U.S. Should Substantially Boost Support for Manufacturing USA Program, Issue National Industrial Manufacturing Strategy, Says New Report

To better compete globally, the United States should develop a comprehensive industrial strategy to align resources for manufacturing and maximize the national security and economic impacts of the Manufacturing USA program, a proven model that connects the key actors — small and large industry, engineering and science expertise, state and local government, and economic development stakeholders — needed to advance progress in manufacturing technology, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Nearly all leading competitor nations have detailed national manufacturing strategies that are aligned with their national economic strategies and view manufacturing as crucial to their growth and national security, the report says.

Strengthening the Manufacturing USA program — a public-private partnership coordinated through the National Institute of Standards and Technology comprising 17 institutes that specialize in different types of advanced manufacturing — is essential for bolstering U.S. competitiveness in the next decade, the report says. The network of institutes is a vital national asset that plays a central role in aligning innovation efforts across government, industry, and academia, connecting American businesses of all sizes with state-of-the-art technology and translating the latest breakthroughs into industrial practice.

However, the report says, the nation is missing a coordinated framework to align industry and government efforts, which has led to under-resourcing federal manufacturing programs, including Manufacturing USA, and a lack of investments to scale up production in proven areas.

As a result, U.S. manufacturing productivity — once a hallmark of the economy — has declined markedly in the past 15 years, the report says. China has been the world leader of manufacturing output since 2011, and currently holds around 35 percent of gross world manufacturing, compared to 12 percent in the U.S. The U.S. trade deficit in goods has also risen sharply, reaching a record $1.2 trillion in 2025, which includes a major deficit in advanced technologies such as aircraft, semiconductors, and robots.

“Even though the U.S. develops many manufacturing technologies, the nation continues to outsource most of its manufacturing and lags far behind other nations in production capacity,” said Theresa Kotanchek, chief executive officer of Evolved Analytics LLC and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “This presents risks to our supply chains, our economy, and our national security if we can’t access critical technologies when we need them most. Our report outlines actions to strengthen the Manufacturing USA program and U.S. advanced manufacturing so that we can grow the businesses and produce the technologies we need at home.”

The report calls on the National Economic Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the departments of Commerce, Defense, and Energy, and other agencies to develop within the next two years an industrial strategy — in concert with the National Security Strategy — that integrates technology development, scale-up financing, and leadership in standards, trade, and workforce development so that resources are aligned for a more robust U.S. advanced manufacturing posture.

Informed by tools available in leading advanced manufacturing countries, Congress and federal agencies should set policy to create new federal manufacturing and financing mechanisms that include long-term investment vehicles such as patient-capital funds, a sovereign wealth fund with a strategic focus on manufacturing, and intellectual-property backed lending financing. In addition, Congress should create a globally competitive research and development tax credit for manufacturing processes and technologies, as well as explore expanding other tax reforms that support manufacturing.

Congress should provide sustained, dedicated funding above current appropriations by 2030 to establish business development offices at each Manufacturing USA institute, the report says. These offices would support commercialization, scale-up, and regional ecosystem integration, particularly for entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SSMs) working in coordination with regional economic development organizations and federal manufacturing programs.

Technology transfer is central to the Manufacturing USA mission. Institutes need to support two small firm extremes, both of which often lack the capital and resources to scale up — at one end, small, innovative entrepreneurs with good ideas to develop nascent technologies and at the other, SSMs that need to implement proven technologies. Additionally, large, multinational corporations that are institute members want to accelerate technology transfer to reduce their risks in scaling up investments. The report recommends establishing dedicated in-house technology transfer teams to help bridge the innovation “valley of death” between early-stage research and full-scale production.

Supporting robust pathways to careers in advanced manufacturing is necessary to cultivate a skilled workforce that can operate, maintain, and improve complex emerging manufacturing technologies in areas such as robotics, data analysis, digital production, and new materials. Yet, attracting and retaining talent remains a challenge, the report says.

“Collaboration across institutions and work sectors, to align student outcomes with industry needs, is necessary for the U.S. to become a leader in advanced manufacturing,” said National Academy of Engineering President Tsu-Jae Liu. “This report highlights the importance of workforce development for achieving and maintaining a competitive edge in advanced manufacturing, for economic prosperity and national security. 

Manufacturing USA institutes should adopt a broad range of programs to address workforce education needs that are built around a unified advanced manufacturing curriculum, the report says. In collaboration with regional stakeholders, this should include broad support for manufacturing apprenticeships and the development of comprehensive online advanced manufacturing courses.

The report also calls for a new interagency council to enable cross-agency and cross-institute collaboration, reduce administrative barriers, develop a digital manufacturing strategy, and establish an integrated strategy for the manufacturing institutes. Cross-agency collaboration is important between institute sponsoring agencies as well as between the institutes and other federal programs, including the national laboratories and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program, to ensure advanced manufacturing technologies developed by the institutes are disseminated widely. Federal funding on par with comparable effective programs abroad is critical for supporting these activities.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

For more information, visit https://www.nationalacademies.org/.

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Astellas manufacturing chief talks strategy 1 year into role

For Astellas’ chief manufacturing officer, Rao Mantri, Ph.D.—who entered the position a little over a year ago—production is not just about a reliable supply of a pharmaceutical product. Manufacturing serves as a crucial bridge that helps link promising research to patients in the real world, too. 

“Astellas manufacturing has tremendous strengths in multiple modalities as well as a strong focus on service to patients,” Mantri said during a recent meeting with Fierce at the American Biomanufacturing Summit in San Francisco. “So, when I started, it was about—how do we actually make the manufacturing organization as a strategic enabler to connect research innovation to access to patients even more.”

He described that ambition under his leadership as Astellas’ manufacturing “north star,” alongside always ensuring a reliable supply of its medicines.

When Mantri entered the role of manufacturing chief at the Tokyo-headquartered pharma last April, he came in with the goal of helping streamline new modalities for manufacturing and commercial supply and of embedding digital and artificial intelligence tools into Astellas’ network, he explained. 

Over the past few years, the company has made several strategic moves to help broaden its production base in advanced treatment fields such as cell therapy and antibody-drug conjugates.

On the balance between Astellas’ internal and external capacity, Mantri noted that it’s critical to weigh multiple factors, including speed to patients, modality complexity, development stage, regulatory readiness and cost competitiveness when drawing up a supply plan.

“But what’s most important is really about our ability to deliver the reliable supply,” he explained, adding that the company benefits from working with CDMOs and other partners whose capabilities may fall outside of Astellas’ core wheelhouse. 

“We also have platform approaches that we are ready to partner with the right strategic groups,” Mantri added, citing a recent pact with Yaskawa Electric Corporation.  

In the case of that Yaskawa joint venture, Astellas is wedding its regenerative medicine expertise and manufacturing base with its partner’s robotics and AI capabilities.

The purpose of the team-up is to develop a robotic automation platform that other companies can also use to produce medicines faster with superior quality and reliability, while also accelerating technical development, according to Mantri. 

Separately, Astellas last Halloween tied up with Ajinomoto to use the latter’s bespoke antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) development and manufacturing platform, AJICAP, which Mantri noted will help Astellas “design the next generation” of ADCs. 

“It’s really based on where do we want to go and what are the capabilities that we can leverage that are not internal to us,” Mantri said. “We are ready to partner, but if you have the maturity in our platforms that others can use, we are open to having those strategic collaborations as well.” 

With regard to internal capacity, one of Astellas’ most prominent expansions has taken the form of a new plant in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, which the company first unveiled designs for in 2023. 

External construction on the fill and finish facility—which will use advanced manufacturing and testing to deliver parenteral biologics—has wrapped up, with the site now expected to open in “early 2027,” per Mantri. 

Mantri also addressed geopolitical tensions—primarily in the form of U.S. import tariffs—that have complicated production decision-making in recent months. 

Astellas, in his estimation, is relatively well positioned given the company’s “geographically balanced global production network.” 

He also pointed to the company’s established manufacturing base in the U.S., where Astellas boasts a gene therapy production site in North Carolina and a unit for cell therapy manufacturing in Massachusetts, the latter of which has “strong capabilities for future regenerative medicines.” 

Looking at the role of Astellas’ manufacturing network, and the position production holds in the biopharma landscape more broadly, Mantri described the manufacturer’s charge as twofold: Production teams must both work to help streamline innovation coming out of research and “embrace and take into consideration uncertainties and complexities to serve patients” and provide reliable access to medicines. 

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Clarity advances US manufacturing strategy with major copper 64 supply agreement

Clarity Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CU6) has announced a large-scale manufacturing supply agreement for copper-64 with US-based Theragenics.

The company said the deal signals a clear move from late-stage clinical development toward building the infrastructure required for a potential commercial launch of its lead diagnostic candidate, 64Cu SAR bisPSMA.

At the centre of the agreement is Theragenics’ expansive production facility near Atlanta, Georgia, a strategically located transport hub equipped with 14 cyclotrons.

The site is designed to enable centralised, high-volume production of copper-64, a radioisotope that plays a critical role in next-generation cancer imaging. This capacity is expected to support Clarity’s anticipated commercial rollout, contingent on the successful completion of its Phase 3 trials and regulatory approval in the United States.

Theragenics brings decades of radiometal production expertise to the partnership, alongside the ability to generate substantial daily output. A single cyclotron at the facility can produce enough copper-64 to support approximately 2,000 patient doses per day, highlighting the scalability of the arrangement. Clarity said this agreement complements existing supply deals and strengthens a geographically diverse manufacturing network designed to ensure reliability and redundancy across the US market.

Clarity said the agreement represents a shift toward a more scalable, economically efficient model for radiodiagnostics, one that could expand patient access while improving operational viability for providers.

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Rubio Speaks to Press on U.S. Strategy in Iran · The Floridian

Home » Featured » Rubio Clarifies U.S. Strategy in Iran, Emphasizing Missile Manufacturing

Following a closed-door briefing with Congressional leaders over “Operation Epic Fury” and the conflict with Iran, Secretary Rubio spoke to the press to elaborate on the U.S. military campaign, expressing hope for a future led by the Iranian population.

“The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets,” Secretary Rubio told the press. ” That is what it is focused on doing right now and it’s doing quite successfully. I’ll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that’s being made. That is the clear objective of this mission.”

Secretary Rubio asserted that one of the reasons for the preemptive airstrikes was that the U.S. would’ve been a primary target had it been Israel or another nation that attacked Iran first. He informed the press that the orders to target the U.S. had been issued to Iran’s field commanders, revealing that within an hour of the attack on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound, missile forces in the north and south of Iran had been “pre-positioned” and “activated to launch.”

When asked if the administration had any information regarding the airstrike at an all-girls’ school in Iran that is reported to have killed at least 153 people — mostly children — and which was said to be an American missile, Secretary Rubio commented that “the United States would not deliberately target a school.”

“Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them, and the one-way attack drones. That would be our focus, and that’s what we would be focused on,” Secretary Rubio responded. “We would have no interest, and frankly no incentive, to target civilian infrastructure. The Iranians are, on the other hand, targeting civilian infrastructure. You guys have seen it. I’m sure you’ve seen it. They’re hitting hotels. They’re hitting embassies. They’re hitting airports.  They’re hitting oil infrastructure.”

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Copper Mountain Technologies Advances Global Production Strategy with Expanded Manufacturing Operations in Cyprus

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Copper Mountain Technologies (CMT) enters 2026 after a year of significant advances in manufacturing capability, security compliance, and product development. Throughout 2025, the company invested in strengthening its infrastructure and delivering VNA solutions to better support RF engineers and test and measurement professionals worldwide.

To support rising global demand, CMT expanded its production capabilities through strategic investment in operations and resources. In addition to its established manufacturing site in the United States, the company has extended its footprint in the European Union.

While the Cyprus office was originally established in 2022, this February, the company has moved into a new, larger manufacturing facility. The new facility brings design engineering, production, software development, and service under one roof — enhancing agility, scalability, customer support, reliable supply and faster delivery worldwide.

Together with US manufacturing operations, this European Union expansion strengthens CMT’s ability to meet increasing demand across Europe and the EMEA region.

About Copper Mountain Technologies

Copper Mountain Technologies develops innovative RF test and measurement solutions for engineers around the world. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA), CMT maintains manufacturing, R&D, applications engineering and service operations in both the United States and Paphos, Cyprus (EU), with additional regional offices in Singapore, London, and Miami. They offer a broad range of USB vector network analyzers, calibration kits, and accessories for 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm impedances to 330 GHz. Their VNAs use software for Windows® and Linux® operating systems on an external computer, PC, or tablet. Every CMT VNA includes robust application and automation support, backed by years of RF engineering expertise dedicated to customer success.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ea94e617-829d-47a7-ab62-3a20b453193f

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