032215_Fiber-Textile IMI NOI

White House announcement

Fiber and Textile IMI to be created

Industry-wide support needed to ensure needs are met

Posted March 23, 2015

After months of work by the U.S. textile industry and its supply chain, the White House released the official notice of intent (NOI) to create the Fiber and Textiles Institute for Manufacturing Innovation, now termed the Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

Speaking in Cleveland on March 18, President Obama announced nearly $500 million in public-private funding to strengthen American manufacturing with:

a $150 million investment in cutting-edge technologies through a new textiles-focused manufacturing institute competition led by the Department of Defense (DoD); and
a $320 million competition to strengthen small manufacturers in 12 states.

The White House, as detailed in a new report, is also launching a Supply Chain Innovation Initiative focused on building public-private partnerships to strengthen the small U.S. manufacturers that anchor the nation’s supply chains.

The president’s fiscal year 2016 budget, to create jobs and strengthen America’s leadership in advanced manufacturing technology, provides the resources to double the number of manufacturing innovation institutes nationwide to 16 by the end of 2016 and fulfills the president’s goal of building a network of up to 45 institutes over the decade, the administration said in a release.

Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles Institute

As part of a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, each institute serves as a regional hub for leadership in emerging manufacturing technologies, bridging the gap between early research and product development by bringing together companies, universities and other academic and training institutions, and federal agencies to co-invest in key technology areas that can encourage investment and production in the United States. The Fibers and Textile Institute is the ninth launched by the DoD to date.

The announcement is the first official step in the process of making the institute a reality, according to Dr. Christine Cole, professor emerita, Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University, who has led the industry’s efforts to convince the Department of Defense and the White House that such an entity is needed. The next step will be the release of the request for Concept Papers and an accompanying announcement of a Proposer’s Day where the U.S. government will present its concepts and answer questions from potential proposers.

“The president’s announcement means that there WILL be a Revolutionary Fiber and Textiles Institute for Manufacturing Innovation.” Cole said. “This major achievement was reached because of industry’s assistance last year in convincing DoD of the critical need for an IMI for fiber and textiles. I frequently hear feedback that the industry turnout and participation for the October 1 meeting at Gaston College have made the difference in establishing an IMI.

“Now,” she added, “the industry needs to make sure that it ends up with the institute it wants.”

As such, industry-wide support is needed, Cole said. She requests that any industry representative who would like to be a part of the Revolutionary Fiber and Textiles IMI or would like more information to contact her here.

Please include your:

Name
Company name
Email
Phone number

The Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute will ensure that the U.S. remains at the leading edge of fiber science, through a $75 million public investment matched by more than $75 million of private

Known as technical textiles, these modern-day fabrics and fibers boast novel properties ranging from being incredibly lightweight and flame resistant, to having exceptional strength and electronic sensors, the administration added. With wide-ranging applications, technical textiles can forge the foundation of protective gear for firefighters impervious to the hottest flames, replicate the sensing capabilities of a smart watch into a lightweight fabric or detect when a wounded soldier needs to be treated with an antimicrobial compression bandage.

After a decade of decline in U.S. manufacturing during the 2000s, the American textile industry is adding jobs for the first time in two decades, increasing shipments by nearly a fifth since the recession, and winning globally with a 45 percent increase in exports since 2009, the White House said.

For the latest on the new institute competition, please visit Manufacturing.gov.

Strengthening small manufacturers

Non-profits in 12 states will compete for $158 million in federal funds matched by $158 million or more in private

Dr. Christine Cole

investment over five years to provide technology and engineering expertise to small manufacturers through the latest round of competitions to strengthen the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)’s network of centers in these states, according to the White House.

The more than 230,000 small manufacturers in the U.S. employ 42 percent, or almost half, of all manufacturing employees. However, small manufacturers often trail their larger peers in adopting the latest technologies and practices to increase their competitiveness and productivity, with many small manufacturers in need of access to capital and expertise to adopt the latest innovations in manufacturing – such as 3-D printing, advanced sensors and digital design – that can help sharpen their edge, according to the administration.

Across the country, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a state-federal network of 60 centers and 1,200 manufacturing experts, helps small manufacturers improve their production processes, upgrade their technological capabilities and bring new products to market.

The competition will award nearly $32 million annually for five years across 12 states – an expected total of $158 million matched at least dollar-for-dollar by $158 million or more of non-federal funding – to strengthen and reinvest in this nationwide network of manufacturing expertise. Non-profits working with manufacturers in each of the 12 states will have the opportunity to compete for cooperative agreements to operate MEP centers and expand the range of lean production and technology acceleration services offered to small manufacturers, and help bring their products to market. Annual funding is subject to continued performance and the availability of appropriations.

New MEP competitions are being launched in these states: Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For more on the competition, applicants should visit the NIST MEP competition website.

Supply Chain Innovation initiative

The new White House Supply Chain Innovation Initiative follows on the president’s State of the Union commitment to improve the access of small- and medium-sized manufacturers to technologies and resources they need to improve their innovation and productivity through public private partnerships and new federal efforts, the White House said.

As discussed in depth in a new White House and Department of Commerce report, a dense network of small manufacturers makes up the backbone of America’s supply chains, contributing more than 40 percent of all manufacturing employment. However, even as their share of U.S. manufacturing employment grows, small firms continue to face stiff challenges in innovation, the administration said.

According to the White House, the new report finds:

Small manufacturers are playing an increasingly important role in U.S. supply chains and the manufacturing sector overall. Today, small manufacturers employ 42 percent – or nearly half of all U.S. manufacturing workers – up 10 percentage points from their share in the 1980s.
Dense networks of these small manufacturers are vital to the process of taking a product from concept to market, and the exchange of manufacturing know-how across suppliers is essential for the diffusion of the new product ideas and innovative processes that give U.S. manufacturing its cutting edge.

However, because of the unique barriers they face, small manufacturers often lag their larger peers in adopting critical new technologies. For example, a recent survey found that fewer than 60 percent of small manufacturers were experimenting in any way with 3-D printing, a potentially transformative technology that is especially beneficial for small companies due to its flexibility. In contrast, over 75 percent of large firms were using the technology.

The White House Supply Chain Innovation Initiative will focus on public-private partnerships and new federal efforts to strengthen U.S. manufacturing overall by closing this gap, according to the release.

Later this year, the administration will convene a Supply Chain Innovation Roundtable of CEOs and representatives of leading manufacturers committed to partnering with the small businesses in their supply chains to accelerate technology adoption, strengthen the linkages within domestic supply chains and to improve product design and process engineering. In addition, the Departments of Commerce, Energy and Defense, as well as the Small Business Administration, will announce additional federal efforts to help small firms adopt cutting-edge technologies and improve information flow within supply chains.

investment in researching, prototyping and commercializing fibers with extraordinary properties, according to the White House.