The first national 3D printing institute in the United States, America Makes, has begun to expand, finding a satellite location at the site of the institute’s platinum-level member, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The first America Makes Satellite Center will be opening at UTEP, as a part of the W.M. Keck Center for 3-D Innovation.
As an institute facilitating public-private partnerships devoted to the research and development of 3D printing technologies, America Makes is the first such institute in the United States and the pilot program for the country’s growing National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). The proposal for the NNMI was first drafted by the heads of a number of manufacturing companies – including Dow Chemical, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, Intel, and Caterpillar – who described the purpose of the NNMI as a method for securing a US lead in manufacturing technology. As a result, America Makes,由国家国防制造与加工中心（NCDMM）领导, as well as several other manufacturing hubs were formed, which also consist ofthe Digital Lab for Manufacturing, the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation,Power America – Wide Bandgap Semiconductors， 和高级复合材料研究所制造创新.
因此，随着NNMI的生长，其飞行枢纽也是如此。美国的凯文·克里汉（Kevin Creehan）成为技术过渡副总监，解释说，“Real-world technology transition takes place because of the activities and pursuits that collaborative and symbiotic relationships provide.”Creehan继续“借助这个新美国制造卫星中心模型，我们能够扩大当前的区域，工业和技术足迹，同时通过增强的协作进一步最大程度地提高卫星的影响力和能力。我们很荣幸地将美国成员命名为德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校，成为美国第一个美国制造卫星中心的地点。”
在美国制定了简短的清单后，成员和内部和外部审查过程最终被选为卫星中心的地点。学校的凯克3-D创新中心主任，机械工程教授瑞安·威克（Ryan Wicker）反思了新伙伴关系将给双方带来的好处，“这种新的关系对美国的制造和UTEP都是有益的。UTEP将最先进的设备，尖端研究，教育和劳动力培训的舰队带入了合作伙伴关系，UTEP将从美国对美国的国家和国际焦点中受益。母公司NCDMM拥有广泛的国防和工业合作伙伴基础，这将为UTEP戏剧性的新机会提供。”
凯克中心，成立于2001年，并获得了W.M. 100万美元的赠款。凯克基金会（Keck Foundation）是一个13,000平方英尺的设施，拥有50多个3D打印系统，以及50位教职员工，员工，学生和研究人员。目前，UTEP已经领导着通过美国创造的研究。该学校与新墨西哥大学，扬斯敦州立大学，洛克希德·马丁，诺斯罗普·格鲁姆曼，RP+M和Stratasys一起使用220万美元的赠款，正在努力改善航空航天系统的3D打印。
It’s hard to draw any strict conclusions about the relationships between the America Makes institute, the DoD, and the defense manufacturing sector. It does seem possible to say that, as the defense non-profit NCDMM was chosen by the DoD to lead the institute, that projects and partners involved in defense manufacturing might be selected to lead 3D printing innovation in the US. In the case of UTEP and their America Makes endeavor, the research involves the 3D printing of multi-material electronics, ultimately for use in drones and satellites. That the new Satellite Center is located at a university with各种of军事关系seems to reinforce美国成为一个对国防工业特别感兴趣的组织.
