42 U.S.C. § 17115a — Development of national smart manufacturing plan

(a) In general: Within three years of December 27, 2020, the Secretary^* of Energy, working with the National Academies, had to write a complete national plan for developing and deploying smart manufacturing technology. The goal is to make U.S. manufacturing more productive and more energy efficient.

(b) Content: The plan must identify where actions by the Secretary and other relevant Federal agency heads would help — specifically, actions that would speed up the development, deployment, and adoption of smart manufacturing technology and processes; make American manufacturers more energy efficient and lower their environmental impact; and make U.S. manufacturing sectors more competitive and stronger. The actions the plan identifies must include an assessment of what the Department has already done on smart manufacturing; setting up voluntary rules for how devices connect to each other and perform; using smart manufacturing to boost efficiency and cut emissions across supply chains that span multiple companies; steps to strengthen cybersecurity in smart manufacturing systems; deploying existing research results; using the Department's existing high-performance computing resources; and considering how smart manufacturing affects both current and future manufacturing jobs.

(c) Biennial revisions: Within two years of finishing the plan, and at least every two years after that, the Secretary must revise it to keep up with changes in information and communication technology and in manufacturing needs.

(d) Report: Every year until the plan is finished, the Secretary must send Congress a report on how the work is progressing.

(e) Definition: This section defines "smart manufacturing" as advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computation, sensing, modeling, artificial intelligence, analytics, and networking that do all of the following: digitally simulate production lines, operate computer-controlled manufacturing equipment, monitor and report on production line status, and manage and optimize energy productivity and cost throughout production; model, simulate, and optimize a factory building's energy efficiency; monitor and optimize how a building uses energy; model, simulate, and optimize the design of energy-efficient and sustainable products, including through digital prototyping and additive manufacturing; connect manufactured products into networks to monitor and optimize how those networks perform, including automating network operations; and digitally connect the whole supply chain network.