[ad_1]
“The 3D printing trade would in all probability be useless within the water if it weren’t for the U.S. authorities,” a consultant of the US army stated on the 2024 Additive Manufacturing Customers Group (AMUG) convention. In fact, having been an worker of stated authorities, he might have been a bit biased.
He did have some extent, nevertheless. The general public markets and, in response to AM Ventures Managing Companion Arno Held at this yr’s Additive Manufacturing Methods (AMS), personal funding into the 3D printing sector have slowed to a close to standstill. Because of this, the theme of 2023 gave the impression to be “RIP 3D printing.” Will or not it’s resurrected in 2024? This yr’s AMUG recommended that, in fact, it had by no means truly died, however it might be iterating a brand new geometry.
As made most palpable on the secret dinner getaway on the multi-level nightclub and music venue Radius Chicago, the camaraderie of AMUG was nonetheless on full show in 2024. There, Mara Hitner, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at MatterHackers, showcased the complete gamut of her abilities by taking part in 80s hits on stage on the venue earlier than a crowd of AM Dinos, newcomers, and extra. Because of the fantastic group cultivated by the unbelievable AMUG group, we additionally obtained to witness Alex Campbell, an undergraduate aerospace scholar from Ohio State College, obtain the Man E. Bourdeau Scholarship for college kids in additive manufacturing (AM). Phil Rufe, an Assistant Professor within the Faculty of Engineering at Jap Michigan College, was chosen for the Randy Stevens Scholarship for educators in AM, as nicely.
AMUG DINO and AM guide Stefan Ritt giving his Worldwide Report at AMUG 2024.
Nonetheless, it did appear as if it wasn’t the personal buyers that had been driving the sector ahead. As a substitute, it was the general public sector. This is able to already be clear to anybody who’s been following the insurance policies put forth by the Biden-Harris administration within the U.S. and different applications overseas. It was equally evident at AMUG, the place it’s commonplace to be randomly seated subsequent to a authorities consultant throughout the networking lunch. One yr, you may end up seated subsequent to a army engineer inquisitive about 3D printing cockpit simulators. One other yr, it may very well be somebody working in an Air Power electronics analysis lab. In 2024, the norm can be each: on one aspect, a army engineer, and on the opposite, an electronics 3D printing specialist from a army contractor.
In the meantime, army funding, together with Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis awards. The CEO of 1 notable 3D printing startup stated that the agency had gotten three SBIR awards from December 2023 to now, totaling a number of million {dollars}. One other from a stealth mode firm stated that a lot of what their agency was doing concerned protection contractors.
Andrew Littlefield, a mechanical engineer from the U.S. Military CCDC Armaments Heart at Benét Labs, relayed the story he’d shared at Mobility | Medical goes Additive 2023 Annual Assembly, by which a Velo3D Sapphire XC 1MZ was used to 3D print a muzzle break for a howitzer. The print time alone was an astounding 11 days, and the half price exceeded $50,000. Whereas he stated that 3D printing has to date confirmed to not be ultimate for large-caliber weapons with regards to complexity and price, it was chosen on this case for the turnaround time.
Extra objectively, nevertheless, the company presence was much less pronounced in comparison with 2023, with some names not in attendance that one may need anticipated. As an example, firms that had been listed as taking part both with cubicles or as sponsors in 2023, however not in 2024 included: ARKEMA, Carbon, Inkbit, Quickparts, and Oerlikon. There have been additionally vital variations in sponsorship, with EOS, Formlabs, Nexa3D, Evonik, Siemens, BMF, Xact Metallic, Lithoz, voxeljet, Desktop Metallic, and Additec dropping their ranges of help this yr. This, nevertheless, was balanced by elevated help from the likes of HP, Nikon, SME, GE Additive, ADDMAN, Visitech, and One Click on Metallic.
A few of these are extra notable than others. As an example, previously, Carbon made it some extent to unveil information forward of or on the occasion, whereas this yr, the digital gentle processing firm was not even current. Desktop Metallic, too, opted out. That is extra reflective of the present monetary state of affairs for the trade than it’s of AMUG, but it surely does maybe level us towards the place the sector is heading.
As an example, AMUG, which started because the 3D Techniques customers’ group because of the company’s invention of the know-how, displays the “customers” of 3D printing. Nonetheless, because the AM trade is being included into the bigger manufacturing sector, it might be that sectors outdoors of 3D printing are more and more turning into the customers.
Primarily based on the info AMUG gives to its attendees, the Aerospace sector skilled a slight lower in participation on the occasion from 12% in 2019 to 10% in 2023. Equally, the Automotive sector noticed a discount in its illustration from 7% to 4%. In distinction, the Authorities, Navy, and Protection sector elevated its presence from 8% in 2019 to 13% in 2023. Different areas akin to Client Merchandise and Academic Institutes maintained secure participation charges at 5% and three%, respectively, throughout each years. The Medical and Dental sector confirmed a slight improve, transferring from 5% to six%.
Case Examine of a Case Examine: ASTRO & CAM-QT
Whereas bustling AM professionals animated the Chicago Hilton’s halls, and attendees clustered across the cubicles piled with swag and brochures that crammed the resort’s basement, the true motion was occurring within the ballrooms and salons. That is the place the audio system and panelists introduced and mentioned, and nearly each main subdivision throughout the AM trade had its personal session. If there’s one disadvantage to that, it’s that it makes it tough to decide on what you most wish to sit in on. It will not be the one you’d anticipate, however to us, one presentation specifically stood out on the agenda as to not be missed.
It didn’t disappoint: sticking with the primary theme to this point of the general public sector, the presentation was Douglas Greenwood’s replace on the continuing progress of the CAM-QT challenge. When you don’t know what that is, that’s most definitely as a result of there are seemingly infinite government-funded AM initiatives in-progress proper now, all with names alongside the identical traces. As Greenwood stated in his presentation, “If there’s one factor we’d like, it’s one other acronym.”
As an example, the acronym for the group Greenwood is working for, in control of managing CAM-QT, is the Utilized Science and Expertise Group (ASTRO) America, a 501(c)(3) assume tank primarily based in Florida. CAM-QT stands for “Frequent Additive Manufacturing Qualification Template”. XWhile it’s definitely exhausting to attempt to preserve observe of all of the acronyms floating round within the authorities house, these are two that everybody within the AM trade ought to bear in mind.
CAM-QT started in July of final yr, with ASTRO America receiving $1 million in funding from America Makes for its participation within the challenge. ASTRO’s companions on CAM-QT are GE, Pratt & Whitney, and AM Ahead founding member Honeywell. Though GE Aerospace isn’t an AM Ahead member, GE Additive is, and Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of RTX, one other of the initiative’s founding members.
Greenwood, an engineer and AMUG DINO, is the purpose of contact for GE on the CAM-QT challenge. (There’s a counterpart to Greenwood working with each Honeywell and ASTRO, in addition to one working with each Pratt & Whitney and ASTRO.) Most particularly, the aim of CAM-QT is to determine Set up Qualification (IQ) and Operational Qualification (OQ) necessities for printers producing in-service steel components utilized in plane engines.
As Greenwood’s presentation made clear, nevertheless, the central involvement of ASTRO and the plane OEMs in AM Ahead signifies that CAM-QT can be a testing floor for reaching AM Ahead goals. Thus, the presentation supplied essential perception into what precisely the day-to-day operations of AM Ahead entail.
Because the Biden administration established in its rollout of AM Ahead in Might 2022, the aim of the initiative is to decrease the boundaries to AM adoption for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by a three-pronged strategy: serving to SMEs entry capital, develop and retrain the related workforce, and qualify AM processes. In line with Greenwood, although, from the individuals’ perspective, course of qualification remains to be the largest impediment standing in the way in which of accelerating adoption by new customers.
That is what makes creating a typical set of qualification standards amongst customers such an important job. Apparently, one of many key instruments Greenwood says that CAM-QT is utilizing to construct the muse for that standards is sweet old school Excel spreadsheets. ASTRO despatched spreadsheets to every firm to submit plans for each set up and calibration & verification. The engineer famous that, on the challenge’s outset, the ASTRO group anticipated there can be main commonality between the aerospace producers on the IQ/OQ standards — overlap between “at the least 2 of the three” plane OEMs, in response to Greenwood.
In reality, not solely was there overlap between all three aerospace OEMs, however there was “vital commonality… for greater than 90% of the IQ/OQ components surveyed.” The weather for the calibration & verification plan included issues like “make and mannequin of the instrument calibrated”, “required calibration accuracy”, “any limitations or restriction of the calibration.”
The challenge has been given the go-ahead to maneuver on to Section 2, with Greenwood noting that ASTRO has began to work on a extra complete template primarily based on the outcomes of Section 1. Along with IQ and OQ, Section 2 might also embrace Efficiency Qualification (PQ) within the template.
It might sound like tedious drudgery, however that is what it’s going to take to standardize the trade. That is the form of factor that quantities to actual motion. And to make certain, standardizing the trade would require this, however on a a lot bigger scale. CAM-QT is a wonderful mannequin for others to comply with, and the businesses concerned are giants, however they’re nonetheless simply three firms.
Alongside these traces, an trade insider referred to as it a “noble effort”, however added that — exactly as a result of the enormity of the businesses concerned makes them unrepresentative of the broader US manufacturing sector — the qualification course of will not be scalable. That’s, as an illustration, contract producers merely don’t have the identical workforce and sources that the primes should take care of a printer that isn’t performing optimally. To ensure that any such qualification course of to really succeed as envisioned, it should be examined in a wider vogue, and may’t simply be the work of some manufacturing giants. Extra pressingly, it needs to be confirmed to work on the degree of SMEs, and to be efficient throughout the gamut of AM ecosystems.
Even when they’re a very powerful, it couldn’t be simpler to see why these points have a tendency to attract far much less consideration than most different points of the trade, particularly in contexts like conferences. Qualification processes are actual, however they’re boring. By comparability, cool components could also be faux, however they’re entertaining. However, as was already identified, everybody had a selection of many alternative tracks and locations to be, and the room was packed when Greenwood was talking. It might be anecdotal, however individuals appear to be beginning to get it.
[ad_2]
Supply hyperlink
