1. Democratizing Manufacturing Knowledge:

Create a web-portal to act as a “one-stop shop” with information on capabilities and constraints of various manufacturing processes, materials, software tools, and suppliers.

Educate hardware entrepreneurs about basics of design for manufacturability methods and engage manufacturing experts to provide hands-on training. The suggested training format (M-Corps) should be modeled after the successful NSF I-Corps program.

2. 2. Pathways to Manufacturing Careers:

3. Establish programs to expose middle school students to technology and manufacturing through field trips and mobile demonstrations.Integrate proven hands-on programs such as FIRST Robotics directly into the mainstream K-12 curriculum rather than as after-school activity.

4. Encourage private sector to collaborate with local high schools to develop targeted vocational training classes to tap into the pool of non-college-bound students.

5. Embrace apprenticeships and industrial internships as a proven method for training a skilled manufacturing workforce.

3. Process Innovations:

Federal science and technology agencies are urged to increase their focus on engineering research related to design synthesis and manufacturing process innovations.

Additional R&D investment is needed to support manufacturing processes for low-volume manufacturing.

Promote the creation of intelligent software design tools that detect design aspects that are not manufacturable and suggest alternate solutions.

Support the development of process compilers for common manufacturing processes (such as injection molding, stamping, pressure die casting, etc.) to automatically generate process steps from a CAE design.

4. 4. Manufacturing Business Formation and Growth:

Develop a comprehensive matchmaking site to link inventors, entrepreneurs with suppliers and customers. It is especially important that the site include the procurement needs of Department of Defense.

Leverage the resources (hardware and software) and expertise at local universities to lower barriers to access to digital design and manufacturing tools by small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs).

Promote the formation of manufacturing businesses (job-shops for CNC machining or injection molding) using a franchise model, leveraging existing products and services from U.S.-based manufacturers of equipment, federal and state level business equipment loans guarantees, and community-college based skills training for the public.

Promote reshoring and on-shoring of manufacturing through programs that train manufacturers on Total Cost of Ownership tools that calculate true cost of off-shore manufacturing.

5. Improved Access to the U.S. Supply Chain: An in-depth study is recommended to identify the strategies used to increase participation by small to mid-sized manufacturers in the supply chain. Topic areas can include:

• A review of efforts to better match suppliers with customers, and to improve collaboration, investment, and information flow within supply chains.

•An examination of purchasing practices typically found at OEMs that strengthen their relationship with small to mid-sized suppliers while meeting performance and financial metrics.

•A review of successful efforts that have leveraged existing federal technology assets (such as the MEP and Manufacturing USA Institutes) to promote innovation throughout the supply chain.

Implementation of these recommendations could enable and empower individual innovators and small companies to more quickly and cost-effectively transition their initial prototypes into products that can be competitively manufactured in the U.S.