ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | APRIL 2024 14 Arobust and resilient economy depends on the health and active participation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)[1-3]. SMEs are recognized as essential to achieving the full potential offered by Industry 4.0[4]. These companies tend to be innovative, flexible, adaptable, and entrepreneurial, and thus contribute to a healthy business ecosystem. Additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged as an important means of producing a wide range of products. Characteristics associated with the effective application of AM include rapid part production, part complexity, customizable components, and initial low capital cost of investment. Together, SMEs fully enabled with AM processes will provide a previously unseen level of resilience to industrial supply chains. Realizing this vision will require teamwork across supply chains and stakeholders and will be supported by effective data management. In June 2023, a workshop was held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to gather stake- holders and discuss necessary steps. The AM process generates large quantities of data especially for components used in critical applications when increased monitoring and inspection is in play[5]. Findings from prior work, including a NIST workshop entitled “Unleashing the Potential of Additive Manufacturing: FAIR AM Data Management Principles,” concluded that effec- tive data management throughout the lifecycle of an AM part would lead to cost reductions and accelerated deployments of these parts[6,7]. To constitute effective data management, data should be curated in a manner that captures its pedigree and provenance and organized in accordance with certain principles to make the data FAIR—findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable[8]. Given the benefits of AM, the question arises as to why more SMEs have not embraced AM, especially for manufacturing critical components. To explore this matter, a workshop entitled “Empowering Small and Medium Size Enterprises Through Effective Additive Manufacturing Data Management” was held June 6-8, 2023, at the NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Rockville, Maryland. The workshop was organized by NIST and Pilgrim Consulting LLC. The event was cohosted by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovative Institute (America Makes) and the Regional Additive Manufacturing Partnership of Maryland (RAMPMD). This article is a synopsis of the NIST Advanced Manufacturing Series 100 report that summarized the workshop and its findings[9]. Visit the following link to the event web page for additional information: https://bit.ly/49Y5ZNb. The complex, diverse, and frequently parochial relations between OEMs, SMEs, and customers tend to inhibit productive working relationships. This increases the cost and time required to bring a product to market along with inhibiting innovation and profitability. The workshop welcomed 86 participants from a variety of organizations. Of those registered, 38% were from SMEs and large system integrators (LSIs), 34% were from various government agencies, and 28% were from nonprofit organizations, universities, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Attendees were charged with exploring how best to empower the productive working relationship of SMEs with top tier manufacturers or LSIs through effective AM data management. In the context of AM-enabled supply chains, the goal was to examine pain points regarding SME interactions with LSIs and government procurement agencies, as well as how effective data management might help. SALIENT OUTCOMES AND THEMES The additive manufacturing industry is recognized as being essential to the supply chain resilience of the United States. Businesses with perhaps the greatest opportunity to drive economic growth are small and medium sized enterprises. Consequently, addressing barriers to SME entry into the marketplace is critical to economic wellbeing. During discussions, attendees were asked to take into consideration political, economic, social, and technological (PEST) aspects. In rooms full of scientists and engineers, this approach promoted “out of the box” thinking. In general, factors identified in this workshop that impede SME-LSI effectiveness may be categorized under cost of compliance, technology needs, or required leadership. These factors were indicative of many of the barriers meant to be overcome with effective data management. A summary of the results is provided below. Cost of Compliance. For SMEs, cost was identified as a significant pain point and barrier to working with LSIs and the government. The upfront investment to comply with regulations, policies, and procedures was identified as a noteworthy barrier to market entry. Generally speaking, the baseline requirements for an SME to be considered a qualified vendor include: • Having an established accredited quality management system/quality manufacturing system (e.g., ISO 9001, AS9100). • Demonstrating compliance with cybersecurity requirements (e.g., Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 Program). • Having an approved means of protecting controlled unclassified information (SP 800-171 Rev 2). • Cost of due diligence associated with SME compliance with LSI and government contractual flow down requirements. Requirements documents typically cite significant numbers of FAR/DFAR regulations by code, and each requirement document must be located, downloaded, and examined. Technology Needs. Uncertainty surrounding AM process qualification and part certification was voiced as a significant challenge to widespread adoption of AM and has stymied SME entry into the AM marketplace and the use of AM parts by LSI. The current qualification process takes too long, costs too much, and must be replicated for each part considered. Highlighted by SME-LSI interactions, a paradigm shift in the way AM
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