YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining on Tuesday announced the winners of a recent project call worth a total of $4.5 million.

The Improvements in Manufacturing Productivity via Additive Capabilities and Techno-Economic Analysis 3.0 project call, awarded through the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Manufacturing Technology Office, consists of two topic areas of focus and aims to demonstrate lead time, productivity and yield improvements for casting and forging manufacturing operations using additive manufacturing technologies. 

Efforts from the award recipients to advance the integration of additive manufacturing technologies within the casting and forging domain will play a key role in validating additive manufacturing’s ability to streamline production processes, reduce lead times and achieve substantial cost savings, a news release states.

“At America Makes, we are privileged to mobilize our membership in addressing the nation’s most complex manufacturing challenges with urgency and rigor through the Impact 3.0 project call,” said John Martin, additive manufacturing research director at America Makes. “We congratulate the awardees and look forward to partnering with them to strengthen sustainment strategies and accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing across industry and defense sectors.” 

Here are the award winners and related topic areas:

Topic 1: AM in the Digital Foundry

  • Team lead: Pennsylvania State University.
  • Project team: Donsco Inc.; 3D Systems Inc.; Skuld LLC; Element Materials Technology; Tethon 3D; Foundries in Penn State Cast Metals Industrial Advisory Committee; Marotta Controls Inc.; Parker-Hannifin Corp.

Topic 2: Wire Arc DED Process Sensing and Control

Awardee 1:

  • Team lead: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 
  • Project team: GE Aerospace Research; Wason Technology LLC.

Awardee 2:

  • Team lead: RTX Technology Research Center.
  • Project team: FasTech LLC.

Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange and other industry events during the execution phase of the program.