Tressel touts additive manufacturing, YSU at D.C. panel

A standing-room-only crowd packed a conference room on Capitol Hill earlier this month as Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and others discussed the future workforce needs for 3D print manufacturing.

The event, titled “Is Our American Workforce Ready for 3D Print Manufacturing?”, was hosted by the House Manufacturing Caucus, the Center for Public Policy Innovation and HP Inc.

This goal of the discussion was to help educate Capitol Hill staffers on the importance of the United States investing in 3D printing, particularly preparing the American workforce for the adoption of 3D print in manufacturing.

“There is no NOW,” Tressel said. “You are either early or late.”

Tressel, accompanied on the trip by Mike Hripko, YSU associate vice president for Research, outlined several ways in which YSU intends to be “early” as a leader in additive manufacturing education.

One example is the Mahoning Valley Innovation and Commercialization Center, a collaborative workforce development, education and research facility now being designed. Another example is the fact that YSU is one of only two locations nationally with the entire spectrum of additive manufacturing technologies.

Also on the panel was Ben Bouffard, additive manufacturing lead for the deputy assistant secretary for Research, Development, Test and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of the Navy, and John Danko, president and chief executive of Danko Arlington, an advanced manufacturer and defense industry supplier near Baltimore.