Defense

For the military, modernization goes way past information technology

Most discussions about federal modernizing, center on information technology. For the armed forces, modernizing is also about physical systems that require a so...

Tom Temin@tteminWFED

June 13, 2023 3:01 pm

7 min read

Most discussions about federal modernizing, center on information technology. For the armed forces, modernizing is also about physical systems that require a solid manufacturing industry base. That is where the non-profit Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center comes in. It is working to support the Army’s need for a half million skilled workers. For more details, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with the Center’s program manager, Brian Schmidt.

Interview Transcript:

Tom Temin Tell us about the center itself. What does it actually do? It’s a nonprofit. Most people know is here in Huntsville, which is a big center for a lot of military and manufacturing activity. But what goes on at the center?

Brian Schmidt So you’re absolutely correct. There’s a lot of activity going on here. The center is actually a division of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing Machining. We’ve been working in the Huntsville area with Huntsville businesses and the Arsenal and those types of folks since about 2005. So we have had a presence here, just made a lot of sense to finally stand up a division here in Huntsville. What the AMIIC division does is we provide exposure and training related to advanced manufacturing technologies and providing that exposure to northern Alabama, whether it be academia, whether it be government friends, those types of things. So that in a nutshell is what we do. We have several thousand square foot of lab space that has numerically controlled machines, provides exposure to robotic manipulation of parts, blue light scanning all of the up-to-date technology with respect to manufacturing.

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Tom Temin And give us a sense of the precision with which defense systems, and I think this is true all the way down to the individual cartridge or shell all the way up to a Patriot missile type of system. These are not things that are just kind of banged out of pig iron, are they?

Brian Schmidt No, no, definitely not. I mean, we’re dealing with precision in inspection and precision in creation of parts into thousands and even tenths. Everything is just getting more precise. Machines are being able to create more precise geometries, which requires inspection to validate and verify those geometries. So we are providing exposure to be able to understand how to manipulate and use that type of equipment.

Tom Temin Plus, you need welders and riveting. And there’s a lot of attachment technologies that are equally high tech nowadays. A bad weld, you’re out of luck if the weld breaks.

Brian Schmidt Exactly. So we provide linkage to other academia within the northern Huntsville area that provide that expertise, whether it be welding expertise, whether it be inspection expertise. So we are here to provide training and exposure to kind of set the stage for future adoption by the individual. They may choose that this is something that they want to go and pursue more based upon this exposure, and then we can provide the linkage to that local academia, local businesses, those types of things.

Tom Temin Now, Huntsville, I think, has become the most populous city in Alabama, but Alabama is not the most populous place to begin with. And so why just northern Alabama? I mean, there’s a giant country that needs these jobs. And of course, the military industrial base is nationwide.

Brian Schmidt Yes, you’re exactly correct. So we have a lot of technologically proficient folks here. NASA’s here. Name of multiple name or digit acronym, insert that here, and they’re here. With all of the smart folks, there tends to be a kind of a less of a focus on the manufacturability. So the sooner that we can get those super smart folks to understand manufacturability and design for manufacturing and those types of things, the easier it is to transition a good idea into a manufactured product.

Tom Temin We speaking with Brian Schmidt. He’s a program manager at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Integration Center in Huntsville, Alabama. And you have become a mentor and the Army’s Mentor Protégé program. Tell us more about that.

Brian Schmidt So Mentor Protégé, it was an absolute perfect fit for NCDMM and AMIIC. So our strength is providing advanced manufacturing technology and advanced manufacturing solutions to assist the Department of Defense in combating manufacturing issues or creation of new manufactured systems. So by capitalizing on our past experience with transition of technology from essentially a lab prototype to pre-production, we were set up well to apply for that Matterport Protégé and allows us to engage with small and medium sized companies within northern Alabama to help them navigate that, “hey, we have this team of super smart folks. We’ve developed this lab prototype. Okay, now, how do we get it into the DoD’s hands or into the hands of somebody to manufacture?” So transitioning, It’s called the Valley of Death. It’s manufacturing readiness level from 4 to 7. So it’s transitioning through that technology development or that product development phase.

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Tom Temin Right. So you really have two things you need to mentor outfits on small companies. One is the manufacturing itself and the technologies and techniques and the workforce requirements to do that. But then how do you sell it and how do you get the government to buy it? Because often there’s that desire to sell. There ought to be. And then the government is always expressing a need for these new products or these new capabilities. But as you point out, there’s that valley of death, which is the acquisition system.

Brian Schmidt So another strength that NCDMM and AMIIC have are being able to make the connections between the small and medium sized manufacturers or even development teams to manufacturers within this region and within the United States that can help them also transition that product or that technology from a good idea to a manufactured product.

Tom Temin So are you now mentoring some companies? Have they actually signed on?

Brian Schmidt We have. We have a few in the pipeline. I don’t want to jinx anything or let the cat out of the bag. We are currently engaged with some folks. We’ve been partnering with other individuals to get exposure to other companies within the northern Alabama region. So just getting out there, networking, providing an understanding of where we can help folks has really, really bode well for us.

Tom Temin And if you’re working with small Alabama companies, what is their access to capital? Because you’re talking capital intensive types of work: machine tools, robotic automation and all of these things. The test and measurement requirements of high tech manufacturing are pretty rigorous, so it’s expensive to do versus starting another consulting company.

Brian Schmidt Yes. So there are methods in which we can assist with providing that technology, providing that understanding and providing that funding. Every case is slightly different than the next. So to say generally that we can provide all funding to all people to do all things is is not a correct statement. That’s that’s kind of where that stands.

Tom Temin Because you’ve got to make sure they can pay you back eventually or there won’t be money for the next guy.

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Brian Schmidt Well, we are a nonprofit, so we don’t hold IP, so that’s not how we get paid. We are doing this as part of a federal or Alabama funded or we have a bunch of different funding mechanisms to provide that experience and that development.

Tom Temin And is your own background, military, such that you have an interest in making sure the military is ultimately well equipped, which is the point of all of this.

Brian Schmidt Exactly correct. Exactly correct. We do not want our folks to go into a fair fight. We want them to have a distinct advantage in any scenario that they can be engaging in.