**Welcome to Built to Work Podcast**

**Colin:** Welcome to Built to Work, the podcast that gets its hands dirty, dives into the grit, and uncovers the heart of what makes the blue-collar world tick. I’m Colin, your host, and I’m sitting down with the people who keep our world running. From those tackling the tough jobs no one else dares to do to the HR professionals working overtime to find the labor force we desperately need. Whether you’re in the trenches or behind the scenes, this podcast is for anyone who values hard work, determination, and stories that build the backbone of our workforce. So, grab your gloves, your coffee, or your clipboard. It’s time to get to work.

Welcome to another Built to Work podcast. I’m Colin Det and today I am here with Dr. Richard Bowl from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Dr. Bill, thank you so much for joining me today.

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Thank you for having me, Colin. So, I am an alumnus of Missouri S&T, formerly University of Missouri Rala, formerly Missouri School of Mines. I got introduced to what you guys are doing when I attended a Missouri Association of Manufacturing event down at Rala for manufacturing day which was an awesome event. The school is launching something called the Protolex and I know that you have a very large role. You’re the director of it. So tell us a little bit about what your role is at the school with the Protolex and tell everybody what the Protolex is.

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** An S&T alumnus provided us a gift of over $300 million to return Missouri to manufacturing excellence. That was his vision. The building was built to be a state-of-the-art high-bay advanced manufacturing research prototyping facility. It’s not focused on fundamental research. It focuses on working with companies to develop products and prototypes of their next generation products.

We were charged with two related mission statements. One is to bring Missouri to manufacturing excellence, make it competitive, and bring companies back to the US, which aligns very well with the mandates of the new administration. A related mission statement is to provide a pipeline of well-trained and well-educated engineers and skilled technicians to work in these companies. We do this by taking advantage of emerging advanced manufacturing technologies. We feel that is the way to compete.

**Colin:** That’s awesome. How big is the facility? Is it complete now or is it still under construction?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** It’s still under construction. We’ll start moving equipment in around this coming November and it should be complete by February. We’ll have an opening ceremony probably a month or two after that. But we’ve been very active anyway since I came here three years ago. We immediately started building the contracts and the grants that would be carried out in the center and buying equipment to start doing that work now. We put that equipment any place that we can find a place. It’s not efficient, but we have been successful in garnering over $23 million in active contracts. Right now, we’ve got about 10 full-time staff on board.

**Colin:** That’s cool. It’s amazing that you guys have gotten so much funding, you know, from alumni. You’ve gotten so many grants and the equipment not and I’m sure you guys have a lot more equipment that you’re going to be getting. I have so many questions about it. I remember hearing you guys speak about this before you were really almost opening up like a new kind of emphasis or degree line within engineering that Rala was offering. Can you tell me about that?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Sure. It’s part of mechanical engineering. It’s called the manufacturing processes emphasis. It kind of faltered during the pandemic. We were awarded with two community colleges a $9.2 million grant from the state through the MOK sales program. Each of us then took a different tact on how we would use that for manufacturing. Ours was to revitalize that manufacturing emphasis. We created or modernized seven courses in that curriculum. Threw out all the old ones and brought in new ones and the ones that were still relevant we modernized them and created four new hands-on teaching laboratories in support of those courses. These were aligned very much with what the manufacturers of the state had asked for. We brought them together previously and ran a workshop and asked them what critical skills do you need that you’re not getting from us?

**Colin:** Wow, that’s awesome. And how do you work with companies to pilot these advancements?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** The equipment that we got was designated by the companies, not the faculty. The companies said this is what the students need to learn on because these are the machines that we use in our companies. That also helped with our contracts, in that now we have the machines when companies are developing new products they don’t need to stop production to test those products. They just come and use our machines which are available on an hourly basis for renting.

**Colin:** So, you will rent them out to a company if they’re trying to prototype something that only these machines can do?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Yes. This fits well with our motto of the show-me state. These are emerging advanced manufacturing technologies and they’re obviously not as easy to use as the vendors of these machines tell them they are. There’s a lot of engineering involved. So they work with us on these machines and together we engineer their products with them, not for them, but with them. At the end of that, they make the decision that this can really help their company, or it’s not worth it. They don’t have to commit to capital investment early on, only when they’re sure it’s going to make a difference.

**Colin:** So, they get to test run it at S&T’s facility instead. That makes sense. What are some of these advanced manufacturing techniques?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** These include laser micro welding, friction stir additive manufacturing, robotic cold spray additive manufacturing, laser powder bed fusion, wire arc directed energy deposition. Some of these technologies we’re learning are far superior to current methods. For example, with Sakorski helicopter, we learned parts once taking two years to get could be produced in two weeks with friction stir, and with better properties.

**Colin:** That’s incredible! What does friction stir do?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Friction stir uses friction by taking a metal rod and rubbing it against a base plate, spinning very fast to heat and soften the metal at the base, forming layers. The bond created is superior to many traditional methods and is then machined to near net shape and finished in weeks instead of years.

**Colin:** That’s revolutionary! So much faster and yet offering high-quality results. Moving on, what’s the broader vision for Missouri in leveraging these advancements?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Missouri’s top industry is aerospace, followed by manufacturing. Our goal is to bolster Missouri’s manufacturing base while providing a talented pipeline through collaborations with community colleges. One of our recent accomplishments is getting a company from Massachusetts to start operations in Rala due to the Protolex.

**Colin:** Awesome! That’s a big leap for Missouri. How does this impact the educational sector?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** We’re working closely with community colleges to establish programs that cater to various educational paths – from high school certificates to associate degrees, and even paths into engineering at S&T. This approach aligns with what companies need and helps address labor shortages.

**Colin:** Speaking of shortages, what about the labor statistics you mentioned at the manufacturing day?

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** In the US, there are only 55 available workers for every 100 manufacturing jobs. In Missouri, it’s even worse with just 47. We have to take action to address this shortage.

**Colin:** Definitely something that needs addressing. Your work with Courtney on reaching out to young talents is impressive.

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Courtney Jones is excellent. We’re actively engaging over 12,000 K-12 students annually, providing manufacturing internships for them and high school teachers with summer programs. We offer hands-on experiences which form a critical part of our outreach efforts to ignite interest in STEM from a young age.

**Colin:** All remarkable work, keeping the next generation engaged and aware of their options. Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Bowl. Hearing about these initiatives and advancements gives a sense of pride and hope for the future.

**Dr. Richard Bowl:** Thank you, Colin. It’s been a pleasure. Our alumni and state’s efforts are truly making a difference. We’re determined to see Missouri—and the country—thrive in manufacturing excellence.

**Colin:** Thank you for being here today and for all that S&T is accomplishing. As a proud alumnus, it makes me happy to witness these advancements. Keep up the excellent work!