The Michigan State Industry 4.0 Knowledge Center Automation Alley indicates that the company has received a task order for the first phase amounting to 7.5 million US dollars, in addition to basic and optional components. The project is part of the Industrial Base Analysis and Maintenance IBAS program, which is managed by the National Defense Manufacturing and Machinery Center NCDMM IDIQ. This contract will support the U.S. Army in modernizing its defense supply chain security system through secure, distributed additive manufacturing AM.
In the first phase, Automation Alley will lead the design and verification of a secure digital manufacturing environment that enables manufacturing instructions to be sent to a network of distributed additive manufacturing devices in a stream-based transmission method protected by intellectual property rights. This work is part of Automation Alley's flagship defense manufacturing project, Project DIAMOnD, and marks an important step forward in demonstrating that complex defense components can be produced on-demand at distributed locations while ensuring complete data security, traceability, and quality assurance.
Addressing Key Challenges in National Defense Manufacturing
Traditional defense components often face issues such as supply chain disruptions, long delivery cycles, and limited domestic production capacity. This project will directly address these challenges by verifying a "streamlined manufacturing" model – a model similar to the secure authorization and streaming transmission of digital media, but applied to the production of physical parts.
The technical work in the first phase will include: developing a secure encryption digital workflow architecture that complies with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification ( CMMC ) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) cybersecurity standards; identifying and verifying candidate polymer and metal weapon system components; as well as producing additive manufacturing parts using verified processes. A core deliverable of this project is to demonstrate how to securely and end-to-end transfer intelligent product formulations ( SPR ) to distributed manufacturers, and to provide a complete digital quality assurance formulation for each produced part.
Cooperative Promotion
Automation Alley will collaborate with industrial additive manufacturing system supplier Markforged and applied research institution Fraunhofer USA to execute this project. NCDMM, as the general contractor, will be responsible for managing the US Additive Manufacturing Public-Private Partnership Project America Makes. This collaboration brings together complementary expertise in additive manufacturing technology, cybersecurity, and manufacturing process validation, with the aim of delivering a project that has tangible and measurable impacts.
Automation Alley, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "This award reflects the results of our years of building a platform and network that can support the most critical manufacturing needs of the U.S. Department of Defense. The first phase gives us the opportunity to prove in a real and rigorous manner that secure distributed additive manufacturing is not only feasible but also ready to be used."
About Automation Alley
Automation Alley is a digital transformation insights center in Michigan, with a global perspective and a base driven by local members, boasting over 4,000 members. Through education, collaboration, and the Project DIAMOnD platform, Automation Alley helps manufacturers to adapt to the technologies that are transforming the manufacturing industry and strengthens the state's and nation's manufacturing foundation.
About NCDMM
NCDMM provides innovative and collaborative manufacturing solutions to enhance the competitiveness of the American workforce and economy. NCDMM possesses extensive knowledge and deep expertise in the fields of commercial and defense manufacturing, continuously innovating, improving, and advancing manufacturing technologies and methods. Its experienced team focuses on identifying customer needs, stakeholders, technologies, and processes to achieve the best solutions. NCDMM states: "We connect all the dots. This is NCDMM's methodology." NCDMM has 7 locations across the United States, managing America Makes, Youngstown Innovation Hub, and El Paso Makes, and is also a subsidiary of Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc. ( MTDG ) For more information, please visit ncdmm.org.
