Consortium that includes OTC, MAM gets $5M grant

A consortium that includes two Springfield-based organizations has received a $5 million grant from the federal government.

The Missouri University of Science and Technology announced the grant funding in a news release this morning, indicating Ozarks Technical Community College and the Missouri Association of Manufacturers are part of the new Missouri Defense Manufacturing Consortium. The group is led by Rolla-based Missouri S&T, and the grant funding is from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation.

"If Missouri is to remain a top state for manufacturing, we must prepare a workforce that’s highly skilled in the technology that is already transforming the industry," said Richard Billo, director of the Kummer Center for Advanced Manufacturing at Missouri S&T, in the release.

Technical training and education offered by the Missouri Defense Manufacturing Consortium will be complemented by an outreach activities team that includes OTC’s Robert W. Plaster Center for Advanced Manufacturing. MAM, too, promotes the manufacturing industry in the state.

“We want to show our youth, from age 9 up to high school seniors, that they can have a great future with careers in Missouri manufacturing," Billo said in the release.

The federal funding will allow the consortium to provide training and education to at least 200 Missouri manufacturers, with a goal of increasing the number of engineers and tradespeople who are skilled in digital advanced manufacturing technologies.