3D Printing in Youngstown, Ohio

How does an American manufacturing town stay viable after its only source of income, steel, has decided to leave for greener pastures?  What do they do to remain competitive in the marketplace?  How do they handle the shift from locally sourced and produced to off-shored and outsourced?  


3D printing has forever changed the economic landscape for a lot of towns on the steel belt.  We are seeing a trend for cities near the Erie Canal attempting to create a "high-tech" Barack Obama mentioned 3d printing, also known as additive manufacturing in industrial circles, in his State of the Union address and said that it "has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost anything." (Source: Royte, Elizabeth. "The Printed World" Pg 50)  In the same speech, President Obama mentioned the small manufacturing city of Youngstown, Ohio, where the steel boom of the early 20th century created a vibrant and booming mecca of American industrial success.

A 3D Printer at Work 

Source: inc.com

Reichart's was a women's apparel store located in Youngstown that closed in the 1970s, as the U.S. steel industry's boom was winding down.  After laying vacant for the last three decades, it now houses NAMII, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute.  President Obama may have exaggerated the size and scope of non-profit NAMII, as they only have two employees, but it is a promising incubator dedicated to helping designers and innovators incorporate 3D printing technology into their startups.  After receiving $30 million from the Department of Defense, NAMII has purchased several $250k multi-material 3D printers capable of producing small-scale  batches of customized goods.  NAMII can produce anything from prosthetic knee replacements to parts for fighter jets.     
Housing 10 brand-new, multi-material printers and other 3D software and hardware, NAMII has 12,000 sq. ft. at its disposal for additive manufacturing ("AM" for short).  They charge innovators $15,000/year to use their printers.  NAMII has a Objet Connex printer in-house, which is the market leader in the multi-material 3D printer industry - see this link for a demo.   

NAMII sponsoring a science and tech "championship" for students

NAMII hopes to encourage innovation and adoption of AM through the use of its space, which includes conference rooms, a design floor, and of course, 3d printers.   



An article on inc.com about a warehouse in Youngstown Ohio describes slow but steady economic progress, built on the foundation of 3D printing's disruptive abilities.   



Scott Deutsch, a part-time communications specialist at NAMII, appreciated the President's shout-out but knows that the industry still has to jump leaps and bounds in adoption rates: "While it's great to get all this attention, we need to be truthful: We're in the very early stages of this. There's a lot of work to be done. We need to know what ceramics and plastics can do in an AM environment. We need to figure out the industrial processes, and we need to know what happens when you put AM products in a jet airplane or helicopter or a tank."