The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) recently was awarded a $4.99 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for workforce and supply chain development, in order to designate and support defense manufacturing communities and strengthen the national security innovation base, according to Kiley Wren, executive director for the office of Applied Business and Strategy with TEES.
In 2020, the DOD created a Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program by the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, to support numerous partnerships as defense manufacturing communities that strengthen the national security industrial base, according to the Defense Department.
TEES was one of five teams awarded grants that totaled almost $25 million under the DOD program in 2021. Awards also were granted in 2020 to six teams across the U.S. in Defense Manufacturing Communities.
Wren said their grant supports almost a $7 million project to establish the Texas Defense Aerospace Manufacturing Community.
“We are one of 11 teams across the country to receive this grant and the only one in Texas,” he said.
The TEES grant will establish smart manufacturing skills, technologies, workforce development and connect multiple manufacturing entities in the Texas Triangle (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin), Wren said.
The Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation (BVEDC) will be a community partner/co-lead of the grant with TEES. Wren said TEES officials are excited for the partnership with BVEDC.
“This is part of our initiative within TEES and really across the system to continue to engage with the Department of Defense across many different areas. We decided because it has a community development aspect to it, it is about developing community eco-systems that is focused on defending the industrial base,” he said. “We had the momentum to utilize the Brazos Valley as a centering area for the Texas Triangle, which is actually the leading area in the nation for aerospace manufacturing. We went to BVEDC, because of that community development aspect to bring them in and have our local economic development group represent not only Brazos Valley, but to use their help in rallying the surrounding communities throughout the entire region.”
Matt Prochaska, the president/CEO of the BVEDC, said the purpose of the grant is to attract and recruit more defense manufacturing and aerospace manufacturing industry to Texas.
“In that way we could play a critical space and type of hub model to the rest of the state. The designation has been official to the entire state and all of our communities, through that was to touch industry, the education and the talent side, as a workforce development, and of course the product development,” he said. “The research and the technology that goes along with that, that is why it is a collaboration of entities that are involved in education, research, workforce development and industry. Our role in that as economic developers is to benefit our community because there is so much development here.”
He said the defense workforce and supply chain management is “key because it is working with the whole supply chain that makes Texas so competitive.”
“The smart manufacturing is also key, because so much of the technology on this is for more future-oriented technology and jobs,” he said. “We are so honored and pleased the U.S. government through the Department of Defense would [grant] this award, it was a highly competitive application process.”
Marcus Lentz, program director for TEES, said not only will they bring smart manufacturing concepts, technologies and trainings to the large communities, but to the smaller communities along the Texas Triangle as well.
Rob Gorham, executive director for manufacturing initiatives at TEES, said inside the program they are going to deliver and create content that is going to be leading edge.
“It is going to be about the community response for the Department of Defense,” he said. “Everyone believes the future of manufacturing is going to be clean, smart, digital and secure but there is no flag bearer. We are trying to coalesce around a common set of objectives; that is ultimately the role we are trying to play, for the benefit of allowing Texas to remain competitive in what we do, which is we manufacture.”
Gorham said they have not quantified the number of jobs they want to create, but they are sure that Texas remains competitive.
“We want to be the torch that pushes all these entities together to reach common goals,” he said.
Wren said smart manufacturing is the future of manufacturing and will allow them to work their TEES initiative.
“We have data that shows that the Texas Triangle and its future depends on the adoption of these next-level manufacturing skills. This allows us to become a center of gravity for the capability to train and develop and if it’s right here in our own backyard, we expect from an epicenter out, we can impact our own Brazos Valley,” he said.