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Featured image: chairs, podium, and letters 3D printed by JuggerBot 3D.
America Makes is a public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM), driven by the non-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). Established in 2012, it’s one of nearly 20 Manufacturing USA institutes, which were designed to accelerate advanced manufacturing in the U.S. To advance national manufacturing competitiveness and security, the organization brings together government, industry, and academia to speed innovation; coordinates technical and workforce data to help transform the industry; and catalyzes the industry through impactful, collaborative, high-value projects.
Members gather annually in Youngstown, Ohio for the annual Members Meeting & Exchange (MMX) to learn what America Makes has been working on the past year, where the Institute is headed, and how they can get engaged. This was my fourth year in attendance, and it’s one of my favorite industry events. While the sessions cover serious topics, including AM in the defense industrial base (DIB) and how to get government funding, America Makes knows how to have a good time with it. New this year were microphones encased in fabric cubes, so you could just toss them to the audience member with a question…there was a lot of tossing.
Everyone also enjoys that the speakers get to choose “walk-up songs” that play as they make their way to the stage. Most people just pick certified bangers, though some said that their songs had a deeper meaning. I think it would be funny if people picked songs that were tongue-in-cheek references to AM, like “I Melt With You” by Modern English, or even manufacturing in general, like “Creep” by TLC. If you make it to the end of this article, I’ll tell you what song I would pick.
Throughout the event, the America Makes leadership team directors took to the stage to provide updates on the Institute. In his State of the Union, John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes, shared a snapshot of where the Institute is at, including the most members (312) and largest portfolio of active programs it’s ever had. There’s also been a 25% growth in membership over the past five years.
Wilczynski explained that America Makes is working to support three core priorities under the Secretary of Defense:
He explained some of the initiatives that support this work, including technology development (standards coordination and technology transition), education and workforce development (updating the strategy, focusing the scope), industrial base integration (market intelligence and two new working groups), and operations (portfolio management, events and networking, governance).
John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes
Last year, America Makes completed a Joint Defense Manufacturing Council Review (JDMC), and six recommendations came out of this. America Makes needs to come up with a five-year strategy, expand ecosystem efforts, accelerate qualification efforts, expand standards efforts, work on data management and dissemination, and scale its high value programs.
“We’ll continue our partnership with the DoD, but we need to provide plans for these recommendations,” Wilczynski said.
He also shared the America Makes 2030 Plan, which includes broadening its scope to include adaptive manufacturing, a term he said is “used pretty loosely right now.” Basically, AM is the technology enabler rolled into the framework that is adaptive manufacturing.
“It’s not just ever about the machine or the material used to produce something,” he explained. “It’s how do we consider things more holistically. Think about adaptive manufacturing as a strategic framework allowing us to use tools from Industry 4.0, make fast changes, and support outputs.”
Kimberly Gibson, Industrial Base Integration Director for America Makes, explained that they developed an Industrial Base strategy to address challenges in the evolving AM landscape, and to create shared value.
“Integration is about creating a unified whole by bringing together separate parts,” she said.
The strategy includes five swimlanes, which define areas of focus that offer complementary value to the ecosystem: Activate, Accelerate, Integrate, Mobilize, and Advocate. Across all five, the team has identified 53 initiatives, which came out of four surveys to America Makes members. These include establishing a grant program, creating executive education resources, offering collaboration incentives, reduce procurement barriers, and modifying Project Call structures.
One thing the team will do to implement this strategy is expand its satellite network, which currently consists of the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation at the University of Texas at El Paso, the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University, and Texas A&M’s Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). They’re also aligning regional clusters to scale production, and adding two new working groups—the Policy Working Group (PWG) and Supply Chain Working Group (SCWG)—to implement the items on the wish list. The SCWG will also serve as the Industrial Base Integration Advisory Group.
Technology Director Brandon Ribic, PhD, explained that the “reality of technology maturation is we want to build momentum, and that requires some level of continuity.” He also said that to reach this, we need to figure out “what’s inhibiting the pace at which we’re learning, and form partnerships to better things for our membership and society in general.”
Ribic also shared a summary of the Institute’s completed efforts for FY25, including the Allied Additive Manufacturing Interoperability (AAMI) Program and the Quality Test and Inspection Methods Expediency (QTIME) Project Call, both of which are a result of DoD ManTech’s Joint Additive Manufacturing Working Group (JAMWG). But, he also reminded us that there’s still plenty of work to be done in the Institute’s strategic focus areas of Technology, Education and Workforce Development (EWD), and Industrial Base Integration Development.
There are many ways to support these efforts, including expanding incentives that encourage design for AM (DfAM) in more high-value applications and setting up AM feedstock material development programs. Ribic said America Makes has shared with government leadership some of the efforts that should continue in order to help scale AM, like analyzing and investing in domestic testing capacity and capability. He also brought up adaptive manufacturing, calling it a “new opportunity space” for America Makes, and noted that a variety of customer needs can be met through enabling adaptable production capabilities, such as robotics and automation, digital design methods, and IoT.
Chair of the Roadmap Advisory Group (RMAG) Andrew Thompson, Deputy Chief Engineer of Additive Manufacturing for Northrop Grumman Space Systems, said that the JAMWG asked what they needed funding for, so the RMAG held an open forum with all five Working Groups—Design, Process, AM Genome, Materials, and Value Chain—to find out. Lists of the responses were compiled, and a survey was sent out to all the WG members. Out of the 70+ responses they received, the RMAG was able to assemble a top ten list of priorities for Quality Control and Open Topics, and gave it to the JAMWG. This list turned into two funded RFPs.
RMAG Chair Andrew Thompson, Deputy Chief Engineer of Additive Manufacturing for Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Also this year, the RMAG realigned the roadmap itself, because the various swimlanes were each operating independently to determine their own specific priorities. Thompson said this was “great in theory,” but made it hard to complete the necessary steps for adoption. An application layer of product families now overlays the roadmap.
“When engineers think that additive is the place to go first, and not to just make it work, or it’s the default manufacturing method, that’s success,” he said. “So we needed a very strong list of the highest value products that we can align to.”
In FY24, America Makes reached over 10,000 learners, which Education and Workforce Development (EWD) Director Ed Herderick, PhD, says is “really, really exciting.”
“We’ve been working hard to refine and offer a focused approach that will lead to exciting, scalable successes,” he said about the EWD team.
He also said that they’ve helped support over 4,000 DoD warfighters and veterans over the past five years, and that they’re working to double this. Additionally, the EWD team is refining its approach and vision statement, with an end goal of expanding supply chain capacity through focused, industry-grounded efforts.
There are several EWD digital assets available to members, starting with AMTrain, which is a curated inventory of AM training assets from over 50 providers; Herderick called it a curriculum builder for additive training. The platform was developed a few years ago with trainings for 15 critical AM job roles. Phase 2, which ends in February of 2026, is about launching it to the defense community.
Another digital asset is DRIVE AM, a combination of in-person and online training opportunities that over 2,000 DoD and DIB personnel have completed. The AMNation Pipeline Portal is a digital repository for many of the available trainings, and Edge Factor offers story-driven career and workforce development solutions through videos, lesson plans, interactive activities, and career tools. There are a few other available resources, and you can find them all here.
Ed Herderick, EWD Director of America Makes
Herderick also shared some upcoming opportunities and projects, including a new “High Power Lasers and Optics Training for Metal AM Maintenance,” and “The History of Additive Manufacturing Engagement Project.” Additionally, the EWD team is setting up a workshop about 3D printing for UAVs and drones. This will be a series of activities to support stakeholders and engage members, including an AM field demonstration video with Craitor, a 3D printed UAV assembly video with Camp Lejeune USMC, and even a high school summer camp.
Alexander Steeb, Operations Director for America Makes, knows how to make an entrance. After taking to the stage accompanied by fog machines, he shared that expenditures last year were the largest ever at $61.6 million, which “underscores the level of activity and impact and progress we make on our goals.” In terms of human capital, 11,000+ people participated in EWD activities last year, which is a 4% improvement from the same period in FY24. As Wilczynski mentioned, the Institute has its largest number of members ever at 312, which is a 16% increase from this time last year and a 30% increase over the past three years. Steeb said that 50% of members are small businesses, while 16% are large businesses and 16% are academic institutes. Non-profits, public partners, etc. make up 18% of the membership.
“A strong, diverse membership fuels our impact, reach, and credibility,” Steeb said. “For us to transition technology, we need to move faster with it, we need to scale, we need industry. We need businesses to build a healthy supply chain.”
Alexander Steeb, Operations Director of America Makes
There are many membership resources, including networking at events and workshops; business opportunities like access to funding; the Member Portal; access to project deliverables, like MMX and TRX presentations; and the working groups, which help curate the Technology Roadmap and prioritize topical areas for Project Calls. There was also record participation in this year’s membership survey.
Steeb also reviewed the new Institute metrics, which will help improve alignment with Institute focus and DoD/DIB priorities.
“Metrics shape behavior,” he explained. “This will influence where we focus.”
He also reminded us about the contractually required Public Release Process for any members hoping to work on a project. Steeb explained that there are “specific processes we need to adhere to,” or the project could actually get cancelled, which has happened before.
Finally, he shared the Institute’s upcoming Project Calls, though he cautioned the crowd that “everything is subject to change.”
“We’ve heard you loud and clear about polymer additive manufacturing, so we’re doing a composite roadmap to drive more focus to that area,” he said.
There will be another QTIME Project Call in Q3 of FY 26, and the Joint Additive Qualification for Sustainment – Supplier Qualification (JAQS-SQ) Project Call actually launched at MMX.
Wilczynski also presented the 2025 Ambassador Awards and Distinguished Collaborator Award at MMX. The Ambassador Program recognizes those who show exceptional committment and dedication to advancing the mission of America Makes, and the Institute itself. This year, Northrop Grumman 3D printed the coins that were given to the Ambassadors.
“We are honored to have a passionate and powerful membership base that proactively leads efforts across their industries and beyond that boosts our efforts as an Institute,” Wilczynski said.
“By reinforcing and expanding our effective collaboration model, the dedicated efforts of our supporters are essential to strengthening the U.S. industrial base and igniting the next wave of technological breakthroughs in additive manufacturing.”
Class of 2025 Ambassadors with John Wilczynski. David Beck not pictured.
This year’s Ambassadors are:
Wilczynski also presented the Distinguished Collaborator Award, given to individuals or organizations that are exceptionally committed and dedicated to advancing AM practices, technology, and innovation, and cultivate collaborative relationships with academia, government, and industry for this purpose. The 2025 Distinguished Collaborator Award went to Adele Ratcliff, who recently retired from the DoD as Director of the Innovation Capability and Modernization (ICAM) Office.
“Our job in America Makes is to put this technology in the hands of every warfighter and U.S. company in every industry. That is how we declare success,” Ratcliff said. “My time with the DoD has come to an end, and I have enjoyed my time with you. I thank you for allowing me to walk your shop floors every day, and learn from you, and champion for you. What you do matters.”
Adele Ratcliff, 2025 Distinguished Collaborator
All of these Institute updates are excellent examples of America Makes’ continuing push to scale up AM through its proven ecosystem approach. Especially of note this year was the announcement that the organization is broadening its scope to include adaptive manufacturing, which is essentially an advanced production strategy that enables a factory to adjust its processes in real time by using data, automation, and intelligent systems; these are all tools that additive utilizes as well.
Rather than a cause for alarm that the Institute focused on additive manufacturing is no longer just focused on additive manufacturing, it seems like a good thing. As Macro Analyst Matt Kremenetsky explained, “America Makes has honed in on the precise role that the organization will be encouraging the AM industry to play in the overall U.S. manufacturing landscape.” That’s what additive wanted from the start: a chance to prove ourselves in the greater manufacturing sector.
Now, my walk-up music selection: while at first I thought about “Jump” by Van Halen, I think I’ll go with “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child. The AM industry is pretty scrappy, and I think the lyrics “Thought that I would self destruct/But I’m still here” are fairly apropos.
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