Manufacturing plays a critical role in the American economy, underpins U.S. innovation, and is essential to national security. Concerned about the health and performance of the U.S. manufacturing sector, the Obama Administration in 2011 launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), bringing together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in emerging technologies to enhance American global competitiveness and create high-quality manufacturing jobs.

The AMP initiative led to a series of emerging national activities to which ANSER, an operating unit of Analytic Services, is providing significant support. ANSER’s key contributions to these White House initiatives come largely through its support to the defense manufacturing enterprise. Over the past five years, a growing team of ANSER analysts has addressed this enterprise as a complex system, identified points of high leverage, and significantly impacted the Defense Department’s formulation of strategies and governance structures.

Responding to the Administration’s Call

When the White House charged the interagency community to architect and help lead a national resurgence in advanced manufacturing, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy (MIBP) and his ANSER team responded. Here are some of the recent, prominent DoD contributions actively supported by ANSER:

• Tri-chair (along with the Departments of Commerce and Energy) of the National Science and Technology Council’s Interagency Working Group on Advanced Manufacturing that developed and deployed the highly impactful National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing (February 2012); ANSER provided significant analytical and drafting support.
• Establishment of the DoD-led National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (August 2012)—the pilot institute informing the Administration’s proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI); ANSER hosted the highly successful national Proposer’s Day for this first institute (May 2012).
• Active involvement and support to the Administration’s newly formed Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO) and refinement of the NNMI concept, including shaping of the NNMI preliminary design blueprint document released by the Executive Office of the President (January 2013). ANSER is a mainstay presence supporting AMNPO activities.
• Teaming with the AMNPO, MIBP’s Manufacturing Technology office and ANSER analysts helped design and co-host (along with NASA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville) a major national government-industry workshop to review the preliminary design of the NNMI (January 2013); ANSER experts led key review sessions during the workshop.

ANSER has established itself as a strategic thought leader in advanced manufacturing within the DoD and increasingly on a broader, national stage in support of a key Administration priority. ANSER experts are applying systems thinking and active, engaged support to help national decision-makers address these complex challenges affecting America’s security and its economic prosperity.