Building the People Who Will Build the Future

Photos courtesy of Harrisburg University

Phillips Federal deepens its commitment to advanced manufacturing education, workforce development, and the next generation of manufacturing leaders at J-DAMMIT 2026.

The future of American manufacturing will be shaped by extraordinary technology. But technology alone will not determine that future.

People will.

That belief was at the heart of Phillips Corporation’s participation in J-DAMMIT 2026, the Joint-Defense Advanced Manufacturing Meeting for Innovation and Transition, hosted by Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and STORMWERX.

As the returning five-star sponsor of this year’s event, Phillips helped bring together members of the defense community, manufacturers, technology providers, educators, students, and advanced manufacturing professionals for three days of hands-on learning, collaboration, and exposure to technologies shaping the future of production and defense readiness.

For Phillips Federal, supporting J-DAMMIT represents something larger than sponsorship.

It represents an investment in the future of manufacturing.

Technology Advances. People Make It Possible.

Manufacturing is evolving at an extraordinary pace. Additive manufacturing, advanced CNC machining, automation, robotics, hybrid manufacturing, and digital production technologies are changing what manufacturers can produce, where they can produce it, and how quickly they can respond to new challenges.

Those capabilities are especially important to the U.S. defense industrial base, where the ability to rapidly manufacture and repair critical components closer to the point of need can directly affect mission readiness.

But realizing the potential of these technologies requires something equally important: a skilled workforce prepared to use them.

Phillips has spent decades helping manufacturers and the federal government adopt advanced manufacturing technologies. That experience has reinforced a fundamental truth: investing in equipment without investing in people limits what that technology can ultimately accomplish.

That is why Phillips’ commitment extends beyond providing manufacturing technology.

It includes developing expertise, expanding access to hands-on learning, strengthening relationships between industry and education, and helping create pathways for the next generation of manufacturing professionals.

From the Classroom to the Manufacturing Floor

J-DAMMIT provides a powerful example of what can happen when those worlds come together.

Rather than experiencing advanced manufacturing solely through presentations, participants engage directly with technologies and experts in an active manufacturing environment. Students and educators have opportunities to interact alongside professionals from industry, government, and defense, creating connections between what is being taught today and the capabilities manufacturers will need tomorrow.

For Phillips, those connections matter.

The skilled-trades and advanced manufacturing workforce challenges facing the United States cannot be solved by industry or education independently. They require sustained collaboration among manufacturers, technology providers, educators, government organizations, and the students who will become tomorrow’s machinists, engineers, technicians, programmers, operators, and manufacturing leaders.

Phillips wants to be part of building that bridge.

A $25,000 Investment in the Next Generation

This year, Phillips Federal expanded its commitment to Harrisburg University through a $25,000 scholarship supporting advanced manufacturing education.

The investment builds upon the longstanding relationship between Phillips and Harrisburg University while providing direct support to students interested in pursuing careers in advanced manufacturing.

Through the Phillips Distinguished Manufacturing Scholar Award, Phillips is helping students develop the education and expertise needed to enter an industry that is becoming increasingly important to America’s economic competitiveness and national security.

For Phillips, the scholarship is not simply financial support.

It is an investment in talent.

It is an investment in skills.

And it is an investment in the future capability of American manufacturing.

“Throughout my career, I’ve learned that technology alone doesn’t create capability; people do. That’s why Phillips is committed to supporting Harrisburg University and shares a common belief in developing the talent and manufacturing expertise essential to America’s defense industrial base and our manufacturing future.” — Tim McClanahan, President, Phillips Federal Division

Building Manufacturing Capability for the Future

Phillips Federal’s mission has always extended beyond supplying machines.

Our Partners work alongside customers to understand complex manufacturing challenges, develop processes, integrate technologies, build expertise, and help organizations create sustainable manufacturing capability.

Supporting initiatives such as J-DAMMIT and investing directly in manufacturing education are extensions of that same philosophy.

Because strengthening America’s manufacturing capability requires both sides of the equation:

Advanced technology and highly skilled people.

One without the other is not enough.

As manufacturing continues to evolve, Phillips remains committed to working alongside educators, industry partners, government organizations, and the manufacturing community to help ensure the next generation has opportunities not only to learn about advanced manufacturing but to experience it, develop expertise in it, and ultimately lead it.

The machines of the future will continue to become more capable.

Our responsibility is to make sure the people behind them do, too.

Because the future of American advanced manufacturing isn’t something that simply happens to us. It is something we choose to build.