NIST and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 

National Program Office

Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

February 8-9, 2012

Michael F. Molnar

Chief Manufacturing Officer

National Institute of Standards and Technology
Overview

• Advanced Manufacturing Activities

• Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP)

• AMP Steering Committee

• AMP Workstream Study Groups

• Office of Manufacturing Policy (OMP)

• NSTC Working Group on Advanced Manufacturing

• VCAT / AMTech

• AMP National Program Office
Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Timeline

2011 2012

PCAST Report 

and Launch of 

AMP

June 2011

NSTC Interagency Working Group

Advanced Manufacturing Report to Congress

April – February

AMP Steering 

Committee via 

PCAST report

April 2012 AMP strategy, 

implementation, 

public-private 

initiatives

and institutional 

structures

AMP Public 

Outreach 

Meetings

Oct - Dec 

AMP Workstream

Study Groups

July - Feb

White House 

Office of Mfg. 

Policy

December

Stand up AMP 

National Program 

Office

Jan-Mar

Industry/Academia Led Activities

Government Activities
Advanced Manufacturing Recommendations: PCAST

1) Launch a Federal Advanced Manufacturing Initiative

• Concerted, whole-of-government effort, led by DOC, DOD, DOE and 

NSF

• Report to President on priority needs for Federal investments, 

including:

• Coordinated Federal support to academia and industry for applied 

research on new technologies and design methodologies

• Development and dissemination of design methodologies 

• Shared facilities and infrastructure to help small and medium-sized firms 

compete globally

• Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs) to advance such technologies through 

pre-competitive consortia 

2) Improve Tax Policy

• Reform corporate income taxes, extend the R&D tax credit 

permanently and increase the rate to 17%, as advocated in the 

President’s Innovation Strategy. 

3) Support Research

• Strengthen research of three key science agencies: NSF, DOE O/S, 

NIST

4) Strengthen the Workforce

• Strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics 

(STEM) education
Partnership for a US Manufacturing Renaissance

President Obama, 

on establishing Advanced 

Manufacturing Partnership

June 24, 2011.

"Today, I'm calling for all of us to come together- private sector industry, 

universities, and the government- to spark a renaissance in American 

manufacturing and help our manufacturers develop the cutting-edge tools they 

need to compete with anyone in the world... 

With these key investments, we can ensure that the United States remains a 

nation that 'invents it here and manufactures it here' and creates high-quality, 

good paying jobs for American workers."

White House photo
Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP)

President Obama Launches AMP

June 24, 2011

Carnegie Mellon University

AMP Mission

Identify opportunities for investments in 

R&D, pre-competitive collaboration, and 

shared facilities and infrastructure that have 

the potential to transform advanced 

manufacturing in the United States, and 

recommend collaborative approaches that 

will realize these opportunities

AMP Goals

• Sustain US advanced manufacturing 

capability

• Increase private sector investment in 

manufacturing

• Create new or enhance existing public 

private partnerships

• Leverage advanced infrastructure (e.g., 

facilities access) 

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza 
AMP Steering Committee

AMP Steering Committee: Leading experts from industry and 

academia, operating under PCAST providing recommendations on 

advanced manufacturing

1. Technology Development

2. Infrastructure and Shared Facilities,

3. Education and Workforce Development 

4. Manufacturing Policy

AMP Outreach workshops held October 14, November 28, December 

5, and December 12. AMP Webcast scheduled for February 14, 2012.

AMP Steering Committee 

Leadership

Andrew Liveris

CEO, Dow Chemical

Susan Hockfield

President, MIT
AMP Workstreams

Manufacturing Policy

Workstream chairs: Stryker, Carnegie Mellon University

Study focus:

• Produce recommendations to improve the overall climate for advanced 

manufacturing with a unique AMP focus on industry/university interactions

• Recognize and encourage tax, regulatory and trade policy enhancements similar to 

earlier reports (Jobs Council, PCAST, Manufacturing Council etc.)

8

Technology Development 

Workstream chairs: Honeywell International, University of California-Berkeley

Study focus:

• Identify top technologies with greatest impact on the retention and future growth 

of manufacturing in the USA, enabling differentiation & competitiveness for USA 

manufacturing from an end to end supply chain perspective

• Define Technology Roadmaps with actions, milestones, timelines for improving 

technology maturity and commercial usage
AMP Workstreams

Shared Infrastructure and Facilities

Workstream chairs: Caterpillar, University of Michigan

Study focus:

• Establish a network of Manufacturing Innovation “Hubs” to bridge this gap,

• Improve the competitiveness of small and medium size manufacturers by 

establishing a series of Digital Manufacturing Innovation Hubs to support design, 

simulation and modeling for manufacturing, and

• Establish a searchable national database of shared facilities.

9

Education and Workforce Development 

Workstream chairs: Allegheny Technologies, Stanford University

Study focus:

• Repair the image of Manufacturing

• Enhance manufacturing education at Community Colleges (CC).

• Leverage Federal funding to CCs to encourage manufacturing curriculum

• Establish a nationwide network of CC’s to coordinate AM curriculum

• Establish nationwide certificate programs for AM skills
Office of Manufacturing Policy (OMP)

Office of Manufacturing Policy: Operates within the White House NEC

First cabinet level meeting held January 20, 2012

Goal: Ensure effective coordination of manufacturing policy 

implementation and to serve as a resource for agencies to highlight 

and coordinate their manufacturing activities

White House

Office of Manufacturing Policy 

Co-chairs

Secretary Bryson

Department of Commerce

Director Sperling

National Economic Council
NSTC Interagency Working Group

on Advanced Manufacturing

NSTC Committee on Technology: 

Interagency Advanced Manufacturing working group

• chartered March 30, 2011

• Co-chaired by DOE, DOD, and NIST

IAM Charter: to develop a strategic plan to guide Federal programs and activities 

in support of advanced manufacturing research and development 

COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION 2010: Congress calls for strategic plan to address

• Foster transfer of R&D results into U.S. based manufacturing

• Strengthen education and training to ensure a well-trained workforce

• Assist SMEs in developing and implementing advanced manufacturing 

• Specify objectives, metrics, and roles

Release of report to Congress targeted for late February 2012
VCAT Reports:

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (AMTech)

• Supports and provides federal resources to early-stage technology 

development in advanced manufacturing by promoting collaborative 

efforts between industry, government, and universities.

• Consortia will be tasked with: 

• Developing roadmaps of critical long-term 

 manufacturing research needs.

• Designing a manufacturing R&D infrastructure 

 that spans the innovation life cycle. 

• Eliminating critical barriers to innovation and 

 collapsing the time scale for new product and 

service delivery.

Credit: JupiterImages
AMP National Program Office (NPO)

• National Program Office for the Advanced Manufacturing 

Partnership to be established at NIST

• Announced by Secretary Bryson, December 19, 2011

• True interagency staff, with IPA/fellows from industry and academia

• The NPO for AMP will:

– Lead other federal agencies involved in U.S. manufacturing and support 

interagency coordination of advanced manufacturing programs 

– Provide a linkage to the private-sector partnerships between 

manufacturers, government, and universities.

– Satisfy the PCAST report recommendation to create an integrated 

private/public advanced manufacturing initiative.
AMP-NPO: Core Federal Partners

Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

National Program Office

AMP Programs

Agency Projects

Program 1 Program 2 Program n

Project A Project B Project C Project D

...
AMP NPO Planned Activities

• Respond to AMP, PCAST, IAM recommendations

• Coordinate federal advanced manufacturing strategic planning

• Coordinate AMP planning and budget activities with EOP

• Produce annual AMP supplements to the President’s Budget 

• Support advanced manufacturing public-private partnerships

• Establish broad engagement mechanisms among stakeholders 

in government, industry, and academia
Preliminary NPO workplan

Establish core team of Commerce, Agency, Industry, and 

Academic staff

• Main offices at NIST in Gaithersburg 

• DC offices for meetings and DC area detailees

Examples of coordinated initiatives with other agencies in 

Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy and NSF

• Materials Genome Initiative, National Robotics Initiative 

• AMTech Technology Roadmaps and Planning Grants

• Manufacturing Jobs Accelerator Grants

• Manufacturing Demonstration Facilities

• Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Projects 

• Smart Manufacturing, Advanced Materials Processing, 

Product Technology Platforms, Data and Design 

Infrastructure

Credit: Heritage Global Partners

Credit: anyaivanova /Shutterstock