Discussing the America Makes Composites CFAM Project with Steven Floyd and Clark Patterson

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1:00So if you'd like to learn more, you can go to compositesweekly.com forward slash ACMA. You can join thousands of organizations, colleges, and universities and composites industry professionals who use this program to provide essential training to improve production performance, establish technical skills and safety baselines, advance the technical expertise of workers and managers and elevate industry standards of excellence within your organization. So again, if you'd like to learn more, you can go to compositesweekly.com forward slash ACMA. You're listening to compositesweekly, the leading news and information podcast of the composites industry. And now you're host, Jonathan Taylor. Welcome back to another episode of Composites Weekly. Today I have two gentlemen joining me. I have Clark Patterson and Steven Floyd to discuss a project that's coming up early last month. America makes and the National Center

2:01for Defense Manufacturing and Machining announced a selection of the University of Dayton Research Institute as the awardee of a recent project called Funded by the Air Force Research Laboratories and Manufacturing Directorate. This project will develop a comprehensive set of roadmaps and reports to inform future DOD and industry investment needed to scale continuous fiber additive manufacturing technologies. So these gentlemen are here to talk a little bit about that. They have a series of workshops going and the first technical workshop is being held in Wichita, Kansas next week that's March the 24th and with others to follow at the University of Delaware and also Eastern Washington University. So happy to have again, Steven Floyd and Clark Patterson to talk about this project with America makes. Guys, thanks for joining me on the podcast today. First, I want to, I want you guys to introduce yourself. Why don't we start with you, Steven? Tell us a little bit about your background and then we'll go with Clark.

3:01Sure, yeah, and I wish I could have been at JEC but hopefully everybody had a great time there. Yeah. So I'm Steven Floyd, CEO of Floyd Technology Consulting, LLC. Also, I'm a Wollers Associate with Wollers Associates powered by ASTM for added manufacturing consulting. And so this project is around continuous fiber additive manufacturing. I spent 17 years in North of Grumman helping develop additive technologies and ultimately left there as the lead of space systems added manufacturing, doing various things around metals, polymers, composites and helping additive get into production. One of the earlier things that I worked for a long time now over 10 years was helping to create continuous fiber additive manufacturing technologies, the SCRAM machine that's out there. You know, you'll be able to find cool videos on YouTube from Electro Impact to check it out. That's it's pretty amazing to watch. Words don't really do justice. Yeah, but I was one of the inventors on that. That's awesome. So excited to take those next steps here and we'll tell you more about it in a little bit but let Clark introduce himself next. Yeah, so Clark, by the way, his video's blacked out

4:03if you're watching for good reason, right? He can't, yeah, we have some sensitivity with DOD things and so that's right. But yeah, I've been working in additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing for about two decades now, for the last decade I've been doing it in large format additive manufacturing. So people who are familiar with like the Cincinnati BAM systems are similar and I work currently for a center street technologies and are real interest in this and why I got involved with Stephen and the group is we're trying to take it beyond just the pellet fed large format additive manufacturing and incorporating continuous fiber reinforcement and really our interest is so broad in that and simulation and other things that we really have an interest in every facet of this program. So we're trying to help pull it together to educate people on this unique new approach

5:05to added manufacturing and get into continuous fiber. So tell us the, you guys are funded by, is it the Air Force Research Laboratory materials and manufacturing directorate? Well, tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, that's correct. So Dennis Butcher out of Air Force Research Laboratories is a lead sponsor behind this project. He is partnered with America Makes and NCDMM to put out this effort to really help inform strategy and direction and really to help industry, academia and industry both on the OEM machine manufacturer's side but also the materials providers and the OEM end users and people producing real parts. Really the whole gamut of materials all the way to delivered part to come together and really create a vision and a strategy around how we advance from what has been successful, you know, technology development and moving into commercialization but really moving beyond that into industrialization. So America Makes is a great partner to DOW

6:09and you know, many different projects and exciting things around added to manufacturing. I've been involved in America makes for well over 10 years. So excited to see this composites related project finally make its way into America Makes and NCDMM. And we've done a lot of road mapping in America makes but this is the first one that's really focused on continuous fiber and true composite structures beyond chopped fiber or long fiber composite materials. Clark, anything to add there? Pretty much summed it up. I've been working with America Makes and IACME with a shout out to them as well because they're also helping out with us. Actually, the companies that I've worked for in the past helped found both of those organizations and I've worked on projects for those and for NASA. So all of it seems to be coming together into one unified project. But yeah, so kind of building off of that, we've got a great team of folks helping out on this. So like as again, the goal is to really get a lot of voices across the key areas of technology development into industrialization.

7:09And so we've got key folks like Clark Care from Center Street Technologies, really focused on industrialization. We've got NIR, Wichita State University on board to help with some of the aspects of robotics and manufacturing instructions, camp considerations. We've got Alhostar Technologies helping out in the modeling simulation and analysis arena. And then we've got three FLC, bringing some small business perspective to materials and processes advancements. Together we're looking at gathering people into these technology workshops and what is going to do is focus people with expertise in these swim lands to really talk about the current state of the technology, the landscape of what's possible today and what's possible soon in the move into the challenges that are preventing from doing a lot more in the near to mid- and future. What are some of the challenges? I mean, we talk a lot about additive. It seems like it's not often enough that we're talking about composites,

8:10continuous fiber and additive manufacturing. We sent, I have a lot of guests on our show and it's typically just additive manufacturing, but I always love when we get the technologies together. But I know that that's been a long time progressing. What do you see as some of the biggest challenges and hurdles that you're hoping to highlight and push through on this project? Yes, so this project itself is not really going to push through the hurdles. It's going to really make a concerted effort to make those hurdles super clear, right? So we are gathering the people to really talk about that. What are the two hurdles and what does success look like? Because we think, I think we've seen this in a lot of the additive technologies that I've been involved in where we're really good at creating capabilities, but we're not necessarily the best at understanding what is good enough and sufficient to really truly become products and find the real requirements behind what it is. And so we're going to have a lot of discussion around that as we move into the application, workshops as far as, you know, these are the challenges, great. What is success against those challenges look like

9:11and what is good enough to make an impact in the industrial base? What seems to be the area of focus or maybe the industry of focus does it other industries outside of aerospace or are you focusing mostly on the aerospace industry? Yeah, so this is not strictly aerospace, but given that this is coming out of there for research labs and aerospace, because of course, really the number one starter. But most manufacturing technologies really gain traction when it is benefiting multiple industries and there's different gaps and capabilities that brings the table to improve it and make it more efficient, more affordable, et cetera, right? So we're definitely looking to open the umbrella a decent amount and look beyond aerospace in these workshops as we gather requirements and understanding. I know we have some folks already signed up from energy industry and we're looking to get more people involved from automotive, hopefully from marine and other applications. So, but space and aeronautics gives us a pretty good starting place to really have a lot of coverage. And these are broken down. You mentioned you've got a technical stage

10:12and application stage or the workshops or technical application and refinement. So break these down if you would. Sure, yeah, so this is like three stages that we're going through here. So first is the technology workshops. We have three of those scheduled, more or less identical in program, just looking for different folks to engage based on their schedules and locations in the country. What's easiest for them? So the first is next week on March 24th at NIAR, which is a test state university. So that'll be posted there. And then we'll have the next one April 9th at University of Delaware. Okay. And then the third one will be May 6th at Eastern Washington University and Chaining, Washington. So that'll round out the opportunities to really inform the gaps and challenges and set the stage for the application workshops. As we look forward a little further, we're going to do two application workshops. One is going to be more centrally focused on commercial and aviation applications and industries outside of defense.

11:13And that will be July 7th in conjunction with University of Washington and Seattle, Washington. And then on May 27th, we are going to be doing a more defense focused workshop for applications and that will be in Los Angeles with the University of Southern California. And how can our listeners, wherever they learn more about this, how can they register sign up? Yes, we have an interest form out there right now. That's the way to express how you want to engage as far as which workshops are of interest to you and your background and sort of which swim lane. You best fit in so we can understand how to make a positive conversation with you and where your background is. So we'll make sure we drop the link of that to you and you can get that here through the video and dissemination to everybody. Folks can also reach out to me on LinkedIn and get them the link that way too. What's been the response so far? So far, we've had over 100 people submit an interest in participating in some way in this. We've got close to 40 people signed up

12:15for the first workshop next week and to look at similar or better numbers even for the ones that follow, so. That's fantastic. Yeah, a great way to engage and encourage more people to sign up, we can definitely fit quite a few more. So it'll be great time to participate and bring your expertise to the table but also learn more and then work. Well guys, thank you so much. We'll post the link on our show page. Also your LinkedIn information too that people can reach out to you. We'll post this and tag you guys. But anyway that we can help here, get the word out and we'd love to follow up with you later as the programs in full swing. I know your first is next week, but as we go, I'd love to follow up with you all and hopefully we'll have a chance to meet in person somewhere down the road. Do you guys plan to be at the CAMX show in Atlanta this year? Not sure yet, but I hope so. Yeah, I'll probably be there for sure. And also a sample that's coming up, not too long. Yeah, that's right, that's all. Next month and people who are into additive manufacturing

13:18we've got rapid, not too far away in Boston as well. That's right, yeah. But yeah, we do want to really encourage anybody who has any interest in this all to engage we're trying to be as inclusive and comprehensive as possible to basically get as much information on people who not just have needs, but developmental materials, developmental equipment, basically the whole spectrum of things. So we'd love to see more people at the shows at the various workshops. And also with respect to Sampy, we're not doing anything official with Sampy, but we'll have several folks of the team at Sampy. So if you will, I'll talk there and a little bit more. Again, just reach out and I'll start on my connection to one of the folks that's going to be there from the team. And then we hope to see you later there. And I will be at rapid. So if you want to engage there, then it's another pathway. Fantastic. Well, again, guys, thank you so much, Clark. Steven, both of you for your efforts and anyway, again, anyway, we can help. We'll be posting a link out on our page

14:20where people can learn more. Again, hopefully we get a chance or can follow up with you two later this year. And kind of get some feedback on so far how the progress has been. Awesome. Really appreciate the time today, Jonathan. It's been exciting telling people about this and happy to have the word spread. We look forward to seeing people at the workshops. That's more. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you.