mated to add between $10,000,000,000,000 and 

8 $15,000,000,000,000 to the global gross domestic 

9 product over 20 years following the date of enact10 ment of this Act; 

11 (7) market barriers exist to the widespread 

12 adoption of smart manufacturing practices by all 

13 sizes of firms and to the investment in smart manu14 facturing technologies, including lack of— 

15 (A) common communication protocols be16 tween smart manufacturing devices, which pre17 vents interoperability, reduces system effi18 ciencies, and stifles innovation; 

19 (B) common standards for storing and 

20 sharing information relating to energy con21 sumption and energy savings; 

22 (C) an open-access smart manufacturing 

23 platform that enables the networking of busi24 ness and automation systems of multiple ven25 dors; and 


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1 (D) common cybersecurity protocols and 

2 standards; 

3 (8) addressing the barriers described in para4 graph (7) is in the interest of the United States; 

5 (9) in response to the barriers described in 

6 paragraph (7), the Secretary is working with the pri7 vate sector to reduce the market barriers through 

8 the development of voluntary protocols and stand9 ards; 

10 (10) there exist many technologies of which 

11 many domestic manufacturers are unaware that 

12 could— 

13 (A) improve the competitiveness of the do14 mestic manufacturers; and 

15 (B) reduce the environmental impacts of 

16 the domestic manufacturers; 

17 (11) Federal agency action can facilitate great18 er economic growth through outreach and engage19 ment in the smart manufacturing technology area; 

20 and 

21 (12) the United States would benefit from a 

22 concerted and focused effort to advance the adoption 

23 of smart manufacturing throughout the manufac24 turing sector of the United States. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.—The term 

4 ‘‘energy management system’’ means a business 

5 management process based on standards of the 

6 American National Standards Institute that enables 

7 an organization to follow a systematic approach in 

8 achieving continual improvement of energy perform9 ance, including energy efficiency, security, use, and 

10 consumption. 

11 (2) INDUSTRIAL ASSESSMENT CENTER.—The 

12 term ‘‘Industrial Assessment Center’’ means a cen13 ter located at an institution of higher education 

14 that— 

15 (A) receives funding from the Department 

16 of Energy; 

17 (B) provides an in-depth assessment of 

18 small and medium manufacturer plant sites to 

19 evaluate the facilities, services, and manufac20 turing operations of the plant site; and 

21 (C) identifies opportunities for potential 

22 savings for small- and medium-size manufac23 turer plant sites from energy efficiency improve24 ments, waste minimization, pollution preven25 tion, and productivity improvement. 


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1 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

3 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

5 (4) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na6 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given the term 

7 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

8 U.S.C. 15801). 

9 (5) NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICA10 TION SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘North American Indus11 try Classification System’’ means the standard used 

12 by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business 

13 establishments for the purpose of collecting, ana14 lyzing, and publishing statistical data relating to the 

15 business economy of the United States. 

16 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Energy. 

18 (7) SMALL AND MEDIUM MANUFACTURER.— 

19 The term ‘‘small and medium manufacturer’’ means 

20 a manufacturing firm— 

21 (A) classified in the North American In22 dustry Classification System as any of sectors 

23 31 through 33; 

24 (B) with gross annual sales of less than 

25 $100,000,000; 


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1 (C) with fewer than 500 employees at the 

2 plant site; and 

3 (D) with annual energy bills totaling more 

4 than $100,000 and less than $2,500,000. 

5 (8) SMART MANUFACTURING.—The term 

6 ‘‘smart manufacturing’’ means advanced tech7 nologies in information, automation, monitoring, 

8 computation, sensing, modeling, and networking 

9 that— 

10 (A) digitally— 

11 (i) simulate manufacturing production 

12 lines; 

13 (ii) operate computer-controlled man14 ufacturing equipment; 

15 (iii) monitor and communicate pro16 duction line status; and 

17 (iv) manage and optimize energy pro18 ductivity and cost throughout production; 

19 (B) model, simulate, and optimize the en20 ergy efficiency of a factory building; 

21 (C) monitor and optimize building energy 

22 performance; 

23 (D) model, simulate, and optimize the de24 sign of energy efficient and sustainable prod25 ucts, including the use of digital prototyping 


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1 and additive manufacturing to enhance product 

2 design; 

3 (E) connect manufactured products in net4 works to monitor and optimize the performance 

5 of the networks, including automated network 

6 operations; and 

7 (F) digitally connect the supply chain net8 work. 

9 SEC. 4. LEVERAGING EXISTING AGENCY PROGRAMS TO AS10 SIST SMALL AND MEDIUM MANUFACTURERS. 

11 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

12 (1) the Department of Energy has existing 

13 technical assistance programs that facilitate greater 

14 economic growth through outreach to and engage15 ment with small and medium manufacturers; 

16 (2) those technical assistance programs rep17 resent an important conduit for increasing the 

18 awareness of and providing education to small and 

19 medium manufacturers regarding the opportunities 

20 for implementing smart manufacturing; and 

21 (3) those technical assistance programs help fa22 cilitate the implementation of best practices. 

23 (b) EXPANSION OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PRO24 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall expand the scope of techVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:03 Nov 02, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3120.IS S3120

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1 nologies covered by the Industrial Assessment Centers of 

2 the Department of Energy— 

3 (1) to include smart manufacturing technologies 

4 and practices; and 

5 (2) to equip the directors of the Industrial As6 sessment Centers with the training and tools nec7 essary to provide technical assistance in smart man8 ufacturing technologies and practices, including en9 ergy management systems, to manufacturers. 

10 (c) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use unobligated 

11 funds of the Department of Energy to carry out this sec12 tion. 

13 SEC. 5. LEVERAGING SMART MANUFACTURING INFRA14 STRUCTURE AT NATIONAL LABORATORIES. 

15 (a) STUDY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary shall conduct a study on how the Department 

19 of Energy can increase access to existing high-per20 formance computing resources in the National Lab21 oratories, particularly for small and medium manu22 facturers. 

23 (2) INCLUSIONS.—In identifying ways to in24 crease access to National Laboratories under para25 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 


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1 (A) focus on increasing access to the com2 puting facilities of the National Laboratories; 

3 and 

4 (B) ensure that— 

5 (i) the information from the manufac6 turer is protected; and 

7 (ii) the security of the National Lab8 oratory facility is maintained. 

9 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

11 submit to Congress a report describing the results of 

12 the study. 

13 (b) ACTIONS FOR INCREASED ACCESS.—The Sec14 retary shall facilitate access to the National Laboratories 

15 studied under subsection (a) for small and medium manu16 facturers so that small and medium manufacturers can 

17 fully use the high-performance computing resources of the 

18 National Laboratories to enhance the manufacturing com19 petitiveness of the United States. 

20 SEC. 6. STATE LEADERSHIP GRANTS. 

21 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the States— 

22 (1) are committed to promoting domestic manu23 facturing and supporting robust economic develop24 ment activities; and 


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1 (2) are uniquely positioned to assist manufac2 turers, particularly small and medium manufactur3 ers, with deployment of smart manufacturing 

4 through the provision of infrastructure, including— 

5 (A) access to shared supercomputing facili6 ties; 

7 (B) assistance in developing process sim8 ulations; and 

9 (C) conducting demonstrations of the bene10 fits of smart manufacturing. 

11 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 

12 make grants on a competitive basis to States for estab13 lishing State programs to be used as models for sup14 porting the implementation of smart manufacturing tech15 nologies. 

16 (c) APPLICATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

18 grant under this section, a State shall submit to the 

19 Secretary an application at such time, in such man20 ner, and containing such information as the Sec21 retary may require. 

22 (2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall evaluate an 

23 application for a grant under this section on the 

24 basis of merit using criteria identified by the Sec25 retary, including— 


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1 (A) the breadth of academic and private 

2 sector partners; 

3 (B) alternate sources of funding; 

4 (C) plans for dissemination of results; and 

5 (D) the permanence of the infrastructure 

6 to be put in place by the project. 

7 (d) REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 (1) TERM.—The term of a grant under this 

9 section shall not exceed 3 years. 

10 (2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of a 

11 grant under this section shall be not more than 

12 $3,000,000. 

13 (3) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Each State 

14 that receives a grant under this section shall con15 tribute matching funds in an amount equal to not 

16 less than 30 percent of the amount of the grant. 

17 (e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State shall use a grant 

19 provided under this section— 

20 (A) to provide access to shared supercom21 puting facilities to small and medium manufac22 turers; 

23 (B) to fund research and development of 

24 transformational manufacturing processes and 


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1 materials technology that advance smart manu2 facturing; and 

3 (C) to provide tools and training to small 

4 and medium manufacturers on how to adopt en5 ergy management systems and implement smart 

6 manufacturing technologies in the facilities of 

7 the small and medium manufacturers. 

8 (f) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall conduct bian9 nual evaluations of each grant made under this section— 

10 (1) to determine the impact and effectiveness of 

11 programs funded with the grant; and 

12 (2) to provide guidance to States on ways to 

13 better execute the program of the State. 

14 (g) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro15 priated to the Secretary to carry out this section 

16 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025. 

17 SEC. 7. REPORT. 

18 The Secretary annually shall submit to Congress and 

19 make publicly available a report on the progress made in 

20 advancing smart manufacturing in the United States. 

Æ 


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