Nate Ames Turned a University Lab Into a Startup. It’s Working.

🎙️ Nate Ames helps run a very clever program at Ohio State University. While the “Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence” is an official arm of the school, it functions more like a paid internship. Hundreds of students have worked on real projects from over 150 companies, learning not just skilled trades and engineering, but also how to work within the same type of corporate and team structures they’ll be plopped into when they graduate.It’s like a trade school and an internship all in one—hands-on access to machines and project management—and it’s setting a template for future hybrid programs at universities around the country.In this episode of TOOL OR DIE, Nate explains why universities have failed to keep up with the pace of American industry—and how CDME is getting young people up to speed. By running like a startup and building with undergrad students instead of just grad students, CDME is turning research into real products and students into deployable talent.From running R&D projects for DARPA to building design-for-manufacture workflows with startups, CDME is rewriting the playbook for academic innovation and reshoring-ready manufacturing.TIMESTAMPS:00:00 – Intro and TOOL OR DIE updates02:08 – Nate Ames joins: from machining entrepreneur to CDME leader05:25 – What universities get wrong about product development09:40 – How CDME runs like a job shop with students on the line13:15 – Solving the “valley of death” between research and manufacturing17:30 – Why DARPA cares about DFM—and what that means for startups22:50 – Student-built parts that actually go into fielded defense products28:00 – How CDME scales from prototypes to production without breaking the model34:10 – What startups misunderstand about manufacturing38:00 – The reshoring moment and what’s needed to sustain itKey Topics:* Why academic R&D often fails to cross into real-world production* CDME’s unique model: acting like a job shop, building like a startup* Turning paid student labor into manufacturing muscle* Design-for-manufacturing (DFM) as a national security issue* Creating deployable talent pipelines, not just credentials* Bridging institutional knowledge with urgent, real-world problems🔧 Learn more: cdme.osu.eduTool or Die is hosted by Joel Johnson, former journalist, corporate strategist, and builder of brands like Gizmodo, Jalopnik, and Wirecutter. Each week, he speaks with the people actually rebuilding American manufacturing—one machine, one company, one idea at a time.SponsorThis episode of TOOL OR DIE is brought to you by DOSS, the adaptive ERP.DOSS kills implementation hell by working directly with your team, connecting all your systems to minimize data entry so you can focus on production. Instead of barging in like a bull in a china shop, they take a deep look at your actual operations and build a system that matches how you operate today, replacing only the parts that need improving—rather than trying to fix what’s already working great.DOSS — One Platform, Total Visibility Get full access to TOOL or DIE at www.toolordie.com/subscribe