Advanced Tooling Program Gets $500,000 Grant
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A $500,000 state grant approved Monday by the Ohio Controlling Board will aid the region’s manufacturers in applying and integrating advanced tooling technologies into their processes.
The grant was awarded to the Advanced Tooling Acceleration Program, a partnership between the Youngstown Business Incubator, Youngstown State University, The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (America Makes) and Cleveland-based Magnet.
In addition, YSU received a $700,000 grant from the Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills – or Rapids – program to support advanced manufacturing. The funds were part of nearly $3.3 million the controlling board awarded to institutions to purchase equipment to “help improve Ohio’s workforce development capacity to strengthen business and train future Ohio workers,” said John Carey, chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
Funding for the Advanced Tooling Acceleration Program, allocated from the state’s Advanced Manufacturing Program, will target small- and medium-sized manufacturers who lack the expertise and capital to evaluate and adopt “significant competitive advantages that advanced tooling techniques deliver,” according to the grant announcement. These techniques include additive manufactured (AM) printed tooling, reverse engineering, modeling and simulation enablers, and post-processing methodologies.
“Additive manufacturing can be used to make tooling, jigs and fixtures in low volume, highly complex applications,” explains Barb Ewing, YBI chief operating officer. “With this funding, we’ll be working directly with Ohio manufacturers to help them understand how – and when – to use this technology.”
Adds Mike Hripko, associate vice president of research for Youngstown State University, “Too many people still have a misconception that additive manufacturing is only for printing prototypes out of plastic. However, the technology is changing fast, and its industrial usages are increasing rapidly too. Businesses that want to survive another decade should take advantage of this program to get in front of this wave.”
Public meetings will be held this summer to provide information on how manufacturers can participate in the Advanced Tooling Acceleration Program. In the meantime, more information is available by contacting Stephanie Gaffney at [email protected].
From Our Archives:
Feb. 11, 2016:
YBI Gauges Interest in Tool and Die 3-D Printing
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