Initiative for New Manufacturing
Thank you, John [Hart], for the introduction.
I know that, as our faculty leads, you, Suzanne Berger and Chris Love have been the guiding force that brought us all here – so huge thanks to all of you, and to Executive Director Julie Diop.
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Good morning, everybody!
Today’s program features a wonderful set of speakers. I was particularly impressed to see that they run the gamut from major corporations to small-scale manufacturers. That reflects the complexity of the manufacturing landscape today.
But it also reminds me that I’m standing before a roomful of manufacturing experts…and that I am definitely not one!
Even from my relatively brief “apprenticeship” in the field, though, a few things are abundantly clear.
So let me start the day with just a few observations about why manufacturing is such a natural fit for MIT – and why it’s such an important focus in this moment, for MIT and for the nation as a whole.
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When I came to MIT to serve as president, I had at least two distinct preconceptions about the place.
As a biologist from a family full of scientists, I knew MIT as an almost mythic community where everyone had the kind of deep reverence for fundamental research that some other schools reserve for championship sports.
I knew MIT as a beacon of scientific progress for the whole world.
And of course, as a member of the public, I knew MIT for all kinds of headline-grabbing discoveries and inventions. The moon shot. The Mars landing. Those cheetah robots. Gravitational waves. And the World Wide Web.
MIT is all of that, for sure.
But when I got here, I discovered something else. Something hard to see from outside.
Which is that a vital part of MIT’s strength and impact comes from the passion for understanding, optimizing and educating our students about huge, complex, real-world systems: Supply chains. Transportation logistics. Concrete production.
Systems that most people take for granted – but that are absolutely critical to making our world run. Systems we really miss when they’re weakened or broken.
Systems like manufacturing.
Frankly, it’s not too much to say that MIT was founded to make manufacturing better.
MIT’s founder, William Barton Rogers, was explicitly focused on creating a school that would help accelerate America's industrialization.
And central to that vision was manufacturing, informed and improved by scientific principles and advanced by the kind of hands-on leaders he designed MIT to train.
Now, as you know better than I do, manufacturing has been a throughline in MIT’s research and education, emerging more strongly at some times than others. And it’s been an essential part of our service to the nation.
In the 1980s, for instance, the “Made in America” study opened with the enduring observation that, “To live well, a nation must produce well.”
Along with “The Machine that Changed the World,” this landmark report helped US manufacturers understand and successfully compete with Japan’s quality model.
Then, a little over a decade ago, MIT’s “Production in the Innovation Economy” initiative illuminated the unexpected ways that manufacturing drives innovation.
It highlighted the opportunities we miss if design and manufacturing teams are miles or even oceans apart – and it played a significant role in shaping the nation’s Advanced Manufacturing Initiative.
And of course, MIT inventors have played a key part in developing core manufacturing technologies, from CNC [computer numerically controlled] machining to 3D printing.
Building on this legacy, and in response to an urgent national interest in restoring America’s manufacturing strength, in 2022, an inspired group of MIT faculty – including John, Suzanne, and Chris, and many more of you here – came together to found the Manufacturing@MIT Working Group.
The aim was to explore new ways to marshal MIT’s expertise in technology, the social sciences and management to build an intelligent, practical path to reindustrialization.
Which brings us to this important gathering today.
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At MIT, we cherish the freedom that comes from decentralization – 1,100 faculty members, each guided by their own curiosity and problem-solving drive.
But we also really, really like to make an impact.
So part of my vision for the Institute as a whole is to help us do big things, together.
That’s why I’m delighted that, starting today, the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing will join the ranks of our other Presidential Initiatives – a growing list that includes
The Climate Project at MIT;
MITHIC, which supports the human-centered disciplines;
MIT HEALS, centered on the life sciences and health; and
MGAIC, the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium.
These Initiatives range across a lot of territory. And each has a distinctive structure and focus. But they're all designed to help the brilliant people of MIT come together in new ways to accelerate their progress and increase their impact. In short, to do big things, together!
You'll hear much more today from the people who will lead the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing. But briefly, let me highlight some of what we're trying to do.
Overall, this is an ambitious effort to drive transformation by making manufacturing more productive, more resilient and more sustainable.
We want to work with firms big and small…in cities, and small towns, and everywhere in between…to help them adopt new approaches for increased productivity. (You’ll be hearing about our Founding Corporate Members in just a bit – thank you!)
We want to deliberately design high-quality, human-centered jobs that bring new life to communities across the country.
To expand the talent pool, we want to re-elevate manufacturing in MIT’s own curriculum. And we want to provide pathways for people outside MIT to gain the skills to transform their own prospects and fuel a “new manufacturing” economy.
We want to reimagine manufacturing technologies and systems to advance fields like energy production, health care, computing, transportation, consumer products and more.
And we want to reach well beyond the shop floor to tackle challenges like how to make supply chains more resilient, and how to inform public policy to foster a broad, healthy manufacturing ecosystem that can drive decades of innovation and growth.
All this sounds ambitious, I know – and that’s only a few of the highlights!
But I’m convinced that there is no more important work we can do to meet the moment and serve the nation now.
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Once again, I’m immensely grateful to the faculty who devised and developed this important new initiative – and I wish you all an outstanding day of shared exploration.
Thank you!