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Project Diamond Phase 2: Oakland County reports 57 printers distributed, 117 approvals in program pipeline
Summary
Oakland County and partners said Project Diamond Phase 2 continues to place 3D printers with small businesses and to expand digital training. County staff reported application and distribution numbers and urged commissioners to refer businesses for phase 3 recruitment.
Oakland County staff and partners told the Economic Development & Infrastructure Committee that Project Diamond Phase 2—an initiative providing 3D printers and training to small businesses—has distributed 57 printers and helped 27 companies complete the full training sequence.
Michael Abdallah, manager of Business Development, said to date Project Diamond has received 452 applicants; 258 were determined ineligible (most commonly for exceeding SBA size thresholds or being outside Oakland County). Of applicants, 99 were identified as diverse businesses: 48 women-owned, 52 minority-owned and 11 veteran-owned. For Phase 2 specifically, Abdallah said 117 companies are fully approved, 20 are waiting and 38 remain in the pipeline.
Abdallah and Eric Davis of Automation Alley said Project Diamond now offers a hybrid PD Academy that moves portions of training online to reduce time away from businesses. Applicants are vetted using SBA-size guidelines tied to NAICS codes; staff said several applicants were excluded after parent/sister company employee counts were aggregated per SBA rules.
Commissioners discussed informal site tours of participant firms. Commissioner Miller invited colleagues to join a site visit in Novi; staff said commissioners are welcome to attend openings and tours as outreach. County staff also emphasized that the program’s eligibility was broadened to include non-traditional manufacturers such as food service and roofing firms that have tooling or prototyping needs.
County staff asked commissioners to refer local businesses for Phase 3 recruitment and noted a flyer with a QR code is available for outreach.
