U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, got a firsthand look on Friday at what many, including President Barack Obama, believe is the future of manufacturing in this country.

In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama said he wants to fund another 15 additive manufacturing research facilities like the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown. On Friday, Brown said he’s pushing to eventually have all those centers linked together to share their technology.

The Senator toured NAMII, which is located inside the Youngstown Business Incubator downtown. Besides meeting employees, he got to look over some of the products made through the process known as 3-D drawing, where parts can be put together layer by layer.