Manufacturers Provide Added Value as Domestic Suppliers
The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown there is a clear ROI in manufacturing PPE in the U.S., economically and for society as a whole. The manufacturing community’s response to the pandemic also has provided a proof of concept that domestic suppliers can provide reliance and added value for items of critical importance to the health of the nation. It may prove to be a tipping point for reshoring.
Manufacturers prior to the pandemic already were dealing with risks of cost-driven outsourcing — such as poor quality, theft of IP, shipping delays and a lack of control. The onslaught of disruptions in the global supply chain has provided opportunities, and the Manufacturing USA network’s public-private investment model has shown how it can perform as a catalyst in spurring economic recovery.
Emerging technologies converged with this urgent demand for PPE to create new possibilities for domestic manufacturing, helping boost public health, strengthen our economy and ensure national security. The pandemic-related projects involved many of the institutes and included:
- Digitizing and streamlining production requirements and instructions for PPE, helping ensure public health and safety
- Compliance testing and quality control
- Product lifecycle management
- An online repository to connect suppliers with customers
The Manufacturing USA network institutions are providing pathways for manufacturers to add more value as domestic suppliers and lower their total cost of ownership. Ultimately this will empower manufacturers to align their supply chain management more closely with their business success.
News
Opportunities
NIST invites AFFOA, AIM Photonics, America Makes, ARM, BioFabUSA, BioMADE, CESMII, CyManII, IACMI, LIFT, MxD, NextFlex, PowerAmerica, RAPID, & REMADE Manufacturing USA institutes to propose high-impact projects designed to fund awards for research, development, and testbeds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
Please note that...
The High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) Program, managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has issued a special solicitation seeking industry partners to collaborate with the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) national laboratories on projects to improve manufacturing processes.
This special solicitation invites...
The National Science Foundation supports basic research into new, potentially transformative, manufacturing capabilities, in accordance with the Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing. This solicitation encourages fundamental research and education of a future workforce that will enable Future Manufacturing: manufacturing that...
External News
Siemens is collaborating with Dow to showcase the future of automation with a process industry test bed at MxD, a state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing institute and innovation center near downtown Chicago. This new test bed offers a hands-on demonstration of how innovative software and IoT come together with hardware to accelerate digitalization...
Perhaps the biggest achievement thus far at the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) has been disabusing companies that are members of the Manufacturing USA innovation institute that it is smart to be “a fast second” to market.
“Nobody actually believed when we started, except apparently us naively, that we...
LIFT, the Detroit-based, Department of Defense-supported national manufacturing innovation institute, announced it has partnered with Macomb Community College to provide advanced manufacturing training opportunities through the institute’s “Operation Next” program.
“Operation Next” is an innovative, self-paced, manufacturing-focused training and...
In February 2020, NIIMBL ran a three-day workshop, which included participants from the FDA, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, plus what Erickson describes as “distinguished leaders in manufacturing and process development from 14 major manufacturers and suppliers.”
In January 2021, a team of pharmaceutical experts published...
If city leaders across the country learned anything from the past year, it's the value of resilience.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in infrastructure, posed mobility challenges, and revealed a digital divide. The places that have fared the best are the ones that have been investing in the future, specifically in areas like digital...
The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), through the CARES Act, provided funding to the ARM Institute to collaborate with Wilder Systems to develop this technology.
The ARM Institute is leading the way to a future where people and robots work together to respond to the nation’s greatest challenges and to...
Today’s supply chains and manufacturing operations are global, highly efficient, and carefully tuned. At the same time, the COVID-19 black-swan event has demonstrated painfully that they are also fragile and lacking transparency at times when faced with unexpected disturbances. The various interruptions led to a shortage of essential goods, ranging...
Remember in-person meetings? A year ago, would you have thought our world, our homes and offices would be upended and changed so rapidly? Seemingly overnight businesses were adapting to a new reality. We at U.S. Food and Drug Administration adapted as well – we had to. Our mission is so critical, we couldn’t fall behind because too much was, and...
By this time next year, I predict Americans will covet borosilicate glass in the same way they do N95 masks. Because this durable and heat-resistant glass is what’s needed to make vials — vials that hold the vaccines against COVID-19.
We’ve known for months that a surge in demand is coming, yet the vast majority — 70% to 90% — of medical glass is...
Lifesaving vaccines and medicines. Working with a team. The ability to grow and develop. You'll find all of this and more in the biopharma manufacturing industry.
While many people think biopharma jobs are for those with science degrees, there are opportunities for workers with educational backgrounds of all types. People from all walks of life and...