Plans are to establish a machine tools workforce training and development center at the university, while other training centers are being planned across the US.
The new partnership is part of America’s Cutting Edge (ACE), a US government initiative launched in 2020 to improve US presence in the global machine tool industry. As part of the initiative, IACMI is developing an industrial skills training program covering machine tooling and advanced machining with the government’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program.
“The decline in U.S. advanced manufacturing and machine tool technology and capacity has significantly impacted national and economic security,” said Adele Ratcliff, IBAS program director. “The United States must be able to conceive, design, build, and use advanced machine tools in order to produce many of the products that are used in modern society and that our country so vitally needs to defend our nation.”
According to business media company Gardner Intelligence, America’s capacity to design, make and use advanced machine tools has been in steady decline since the 1980s due to the migration of advanced machining and manufacturing overseas, the IACMI says.
