The private companies and engineering students are working every day to develop new, efficient ways to make products go together like peanut butter and jelly, said center director Ed Morris on Friday morning.

The public-private educational partnership in Youngstown's National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, or NAMII, is working out so well, in fact, that U.S Sen. Sherrod Brown is calling for a national network of 15 to 18 of the manufacturing innovation centers, using Youngstown as the model.

''What's happening in the Mahoning Valley is all leaning toward job creation,'' the Democrat said, noting that the work that comes out of centers like NAMII should help spawn entrepreneurial activity.

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