Reports

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly tested the U.S. public health supply chain and industrial base. It has strained global supply chains and exposed critical vulnerabilities in the Nation’s ability to deliver effective health care during times of high demand. Despite the challenges encountered since early 2020, the United States has made great progress to strengthen the public health supply chain and to address concerns regarding domestic manufacturing.

The Departments of Commerce, Defense (DOD), and Energy (DOE) have established a network of innovation institutes—known as Manufacturing USA institutes—to promote research, development, and commercialization of advanced manufacturing technologies. Manufacturing USA institutes reported making progress toward achieving their technology goals.

Advanced manufacturing is essential to our economic and national security. American manufacturers contribute more than $2.35 trillion to the U.S. economy which, taken alone, would represent the eighth-largest economy in the world. Every dollar spent in manufacturing results in an additional $2.79 added to the economy, making it the highest multiplier effect of any sector. This leads to jobs and economic opportunities in local and regional communities.

This study was conducted by the Applied Economics Office (AEO) in the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The study provides aggregate manufacturing industry data and industry subsector data to develop a quantitative depiction of the U.S. manufacturing industry.

This annual report to Congress provides updates on the Manufacturing USA network response to COVID-19, as well as manufacturing technology development and workforce impacts from across the manufacturing innovation institutes.

Since 1988, the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has worked to strengthen and empower U.S. manufacturing. The MEP program was created in 1988 by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act to improve the competitiveness of U.S.-based manufacturing by making manufacturing technologies, processes and services more accessible to small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) through MEP Centers in every state and Puerto Rico.

Manufacturing USA’s original 2014 legislative program authority prohibited renewing funding for institutes sponsored by the Department of Commerce (DOC). The Program’s 2019 reauthorization removed this restriction, authorizing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to renew institute support, subject to a “rigorous merit review,” with each renewal period not longer than the initial period of the award.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic dislocation revealed long-standing vulnerabilities in our supply chains. The pandemic’s drastic impacts on demand patterns for a range of medical products including essential medicines wreaked havoc on the U.S. healthcare system. As the world shifted to work and learn from home, it created a global semiconductor chip shortage impacting automotive, industrial, and communications products, among others.

COVID-19 hit with a speed and force that commanded the best in government, academia, and industry to gather at an unprecedented pace and accelerate innovations to address the needs of our nation. In the earliest stages of the pandemic, the institutes in the Manufacturing USA network assessed the domestic manufacturing situation. Their analysis indicated an urgent need for better domestic supply chains, data analysis, and novel manufacturing products and processes.