Companies participate to improve public perception of manufacturing

October 3, 2015 at 12:02a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

By 2020, additive manufacturing will be a $21 billion business.

It’s also projected to decrease by 50 percent in cost and increase to be 400 percent faster, Brett Conner of America Makes said Friday at Manufacturing Day at the facility.

Conner also is director of advanced manufacturing and workforce initiatives at YSU and an associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering.

Manufacturing Day was presented by Hudson Fasteners Inc., a Youngstown Incubator Portfolio company, America Makes and the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition. Programs are designed to increase knowledge of manufacturing, additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping and to improve the public perception of manufacturing and its career opportunities.

“Additive manufacturing has been around for 30 years,” Conner told those attending a tour of America Makes. “It took 20 years for it to make its first billion dollars and another two years to make its second $1 billion.”

Janet Logan, a career pathways coach with Ohio Means Jobs, attended Friday’s event because she works to educate young people about the jobs available in manufacturing.

Young people are interested in new, innovative technology such as 3-D printing.

“The manufacturing of today is not the same as their grandfather’s day,” Logan said.

Maureen Fang of America Makes said 3-D printing is growing in the fashion, entertainment, automobile, food, medical and aerospace industries as well as education.

In the medical industry, for example, the technology is used in Invisalign braces.

Conner said that company makes 20 million parts per year.

“That’s mass customization,” he said.