YOUNGSTOWN, OH, USA, Aug 11, 2026 — America Makes and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) are proud to announce the winners of the 2026 Department of War (DoW) Organic Industrial Base (OIB) Modernization Challenge, with awards up to $15M. The challenge is funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of War, Manufacturing Technology Office (OSW ManTech).
Released in cooperation with our fellow Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MII), the effort focuses on advancing additive manufacturing (AM) and related technologies to support defense manufacturing modernization.
The project targets AM and advanced manufacturing challenges across the OIB, including digital operations technology, AI robotic process planning, in-situ quality checks, reducing operational exposure to hazards, lowering operational costs, pilot lines for emerging military products, and mobile/large surface automation. Addressing these technological gaps is crucial to national security, ensuring a robust and responsive defense industrial base (DIB) capable of meeting DoW’s evolving needs.
“The defense industrial base must continuously meet emerging challenges, and advanced manufacturing is helping make that possible,” said John Wilczynski, Executive Director of America Makes. “For nearly 15 years, the Institute has brought together leaders from industry, government, and academia to accelerate the adoption of innovative manufacturing technologies that strengthen U.S. competitiveness, resiliency, and national security. This Challenge builds on that foundation by accelerating the transition of those proven technologies into the organic industrial base, where they can improve day-to-day production operations and deliver measurable gains in cost, throughput, quality, and supply chain resilience. By bridging innovation with implementation, we are helping ensure advanced manufacturing capabilities can scale across the industrial base.”
Proposed efforts are expected to deliver actionable insights that reduce technical and industrial risk while enabling realistic transition pathways. Collectively, the outcomes are intended to provide mutual value to the DoW and OIB.
Below is a list of winners and project titles:
- Honeywell: Rapid Production of Sand Castings via Additive Manufacturing Technology
- HRL Laboratories, LLC: Rapid Qualification of Additive Parts
- Machina Labs: Edge Factories for Production of Low-Cost Weapon Systems
- Accenture Federal Services, LLC: Additive Manufacturing Digital Twin & Operations Simulation
- Stratasys, Inc.: In-Situ Monitoring for Fused Deposition Modeling
- REM Surface Engineering, LLC: Advanced Chemical/Chemical Mechanical Polishing Technologies for Additively Manufactured Components within the DoW OIB
About America Makes
America Makes is the nation’s leading public-private partnership for additive manufacturing (AM) technology and education. America Makes members from industry, academia, government, and workforce and economic development organizations work together to accelerate the adoption of AM and the nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. Founded in 2012 as the Department of War’s National Manufacturing Innovation Institute for AM and the first of the Manufacturing USA network, America Makes is based in Youngstown, Ohio, and managed by the not-for-profit National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). Learn more at americamakes.us.
About NCDMM
NCDMM delivers innovative and collaborative manufacturing solutions that enhance our nation’s workforce and economic competitiveness. NCDMM has extensive knowledge and depth in commercial and defense manufacturing areas to continually innovate, improve, and advance manufacturing technologies and methodologies. Our experienced team specializes in identifying the needs, players, technologies, and processes to attain optimal solutions for our customers. We connect the dots. That’s the NCDMM methodology. With seven locations nationwide, NCDMM manages America Makes, Youngstown Innovation Hub, and El Paso Makes and is a subsidiary of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc. (MTDG). Learn more at ncdmm.org.
