The manufacturers commit to helping smaller U.S. based suppliers increase their application of additive manufacturing.

It has been announced that Boeing and Northrop Grumman have joined the Additive Manufacturing Forward (AM Forward) initiative, committing to helping smaller U.S.-based suppliers increase their use of AM. 

AM Forward was launched by President Biden on May 6 this year. It is a voluntary compact among large manufacturers and is organised and supported by the Applied Science and Technology Research Organisation of America (ASTRO America), a non-profit organisation. With the additions of Boeing and Northrop Grumman, AM Forward now totals seven US manufacturers, including GE Aviation, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies and Siemens Energy. 

The AM Forward initiative aims to help more American companies adopt 3D printing or other high-performance manufacturing technologies. The initiative states that although U.S. manufacturing is making a comeback, not enough American companies are adopting AM.

“A priority of this administration is to lower the cost of the goods and services that families rely on, and one of the best ways to do that is to make more things in America, with more secure and more resilient supply chains,” said Sue Helper, Senior Advisor for Industrial Strategy, White House Office of Management and Budget.

Helper continued: “AM Forward focuses on additive manufacturing to help us achieve these goals. We applaud Boeing and Northrop Grumman for recognising the benefits of promoting additive manufacturing in their supply chains and for making public commitments to support broader adoption.”

By joining AM Forward, the companies make clear commitments to purchase additively produced parts from smaller U.S.-based suppliers; train the workers of their suppliers on new additive technologies; provide detailed technical assistance to support their suppliers’ adoption of new capabilities; and engage in the development of commons standards and certification for additive products.

“The supply chain crisis isn’t just about improving our ports. It’s also about innovating shop floors, right here in America’s small business factories,” said Neal Orringer, President of ASTRO America.

Other public commitments for Boeing, as part of AM Forward, include it targeting an increase of Boeing qualified small and medium-sized supplier capacity by 30% and providing technical guidance. 

The technical guidance will help meet Boeing and industry qualification requirements including delta qualifications, it will also target small and medium-sized suppliers to complete on request for quote (RFQ) packages sent out for products utilising additive manufacturing technologies.

Northrop Grumman will commit to targeting 50% of RFQ packages sent out for products, machinery, manufacturing tooling, and/or manufacturing process development utilising additive or related technologies to be completed by US-based SMM suppliers. It will also target the external sourcing of AM processes and parts from an SMM supplier.

“We know the competitiveness of the U.S. industrial base, including Boeing, relies on the capability of a wide spectrum of suppliers producing and post-processing critical aerospace parts,” said Dr. Melissa Orme, Vice President of Boeing Additive Manufacturing. “Through AM Forward, we are confident we can collaboratively accelerate AM adoption at scale; increase the agility, capacity, and resiliency of U.S. supply chains; and support and expand good-paying jobs across the U.S.”

Speaking about how important AM is to U.S global competitiveness, Matt Bromberg, Corporate Vice President, Global Operations, Northrop Grumman, said: “We know that the competitiveness of the U.S. defense industrial base relies on the capability of thousands of small to medium size manufacturers (SMM) producing and post-processing critical aerospace parts.”

AM Forward helps government and industry to work together to adopt additive manufacturing at scale. The project aims to increase the agility, capacity and resiliency of U.S. supply chains, alongside supporting and sustaining jobs across the United States.

At the RAPID + TCT event in Detroit this year, which began only 10 days after the announcement of the AM Forward initiative, TCT spoke to various exhibitors about their thoughts on the programme.

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