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Introduction

Since 2012, sixteen Manufacturing USA Institutes have been established by the federal government. Nine of these organizations have been sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD), under DoD’s Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program. The DoD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) are focused on specific technology areas that have been identified as critical for the future of DoD and for which manufacturing technology maturation is an important need for technology implementation. The DoD MIIs are as follows:

• America Makes (National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) (2012) is a national accelerator and the nation’s leading collaborative partner for technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation in additive manufacturing and 3D printing.
• LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow) (2014) is working to develop and deploy advanced lightweight materials manufacturing technologies.
• MxD (Manufacturing x Digital) (2014) is working to enable factories across the United States to deploy digital manufacturing and design technologies so that those factories can become more efficient and cost competitive.
• NEXTFLEX (America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute) (2015) has the mission of adding electronics to new and unique materials

• that are part of everyday lives in conjunction with the power of silicon integrated circuits to create conformable and stretchable smart products.
• AIM Photonics (American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics) (2015) is working to accelerate the transition of integrated photonic solutions from innovation to manufacturing-ready deployment in systems spanning commercial and defense applications.
• AFFOA (Advanced Functional Fabrics of America) (2016) is working to enable a manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional fibers, yarns, and fabrics into highly sophisticated, integrated, and networked devices and systems.
• ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) (2017) has the mission to create and then deploy robotic technology by integrating the diverse collection of industry practices and institutional knowledge across many disciplines—sensor technologies, end-effector development, software and artificial intelligence, materials science, human and machine behavior modeling, and quality assurance—to realize the promises of a robust manufacturing innovation ecosystem.
• BioFabUSA (Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute) (2017) has the mission to make practical the large-scale manufacturing of engineered tissues and tissue-related technologies to benefit existing industries and grow new ones.
• BioMADE (Biomanufacturing and Design Ecosystem) (2020) seeks to advance sustainable and reliable bio-industrial manufacturing technologies.

In 2019, the director of OSD ManTech asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to perform a study on how DoD should engage with DoD’s MIIs in the future. The National Academies’ study made a series of recommendations and suggestions for further study.¹ In 2020, OSD ManTech asked the National Academies to perform a second fast-track study to provide strategic guidance on the following three important suggestions from the first study:

• Protocols for conducting long-term engagement assessments of the MIIs, including evaluation criteria (Task 1);
• Best practices for MII EWD programs (Task 2); and
• Development of strategies for better connecting MIIs to the broader DoD community as well as to other federal agencies (Task 3).²

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¹ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019, Strategic Long-Term Participation by DoD in Its Manufacturing USA Institutes, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/25417.

² See Appendix A for the statement of task.

DoD is initiating formal 5-year evaluations of its MIIs in 2021. OSD ManTech asked for an interim report focused on Task 1, which has been provided (the interim report is reprinted in Appendix C). This final report includes some additional insights on the MII assessment protocol topic but focuses on findings and recommendations relevant to Tasks 2 and 3.

STUDY APPROACH

This Phase 2 study was a “rapid response” study with a 10-month period of performance. In order to be supportive of DoD’s plans for the initiation of the MII evaluations, the interim report on Task 1 was completed within a 6-month period of performance that started on October 1, 2020. Data gathering in support of the three study tasks was performed using a combination of document reviews, one-on-one phone or video interviews, committee video meetings with DoD and MII personnel who actively support the MIIs, as well as with people from the broader DoD community and other federal agencies.³ The committee also provided a request for input questionnaire to relevant groups from DoD, industry, and the general public. The committee convened to discuss these inputs and to formulate consensus findings and recommendations. The interim report was submitted in April 2021. This final report addresses all three tasks, with a focus on Tasks 2 and 3.

The committee’s approach to Task 1 was to first examine best practices and lessons learned from major program review processes from other federal agencies and identify approaches relevant to the DoD MII evaluation process. Next, the committee examined the MII evaluation framework developed by OSD ManTech and identified topics that should be considered for expanding the scope of the evaluation framework questions to better reflect the MII evaluation process. Finally, a modified evaluation protocol for the strategic assessment was suggested in the interim report (see Appendix C) and is supplemented in Chapter 2 of this report.

The following specific topics examined by the committee at the request of OSD ManTech for Task 2 are discussed in upcoming chapters, as noted:

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³ See Appendix B for the list of briefers.

Although Task 2c is outside the scope of Task 2, the committee decided that the topic was significant enough to warrant a thorough discussion.

To address Task 3, the committee examined DoD’s communication and outreach plan for the MIIs, performed an assessment of MII engagements with OSD ManTech and the science and technology (S&T) community and developed strategies for improvement, performed an assessment of MII engagement with DoD acquisition and sustainment communities and developed strategies for improvement, and performed an assessment of MII engagements with other federal agencies and developed strategies for improvement (see Chapter 4).

BACKGROUND ON THE DOD MANUFACTURING INNOVATION INSTITUTES

DoD has a strong tradition of innovation development and implementation in support of next-generation defense systems. Within DoD’s technology development enterprise, there is constant attention to the maturation of technologies that support the challenging performance goals of future military systems. It is recognized that, to effectively mature and transition DoD S&T advances into production, access to a robust and responsive U.S. industrial base is essential. Ideally, the industrial base would be equipped with advanced manufacturing technologies capable of delivering critical products and systems affordably and rapidly. Manufacturing technology has long been recognized as essential to support advanced technology implementation in the department.⁴

To better support the need for timely, effective manufacturing technology development and transition, DoD established nine Manufacturing Innovation Institutes through its Defense-wide Manufacturing Science and Technology (DMS&T) program element within the ManTech program. The institutes are considered by DoD to be crucial facilitators that bring together innovative often non-traditional ecosystems in key technology and market sectors in the United States, enabling their vibrancy and robustness.⁵ The DoD MIIs are industry-led, with a dual public–private benefit, providing large commercial market potential while meeting key U.S. defense needs. The mission of the nine institutes addresses both commercial

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⁴ The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) ManTech program is established under Title 10, Chapter 148, subsection IV of the US Code.

⁵ See DoD, 2017, Department of Defense Manufacturing USA Strategy, September 8, 2017, Director DoD Manufacturing Technology Program, OUSD(R&E) Strategic Technology Protection and Exploitation.

and defense manufacturing needs within specific, defense-relevant technology areas. DoD recognizes that these institutes serve a role within the U.S. advanced manufacturing infrastructure and that there is a need for broad coordination, collaboration, and dissemination of MII activities within this infrastructure. DoD recently published the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Office Manufacturing Innovation Institutes Strategic Communications and Outreach Plan,⁶ which identifies a broad set of key strategic stakeholders and plans for engagement with these stakeholders on the work being performed in the DoD MIIs. The plan defines relative areas of interest and focus for these government and non-government organizations. Coordination with these stakeholders is critical to the success of the MII program at the national level.

As is shown in Figure 1.1, DoD has committed approximately $1.12 billion to date for these nine MIIs,⁷ and non-DoD partners have contributed approximately $1.93 billion. As noted in Fiscal Year 2020 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress,⁸ DoD views the MII public–private partnerships as a means to achieve significant advances in important manufacturing technologies in a cost-constrained environment. And the institutes have certainly achieved a number of successes, such as delineated in a 2020 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report.⁹ However, budgeted core funding for the institutes was planned to decrease from the fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriated level of $167 million by some 45 percent in FY 2022-2025.¹⁰ Such a budget profile would require difficult decisions by DoD and the institutes on how to accommodate the drop in future funding. The FY 2022 Administration budget request for the institutes is $97 million, with the level remaining around the $90 million until FY 2025. Reflecting this, as the institutes complete their initial 5-year term of funding, DoD OSD ManTech officials are in the process of reducing core funding to a $5 million to $11 million range per year per institute (depending on particular MII needs and infrastructure), as the MIIs become more self-sustaining, and as their terms are extended.¹¹ The committee notes, however, that the budget level for the MIIs is only a small fraction of the

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⁶ DoD, “DoD MII Strategic Communications Plan_cleared.docx,” Distribution Statement A, Approved for Public Release, Version Date July 15, 2020, DOPSR case #21-S-0521.

⁷ DoD, 2021, Fiscal Year 2020 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress, https://media.defense.gov/2021/Jan14/2002565311/-1/-1/0/FY20-INDUSTRIAL-CAPABILITIES-REPORT.PDF, p. 157.

⁸ DoD, 2021, Fiscal Year 2020 Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress.

⁹ NIST, 2021, Manufacturing USA 2019/2020 Highlights Report, February 25, https://www.nist.gov/publications/manufacturing-usa-20192020-highlights-report.

¹⁰ See DoD, 2021, “Budget Exhibit R-2 for PE 060368D8Z: Defense Wide Manufacturing Science and Technology, Feb 2020 DOD OSD ManTech, DMS FYDP 22-26,” July 13. In addition to this level, the budget projects a separate OSD ManTech budget of $5 million a year in fiscal years 2022-2026 for manufacturing education and workforce programs.

¹¹ Committee discussion with DoD Officials Robert Gold and Tracy Frost, June 25, 2021.

$16.8 billion FY 2021 appropriation for “DOD Science and Technology Development” (6.1-6.3 programs) and that overall DoD RDT&E programs rose by 51 percent between 2015 and 2020 and within this “Science and Technology” funding by 29 percent between 2013 and 2020.¹² Since advanced manufacturing could have a major effect on DoD’s ability to realize gains from its S&T investments, this seems a modest amount indeed. The mission of the DoD MIIs is consistent with the responsibilities for manufacturing technology assigned to the OUSD (R&E) and overseen by the OSD ManTech office.¹³ That office recognized the need for a coherent and effective strategy to guide the establishment and sustainment of MIIs, and to ensure their value to DoD and the nation, by setting the following five strategic goals for its institutes:

• Goal 1: Drive impactful advanced manufacturing research and development.
• Goal 2: Encourage the creation of viable and sustainable institute business plans.
• Goal 3: Maintain an optimal program design to maximize value delivery.
• Goal 4: Maximize stakeholder understanding of DoD’s MIIs.
• Goal 5: Effectively support a capable workforce.¹⁴

In addition to helping DoD to meet its needs for the advanced manufacturing technologies that its missions require, DoD OSD ManTech officials recognize that the institutes operate within larger production ecosystems of which DoD work is

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¹² Congressional Research Service, 2020, DOD RDT&E Appropriations Structure, October 8, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R44711.pdf.

¹³ DoD, 2018, “DoD Directive 5200.14: Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program,” Change 1, October.

¹⁴ DoD, 2018, “DoD Directive 5200.14: Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program,” Change 1, October.

only a portion, so they could also help meet broader national goals for manufacturing competitiveness. DoD, of course, is a beneficiary of this broader perspective.¹⁵ The DoD MIIs serve both defense and national missions, which are overlapping and complementary. Also, the DoD MII program benefits from the Manufacturing USA activities. Relevant to the MII assessment task of this study, Manufacturing USA has recently published a document on institute evaluations that provides useful insights which can inform DoD’s 5-year assessment process.¹⁶ The OSD ManTech office provides oversight of the DoD institutes and has performed annual reviews of all of the MIIs since the inception of the institutes.

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¹⁵ Committee discussion with DoD Officials Robert Gold and Tracy Frost, June 25, 2021.

¹⁶ NIST, 2021, Manufacturing USA Institute Evaluation: Renewal Process and Performance Standards, NIST Advanced Manufacturing Series 600-8, Office of Advanced Manufacturing, July, https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ams/NIST.AMS.600-8.pdf.