By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
In three years, 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is expected to be fully operational on Guam. The shiny new object is envisioned to position Guam as a manufacturing and training hub for Navy operators in the region.
In a community faced with perennial labor shortages, the emerging industry comes with challenges and opportunities. Guam Community College, which is at the forefront of workforce development on island, is preparing to explore plans to meet the new labor demand for the new industry.
“Our participation in this project is to identify and develop the pipeline that can help support the workforce needed for additive manufacturing,” said Mary Okada, GCC president.
The facility is anticipated to generate 85 to 100 jobs, according to the Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America, or ASTRO America, a military think tank that is spearheading the plan.
Okada said GCC is currently seeking to establish a plan to tap the high school population in preparation for post-secondary courses and ultimately a degree path. The plan will involve the development of a pertinent curriculum in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines.
“Right now, we're gathering information as to what is necessary so we could establish a pilot program,” said Okada, who has been the GCC president since June 2007. “We'll initiate the pilot so that we can get students who may be interested in it and provide them some basic overview of what it's going to be like, and then eventually it will help guide them to the next steps of either certification or post-secondary credentials.”
The Guam Additive Materials & Manufacturing Accelerator, also known as the GAMMA initiative, requires operations that will include the education, manufacturing, post-processing, testing and evaluation capabilities necessary to produce finished products, according to ASTRO.
Okada said the pilot program will provide the students with educational opportunities or certifications “just to pique their interest so that they have choices when they finally get to high school or when they start to enter post-secondary, determining what that career path is going to be.”
The first phase of the GAMMA project, which is expected to begin by the end of the year, involves the construction of a satellite campus proposed to be built at the University of Guam. Based on the GAMMA implementation plan prepared by ASTRO and released in June, the facility would require a 20,000-sq.ft. building with manufacturing, lab, classroom, conference room and office space. It is projected to cost $38 million.
While there are no current plans to build a separate facility on the GCC campus, Okada said the college’s role in the project focuses on using its existing academic infrastructure. GCC currently offers Career and Technical Education (formerly vocational-technical education) programs in the island’s public high schools. The high school CTE programs offer students a pathway into postsecondary education through GCC Dual Credit Articulated Programs of Study, in which students can earn college credit in corresponding GCC postsecondary programs upon graduation from high school.
Okada said the CTE program is currently available in six high schools. However, the 3D printing-related pilot program will be offered only to select schools. “Our intent is to identify high schools where there's the most interest and to set up a pilot during the summer. Or we can set it up at one of the institutions and then grow it from there,” she said.
Five Guam students are currently taking up a 16-week program at the Navy's advanced manufacturing training center at the Colorado School of Mines. The first batch of students sent in July has completed the training.
“Four of them are GCC students. Two of the students recently graduated from George Washington (High School) and are enrolled in the GCC program that is offered in that school,” Okada said.
“That whole partnership is being developed right now in terms of GCC's role in the initial stages. We're identifying different pathways to consider, but the School of Mines is interested in setting up, not necessarily at the college, but building off what we have built at the college and the university,” she added.
According to ASTRO, many of the initial highly technical positions will need to be filled by hires from the U.S. mainland.
“Once the initial industry is set up, then it would be determined how fast it may expand based on the interest and the business that is actually generated through this project,” Okada said. “I think it's something everybody has been willing to explore.”
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According to ASTRO’s document, establishing a 3D printing facility on Guam would address the challenges faced by the Naval Sea Systems Command in acquiring parts and materials for submarine maintenance in the region. Currently, parts are not in inventory when needed by the Navy’s public shipyards, resulting in significant delays in maintenance service.
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