SAMPE Journal - September/October 2016 - 16

Tobin Talks Washington

Tobin A. McGregor
Government Relations Manager
tobin@sampe.org

DoD's New Advanced Fibers and Textiles Consortium to be Led by MIT
On April 1, 2016, Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, announced the Department of Defense's (DoD)
newest Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The $317M initiative, Advanced Functional Fabrics of
America (AFFOA), is intended to create a national network of research and development, design and
manufacturing capabilities for the emerging field of "functional fabrics" and "smart garments". Led by
MIT's Functional Fibers Institute, this group is comprised of both industry and academic members from
across the US, and will seek to enable a "manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional
fibers, yarns, and fabrics into highly sophisticated, integrated and networked devices and systems".
This emerging field draws upon the technical advancements across many disciplines, including
materials science, electrical engineering, computing, and advanced manufacturing in order to develop
advanced textile technologies that will benefit a broad range of users- from soldiers to suit makers.
AFFOA plans to conduct a series of industry road mapping efforts in order to identify and address
challenges that affect the domestic manufacturing of innovative fibers and textiles. Additionally, the
institute will be making investments in the form of cost-shared member projects aimed at developing
and prototyping enabling technologies and processes needed to address some of the technical
challenges. AFFOA is also planning to develop a networked textile and fiber materials data repository
that will serve as the digital backbone for AFFOA's proposed Fabric Innovation Network - a collaborative
national network of manufacturing nodes and business incubators.
The objective of these efforts and investments is to enable member companies to rapidly execute
on prototypes and pilot production of "integrated fabric products" for both consumer and defense
applications. Members of AFFOA's Fabric Innovation Network will also have exclusive access to an endto-end prototyping facility which will open in early 2017 in the Boston area.
AFFOA is the 8th institute of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) established
by the Obama Administration in 2013. Other NNMI institutes are focused on specific technical areas
including additive manufacturing (America Makes), composite materials (IACMI), flexible electronics
(NetFlex), photonics (AIM), semi-conductors (Power America), digital manufacturing (DMDI), and
lightweight metals manufacturing (LIFT). The NNMI paradigm involves industry, academia, and
government partners "leveraging existing resources, collaborating, and co-investing to nurture
manufacturing innovation and accelerate commercialization". Each of the NNMI institutes are designed
to be public-private membership organizations that, in addition to jointly funding the institute's
operation, provide vision, leadership, and resources to its members.
For more information on AFFOA and the NNMI, please contact Tobin McGregor at Tobin@sampe.org.

SAMPE Journal, Volume 52, No. 5, September/October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - September/October 2016