[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 1, Parts 0 to 299]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR290.3]

[Page 432-434]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
 CHAPTER II--NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, DEPARTMENT 
                               OF COMMERCE
 
PART 290--REGIONAL CENTERS FOR THE TRANSFER OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 290.3  Program description.

    (a) The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall provide 
technical and financial assistance for the creation and support of 
Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology. Each 
Center shall be affiliated with a U.S.-based nonprofit institution or 
organization which has submitted a qualified proposal for a Center 
Operating Award under these procedures. Support may be provided for a 
period not to exceed six years. The Centers work with industry, 
universities, nonprofit economic development organizations and state 
governments to transfer advanced manufacturing technologies, processes, 
and methods as defined in Sec. 290.2 to small and medium sized firms. 
These technology transfer efforts focus on the continuous and 
incremental improvement of the target firms. The advanced manufacturing 
technology which is the focus of the

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Centers is the subject of research in NIST's Automated Manufacturing 
Research Facility (AMRF). The core of AMRF research has principally been 
applied in discrete part manufacturing, including electronics, 
composites, plastics, and metal parts fabrication and assembly. Centers 
will be afforded the opportunity for interaction with the AMRF and will 
be given access to reasearch projects and results to strengthen their 
technology transfer. Where elements of a solution are available from an 
existing source, they should be employed. Where private-sector 
consultants who can meet the needs of a small- or medium-sized 
manufacturer are available, they should handle the task. Each Center 
should bring to bear the technology expertise described in Sec. 290.3(d) 
to assist small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms in adopting 
advanced manufacturing technology.
    (b) Program objective. The objective of the NIST Manufacturing 
Technology Centers is to enhance productivity and technological 
performance in United States manufacturing. This will be accomplished 
through:
    (1) The transfer of manufacturing technology and techniques 
developed at NIST to Centers and, through them, to manufacturing 
companies throughout the United States;
    (2) The participation of individuals from industry, universities, 
State governments, other Federal agencies, and, when appropriate, NIST 
in cooperative technology transfer activities;
    (3) Efforts to make new manufacturing technology and processes 
usable by United States-based small- and medium-sized companies;
    (4) The active dissemination of scientific, engineering, technical, 
and management information about manufacturing to industrial firms, 
including small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies; and
    (5) The utilization, when appropriate, of the expertise and 
capability that exists in Federal laboratories other than NIST.
    (c) Center activities. The activities of the Centers shall include:
    (1) The establishment of automated manufacturing systems and other 
advanced production technologies based on research by NIST and other 
Federal laboratories for the purpose of demonstrations and technology 
transfer;
    (2) The active transfer and dissemination of research findings and 
Center expertise to a wide range of companies and enterprises, 
particularly small- and medium-sized manufacturers; and
    (3) Loans, on a selective, short-term basis, of items of advanced 
manufacturing equipment to small manufacturing firms with less than 100 
employees.
    (d) Center organization and operation. Each Center will be organized 
to transfer advanced manufacturing technology to small and medium sized 
manufacturers located in its service region. Regional Centers will be 
established and operated via cooperative agreements between NIST and the 
award-receiving organizations. Individual awards shall be decided on the 
basis of merit review, geographical diversity, and the availability of 
funding.
    (e) Leverage. The Centers program must concentrate on approaches 
which can be applied to other companies, in other regions, or by other 
organizations. The lessons learned in assisting a particular target firm 
should be documented in order to facilitate the use of those lessons by 
other target firms. A Center should build on unique solutions developed 
for a single company to develop techniques of broad applicability. It 
should seek wide implementation with well-developed mechanisms for 
distribution of results. Leverage is the principle of developing less 
resource-intensive methods of delivering technologies (as when a Center 
staff person has the same impact on ten firms as was formerly obtained 
with the resources used for one, or when a project once done by the 
Center can be carried out for dozens of companies by the private sector 
or a state or local organization.) Leverage does not imply a larger non-
federal funding match (that is, greater expenditure of non-federal 
dollars for each federal dollar) but rather a greater impact per dollar.
    (f) Regional impact. A new Center should not begin by spreading its 
resources too thinly over too large a geographic area. It should 
concentrate

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first on establishing its structure, operating style, and client base 
within a manageable service area.