[V]ermont Tech wants to raise $2.5 million to teach students the latest in 3-D product technology, and, in the process, help businesses, too.
In a three-page report, Vermont Technical College lays out a pitch to boost the state’s manufacturing sector with an Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Randolph. The center would offer local businesses a competitive advantage while training students in the latest techniques.
Patricia Moulton, president of Vermont Tech, said the center will teach Vermont students about next generation technology and work with potential employers in the process.
“The primary mission for us is the education component and making sure we are on the cutting edge of technology,” Moulton said.
She says the project is a win-win for students and for Vermont companies. The program will invest in equipment that manufacturers can use — with no up front investment — for research and development of new products.
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, can help engineers quickly make inexpensive prototypes, parts for machines and tools. The process is transforming how products, such as lightweight airplane and car parts, medical devices and tools are designed, developed and manufactured. After design work, the machine builds a product in three-dimensions by layering materials. The product is sturdier than those that are made in traditional ways such as casting, machining and forging.
Three-D printing once only used plastics. Today, direct metal laser sintering machines, which cost about $1 million, use metals to create compressors, pumps, gas turbine engines and rocket parts that perform more efficiently than old-fashioned versions, according to the VTC report.
“Most high performance turbomachines will be redesigned using AM methods,” the report states. “Due to the large amount of analysis needed to introduce AM and the need to redesign most machines, AM creates a revolution for White Collar Manufacturing.”
Concepts NREC, a White River turbomachine manufacturer, brought the idea of building an additive manufacturing center to VTC. The engineering firm makes parts, produces software and offers training workshops.
Concepts NREC’s head of technology Mark Anderson said the company wanted to get into additive manufacturing “because it is a hot field, but we didn’t want to drop the $1 million it takes to get the state of the art hardware.”
“We thought collaborating with a university or college would be a great way to get into this and also spread the cost,” Anderson said.
The public-private partnership would allow Concepts NREC, and other companies, to use the machine during “non-education time” for research and development, Moulton said. “They would pay us to utilize the equipment,” Moulton said.
Pennsylvania State University has invested in a direct metal laser sintering machines machine as part of an Additive Manufacturing and Design program. Tim Simpson, who heads up the department, told VTDigger that a lot of companies, including General Electric and Lockheed Martin, are partnering with universities and community colleges.
GE Aviation, Superior Technical Ceramics and GW Plastics have been invited to collaborate with VTC, and the college is looking for other partners. Moulton said they are in the early stages of developing the concept and are researching what federal and private grant money may be available.
In 2012, President Obama launched a billion dollar plan to boost manufacturing and bring jobs back to the United States with a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation. The pilot program pulled together research universities, community colleges, 40 companies and some nonprofit organizations to create the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. The federal government invested $30 million and the consortium members contributed $40 million.
VTC’s $2.5 million innovation budget includes $1 million for a direct metal laser sintering machine, $650,000 to renovate the manufacturing lab to accommodate it, $50,000 for raw materials and $234,000 for matching money. The rest would go into curriculum development and the first three years of salaries (after that they expect revenues from the use of the machine to pick up costs).
Simpson said VTC should also include maintenance and power costs which can “easily be in the $50,000 per year (as a minimum).” That cost, he said, is difficult to get grant money to cover.
Jeff Somple, who heads Mack Molding, an international manufacturing company with offices in Cavendish and Arlington, is skeptical, not of the AM program, but about buying an expensive direct metal laser sintering machine. Mack Molding specializes in plastic design, prototyping, molding, sheet metal fabrication, medical devices and machining.
The way Somple sees it, Vermont Tech is buying a DMLS machine for a Vermont company that can’t afford to purchase the equipment on its own.
AM has also been criticized because it doesn’t lead to significant job creation. About five years ago, Dupont dropped $20 million into a lithium ion battery facility in Virginia, but only 11 new manufacturing jobs were created.
Mack Molding has 19 interns that have been trained to program a 3-D printing machine in less than an hour, according to Somple. He said once the machine is programed, “you walk away and the part is there in a day. What huge number of jobs are you creating? We can have one technician running a room of 3-D printing machines.”
Moulton says VTC hopes to proceed with the project even if Concepts NREC is the only company on board. “We hope to proceed regardless of how many companies sign on as partners,” she said.
“We are seeking a true public/private partnership to make this the best program,” Moulton said. “Vermont Technical College is not in a position to make this investment on our own in the short term. We will need assistance in the form of grants and private sector partners to assure we can purchase the right equipment, assure we have the right curriculum and technical support as well as provide the best student experience to assure our graduates remain prepared for the workforce.”
VTC already owns additive manufacturing equipment, but it is limited to plastics. “Nothing that can do metal or other materials,” Moulton said, adding “until and unless we get equipment that can do more than 3D printing of plastic it will be theoretical.” Moulton says it’s important for students to understand how to use the technology.
The additive manufacturing process could bring more manufacturing jobs back to the United States, according to Panos Mourdoukoutas, a columnist and professor of Economics at Long Island University. The technology enables companies to manufacture everything in house, shortens the supply chain and protects companies from piracy of proprietary manufacturing processes.
