We are excited to announce that Protolabs is supporting IPC research fellows to embark on a new research agenda focused on identifying and explaining manufacturing innovation in the medical, aerospace, and defense industries. Protolabs support will help expand the U.S. research program at the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing, as well as launch a manufacturing innovation index at the IPC.
IPC students and researchers have long been interested in ways that new technologies, particularly software, can improve manufacturing in the U.S. When we visited Protolabs this spring, we saw a showcase of the potential for good software — coupled with process redesign decisions — can enable a high-mix, low-volume machine shop move faster and more flexibly. We also discovered a shared interest in the ability for new physical products to scale manufacturing in the U.S., either through existing manufacturing capacity or new factories altogether.
Our work on manufacturing innovation will explore how exactly U.S. manufacturers can position themselves to make the products of the future — and how policymakers can cultivate new companies with the capabilities to build the products they design.
Here is the full announcement with select quotes below:
“We feel that there is significant momentum to transform American manufacturing through innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Ben Armstrong, executive director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center.
“We want to thank Protolabs for their support to study how American aerospace and medical companies innovate and scale up faster. For decades, inventors who started to build their companies in the U.S. moved production abroad as they grew. We are seeing growing demand for companies to scale up new technologies in the U.S., but there is not yet an obvious path for doing so. With this support from Protolabs, we’re focusing on today’s manufacturing pioneers that are finding ways to scale in the U.S. and we’re hoping to identify operating models, financial strategies, and public policies that can strengthen America’s industrial base for the long-term.”
“Protolabs is at the center of American innovation, especially in critical industries like aerospace and medical devices,” said Suresh Krishna, President and CEO of Protolabs. “Protolabs pioneered rapid product development through the use of technology-enabled software, and needs to focus now, more than ever, on developing and deploying physical AI to scale up the American manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem.”