Oakland County-funded Project Diamond to supply 3D printers, training and marketplace for small manufacturers

Gwen Markham, commissioner from District 15, highlighted a visit to the Project Diamond Center in Auburn Hills, praising the facility’s role in connecting small manufacturers with 3D printing technology and information-sharing across Oakland County.

Project Diamond officials said the program is entering a county-funded Phase 2 that expands direct support to local manufacturers. "And so as part of phase 2, which is funded by Oakland County, we have 4 main components," said Eric Davis, chief operating officer of Project Diamond. "Diamond actually stands for something. It's called distributed independent agile manufacturing on demand."

Davis described the Phase 2 components as: distributing commercial-grade 3D printers to grant participants; offering training through Project Diamond Academy; setting up a secure marketplace where participants can buy and sell 3D-printed parts; and operating a digital transformation center for production work and research and development. He said the digital transformation center enables companies to produce parts for customers or for their own R&D needs.

Commissioner Markham, an engineer by training, said she had learned about usable materials and cross-company technology sharing during her visit and expressed pride that Oakland County is supporting the effort. No formal actions or votes were recorded in the transcript for this presentation.

Officials said the initiative aims to bolster small manufacturers’ access to equipment, skills and sales channels. Project staff did not provide dollar amounts, timelines for full deployment, or the number of grant recipients in the provided remarks; those details were not specified in the transcript.