The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), located in Latrobe, PA was created in 2003 as a non-pro­ t organization to support the Department of Defense (DoD) and its industrial base. The NCDMM delivers optimized manufacturing solutions that enhance the quality, affordability, maintainability, and rapid deployment of existing and yet-to-be developed defense systems. This is accomplished by collaborating with government, industrial and academic organizations to implement optimized manufacturing solutions, provide specialized training, and support job shops working in the defense industry.

The NCDMM collaborates with government, industrial and academic organizations to implement the best practices within client facilities to reduce/avoid cost, minimize lead time, and enhance the quality of defense components. An excellent example of this is highlighted in the ExcaliburArmament Actuator Technical Report. This success story details the processes necessary to provide an optimized solution, including machine tool selection, proper tooling and ­fixturing, programming veri­fication, and cell method forproviding an efficient part-flow path.

Implementation of manufacturing and machining solutions is enhanced through the NCDMMs core training capabilities. This training provides practical instruction and demonstration of technologies and methodologies that can be quickly applied to individual shop  oor situations. The training is presented by NCDMM staff as well as by its Alliance Partners – which include some of the nation’s leading manufacturing and machining technology developers and suppliers, all of whom are U.S. owned and U.S. based.

Small manufacturing and machine shops are also an important part of the overall defense supply chain. The NCDMM currently supports a job shop consortium and is expanding nationally. The NCDMM provides technology support to better enable these shops to meet defense outsourcing opportunities through training, manufacturing assessments and technical guidance.

Additionally, the NCDMM continues to support workforce development by taking an active role to encourage college level engineering students to pursue manufacturing careers through its summer internship program. The NCDMM is also involved with local vocational and cooperative education programs to support high school students interested in machine tool technology.

Contact: John VanKirk, 724-539-8811, john.vankirk.ncdmm.org | www.ncdmm.org