SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Dec. 13, 2024-- SME, a nonprofit committed to accelerating widespread adoption of manufacturing technologies and building North America's talent and capabilities, proudly joined the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDMTP) in celebrating the 2024 Defense Manufacturing Technology Achievement Awards (DMTAA). The awards recognize remarkable technical accomplishments in projects that advance the vision of the DoD Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program, which is to achieve a responsive, world-class manufacturing capability to affordably and rapidly meet warfighter needs throughout the defense system life cycle within the defense industrial and organic base. 

 "SME is honored to support the 2024 DMTAA and plans to continue to do so in 2025, due to importance of these awards and the close alignment with our organization’s purpose to advance manufacturing to drive competitiveness, resiliency and national security," said Jeannine Kunz, chief workforce development officer at SME and newly appointed CEO starting Jan 1. "Several significant innovations commonly used today such as GPS originated in the defense sector. It’s important to recognize the awardee’s achievements and encourage individuals and organizations like these to continue using ingenuity and collaboration in meeting Warfighters needs along with national defense.”

Awarded at the Defense Manufacturing Conference in Austin, TX this December, the following individuals from government, industry and academia were awarded for their outstanding performance in executing and delivering ManTech solutions to the DoD. 

Technology Enabler Award, Project: Spatial Intelligence with Dynamic Extended Reality (SPIDER)
Recipients:

• Bhaskar Banerjee, Grid Raster Inc.
• Christian Loera, Grid Raster Inc.
• Christopher Koehler, AFRL/RXM
• Harry Pierson, AFRL/RXM
• Michael Skocik, ARM Institute
• Shane Groves, WR-ALC/EN
• Yao Sun, Grid Raster Inc.

Cost Reduction / Rate or Safety Improvement Award, Project: Radome Operational Performance Evaluation (ROPE)
Recipients:

• Adam Hester, Compass Technology Group
• Harry Pierson, AFRL/RXM
• Jeff Kingsley, AFRL/RXM
• John Schultz, Compass Technology Group
• Shane Groves, WR-ALC/EN

Enhancing Military Capability Award, Project: Advanced Transceiver Optical Module (ATOM)
Recipients:

• Bill Gorveatt, L3-Harris
• Jeff Leach, U.S. Army C5ISR Center
• John Nettleton, U.S. Army C5ISR Center
• Kevin Allen, L3-Harris
• Nate Hough, U.S. Army C5ISR Center

Readiness Improvement Award, Project: Depot Factory AI Robotics (DFAIR)
Recipients:

• Alex Klinger, Titan Robotics
• Andrew Gillman, AFRL/RXM
• Andy Strat, Titan Robotics
• David Gelati, Titan Robotics
• Harry Pierson, AFRL/RXM
• James Hardin, AFRL/RXM
• Jeff Kingsley, AFRL/RXM
• Michael Skocik, ARM Institute
• Shane Groves, WR-ALC/EN

Supply Chain Improvement Award, Project: Modernization and Readiness Analysis of Joint Food Management System (JFMS)
Recipients:

• Clayton Nicholas, Vibronyx
• Dr. Brian Kim, DLA R&D SUBNET Program
• Dr. Gloria Edwards, DLA R&D SUBNET Program
• Jacob Slotnick, DLA Troop Support
• Janet Timmons, Vibronyx
• Katherine Krawiec, DLA R&D SUBNET Program
• Kelly Floyd, DLA Troop Support
• Martina Johnson, DLA R&D Directorate
• Vishnu Venkatesh, Vibronyx

"Once again, the JDMTP Principals had the pleasure of evaluating several excellent submissions for this year's awards based on three criteria: manufacturing technology achievement, transition/implementation outlook, and potential and/or realized benefits," said David Koch, Director, DLA Research & Development and JDMTP Chair. "We thank SME for their recognition of these awards and know great things will come from our continued partnership."