With $2.5M in funding, UMaine's new metal center is getting to work

Courtesy / University of Maine Alexander Watson, left, a mechanical engineering major at UMaine, researches 3D metal printing at the new Center for Additive Manufacturing of Metal. The center is led by the Advanced Manufacturing Center’s director, John Belding, right, and Brett Ellis, assistant professor of electrical engineering technology.

Write a Comment

By Renee Cordes

The University of Maine's Advanced Manufacturing Center has been awarded two grants, totaling $2.5 million, to upgrade its equipment and accelerate the adoption of additive metal manufacturing in the state, the Orono school announced.

The Center for Additive Manufacturing of Metals opened in late July with three machines from Desktop Metal, a Burlington, Vt.-based venture capital startup, and is home to one of the only 3D metal printing centers at a U.S. university.

Funding consists of a $1 million grant to the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Maine MEP) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Competitive Awards Program, to support and enhance the Center for Additive Manufacturing of Metals.

UMaine's Advanced Manufacturing Center will also get $1.5 million directly for equipment upgrades to better meet the needs of industry partners and the state's workforce. The $1.5 million consists of a previously announced $750,000 investment from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and matching funds from UMaine and the Maine Technology Institute.

In its announcement, the Advanced Manufacturing Center said that the purchase and installation of state-of-the-art equipment will allow it to meet current manufacturing research and development needs while increasing efficiency.

"Learning on the latest technology is critical to our students and industry workforce development," said John Belding, director of the Advanced Manufacturing Center, in a news release. "If we can assist companies to adopt the latest technology without risk, it will be a huge win for the entire state of Maine."

He said the new equipment will be publicly available to Maine entrepreneurs, businesses and their employers, and will also likely to be of interest to companies from outside the state.

Belding previously told Mainebiz that the idea for the metal manufacturing center originated about two years ago. “We looked at, ‘How can we move the ball forward to make companies comfortable with the technology and understand it without spending a huge amount of money?’” he said.

Now that the center is up and running, he added, the goal is to get the word out to businesses across the state about using the new technology to speed up development of metal tools, fixtures and complex shapes and parts.

Editor's note: Story updated to spell out funding details and involvement of the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership as a grant recipient.