3D PRINTING & ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE
MAG EUROPE EDITION VOLUME 28 ISSUE 3
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ROADMAPPING SUCCESS SLM SOLUTIONS ON THE PATH TO TRUE AM ADOPTION aEROSPACE
Additive in the aircraft cabin and supply chain.
service providers
Included inside: The AM service locator map.
industrial Spotlight on $100K+ AM machinery.
PULVERMEISTER Typ3 is the first fully automated post processing
solution (depowdering and blasting) for plastic powderbed built parts.
PULVERMEISTER Typ3 is ideal for industrial bulk parts and reliable serial production. PULVERMEISTER Typ3 is made in Germany. Using the PULVERMEISTER Typ3:
- You process(1) around 23 litres(2) of SLS/MJF(3) per hour(4). - You spend approx. 23 Euro(5) per hour(4). - You greatly improve your employee working conditions(6). - You get consistent quality results(7). - You receive your leftover used powder, ready for refreshing(8). - You have spent 239.000,- Euro(9).
Following you can find further detailed information to evaluate if this system meets your requirements. We invented - and internationally patented - this process, which we use for production on a daily basis. We now offer the third iteration (therefore Typ3) of the machine, improved by over 3 years of operating experience. 1)
Place the built compartment into machine. Press start button. Wait configured time. Take out finished parts and used powder. Done.
2)
The PULVERMEISTER Typ3 can accept up to 42 litres per cycle. In one hour we process around 23 litres of our PA11 black parts (PA12 takes significantly less time).
3)
PULVERMEISTER Typ3 processes AM plastic parts built in the powderbed process, not FDM, SLA or other.
4)
We dramatically cut cost and worktime for depowdering and surface treatment. Different powder qualities, shape, cavities and part sizes have a direct effect on processing time.
5)
Average expenses may differ, depending on your cost for compressed air supply, electrical power and blasting material.
6)
Much less exposure to powder particles (avg. 50 micron particle size, comparable to soot or coal dust).
7)
Same parameters, same results, every time.
8)
Our handover process (from depowdering to blasting) is contamination free. We use an under pressure circuit for the transportation of the powder whilst depowdering. In this transportation process the powder is swirled and sieved before it ends in the storage container. This resulting in contamination free powder with no lumps.
9)
PULVERMEISTER Typ3 is a meticulously engineered and constructed machine, using only highest quality components from german industry, according to german machine building guidelines. It is built with one sole purpose: To optimise your industrial production for obtaining best results in quality and price.
If you want to see our machine in action, please request an appointment on our website: www.pulvermeister.de. You might also be interested in the working principle showcased with prototype Typ1 (from 2018) on our Youtube channel, search for PULVERMEISTER. Loading crane Vacuum chamber 1 Depowdering
2312,13
SPS Control Unit
Vacuum chamber 2 Blasting
Extraction Container
1335,94
3019,40
Total weight approx. 2,8tons
We are looking for sales person. Please use the form on our website www.pulvermeister.de to apply.
VOLUME 28 ISSUE 3 ISSN 1751-0333
EMPOWER DESIGN INNOVATION.
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FROM THE EDITOR DANIEL O'CONNOR
Sustaining the unsustainable Before COVID-19 came along the additive manufacturing (AM) industry's buzzword du jour was sustainability; it appears several times throughout this issue as the organisations of the fourth industrial revolution look to repair the damage done to the environment by its predecessors. The word is at the core of many recently rewritten mission statements and while it has come to mean how we, as human beings, coexist with the biosphere, its other meaning has become more relevant than ever. The sustainability of economies and the jobs that drive them has elbowed its way to the front of the queue amidst a global pandemic. Companies across the globe have been collapsing, unemployment in the U.S. was up to levels not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and for many of us there's been a collective tightening of the belts and TCT is no different. This particular issue was due out in May with the production scheduled for the weeks in which the UK was under its strictest lockdown and we were all readjusting to life at home. Volume 28 Issue 3 of TCT Magazine was going to require some readjusting to exist. Thanks to the team's creativity and flexibility from our printers we have managed to get it out, albeit in a format we've not seen before. Turn this issue upside down and flip it over and you'll see it's combined with Issue 28.4.
Just days before writing this I read Ted Kessler's heartbreaking editor's letter for the final edition of British music magazine Q. In it Ted says that he must, "apologise profusely for a failure to keep Q afloat". The demise of this muchloved magazine is reflective of just how difficult it is to sustain print media, it's also reflective of how unless you move with the times, you will get left behind. Lockdown has allowed the editorial team to generate more digital content than it has ever done before and in the editor's letter for the next issue , Laura outlines what, where, why, and how. We are also running a reader survey in which we want you to tell us how TCT should shape its content moving forward, there's also five ÂŁ50 Amazon vouchers up for grabs? Head to https://mytct. co/TCTSurvey As important as digital content is going to remain in our lives, this is the print edition of TCT Magazine and it remains the pinnacle of the TCT Editorial team's content output. What print gives you that digital does not is a limit. Limits ensure that only the best content makes the grade, and this particular issue is a testament to that. Also included in print is our everexcellent service locator map, put it up on your wall and engage with those businesses, they are an essential heartbeat to this industry.
28.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 05
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VOLUME 28 ISSUE 3
COVER STORY
8
08. ROADMAPPING SUCCESS
In the first of two cover stories, SLM Solutions charts its path to true AM production.
aerospace
11
11. SMALL STEPS AFTER THE GIANT LEAP
Head of Content Daniel O’Connor on the current demands on the aerospace supply chain.
12. AM IN THE AIRCRAFT CABIN Deputy Group Editor Laura Griffiths details a selection of parts currently flying side today’s aircraft cabins.
15. INNOVATING FOR EFFICIENCY WITH AM IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
Patrick Dunne, VP, Advanced Application Development at 3D Systems, explores the advantages the aerospace industry can gain by embracing DFAM.
34
08
17 Service Providers 17. PROTOLABS CEO: I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY
Laura speaks to Vicki Holt about activities at one of the biggest AM service providers on the globe.
21
Industrial AM equipment
21. TIME TO REFOCUS
CONTEXT’s Chris Connery assesses the facts and figures of shipments of additive equipment priced in excess of 100,000 USD.
23. INTRODUCING HAUTE FABRICATION
Assistant Editor Sam Davies speaks to the brains behind a new large-scale industrial additive platform.
27
Jigs & Fixtures
27. 3D PRINTING IN THE FAST LANE Sam takes a look at how Fastlane Turnstiles sees AM as an integral part of its manufacturing business.
31. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
When is additive manufacturing not 3D printing and vice-versa?
33 Executive Q&A
33. 3D PRINTING HAS COME A LONG WAY
Diana Kalisz, VP Engineering at 3D Systems on 3D printing’s early days, including the development of the first large-format SLA system.
Expert Advisory Column
34
34. WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE?
Women in 3D Printing founder Nora Touré on reaching – quite literally – new heights in her AM career.
21
ROADMAPPIN SLM Solutions on the path to true AM Adoption.
I
ndustrialisation has been additive manufacturing’s Holy Grail for the entirety of its existence, particularly in metals. Since the inception of the technology known as Selective Laser Melting – invented by their own Director of Scientific and Technology Research, Dr Dieter Schwarze – SLM Solutions has been in the driving seat of that quest. Over the next two issues, Ralf Frohwerk, Global Head of Business Development at SLM Solutions discusses the leaps and bounds the technologies have made in establishing themselves as a manufacturing mainstay. What have been the rate limiting steps that SLM Solutions has had to overcome to move towards industrialising metal additive manufacturing (AM)? The question of industrialisation is not unique to SLM Solutions, but to all companies in this sector. Metal additive manufacturing is currently moving to this new stage of evolution. The key drivers for SLM Solutions are improved machines with high reliability and high productivity. In general, the objective of metalbased additive manufacturing is to be competitive with traditional manufacturing processes. Besides robust and reliable machines, this is especially possible if the freedom of design, that SLM technology provides, is used. Laser based metal AM is often labelled as expensive, can you give an example of a customer with good ROI? Depending on the application, additive manufacturing can lead to numerous commercial and technical advantages that allow companies to strengthen their competitive position. A great example of increasing productivity is provided by engineering company Etteplan. Through design adjustments and a nested component orientation, they save 40 percent of the manufacturing costs through 3D printing a Y-connector for a robotic sander. The company maximised the number of nested parts produced in a single build, far exceeding the breakeven price with traditional manufacturing. Additionally, a 25% build time reduction was achieved through parameter optimisation as well as functional
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4 RIGHT:
RALF FROHWERK, GLOBAL HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT SLM SOLUTIONS
improvements and a significant weight reduction. What are the key aspects that lead to low part costs? Low part costs can primarily be achieved through an innovative and optimised process. SLM Solutions machines combine a multi-laser strategy with up to four 700 W lasers working simultaneously on one build part while overlap areas further increase productivity. Bi-directional recoating further decreases laser off time. Besides part weight, parameters adapted to individual parts, the number of lasers, laser power and selected layer thickness determine productivity. In comparison to an SLM 280, equipped with a single 400 W laser with 30 µm layer thickness, construction time can be reduced up to 80% and costs up to 70% using an SLM 500 quad laser system with 700 W lasers and 90 µm layer thickness. Another important aspect is the automation of processes, which promotes the achievement of economic goals. The SLM 800 Selective Laser Melting system stands for its automation solutions, where the fully automatic SLM HUB unpacking station integrates numerous functions like an automated transport of build cylinders with dedicated locations for preheating and cooling in an inert atmosphere. The productivity of Selective Laser Melting is, furthermore, dependent on individual applications. To optimally use the advantages of 3D printing, part designs and functions have to be rethought. For example, is it possible to combine entire part groups to an optimised component to reduce assembly
SHOWN: SLM SOLUTIONS FACTORY ENVIRONMENT
“Additive manufacturing can lead to numerous commercial and technical advantages that allow companies to strengthen their competitive position.” effort, or can weight be saved by a consistent lightweight design? How can part properties be improved? This is exactly what Etteplan did and how they achieved a successful AM production. *INTERVIEW WITH RALF FROHWERK CONTINUES ON PAGE 8 OF ISSUE 28.4 (PSST FLIP THIS MAG OVER)
COVER STORY
NG SUCCESS 6 BELOW:
120 STACKED, NESTED CONNECTORS PRINTED IN ONE PROCESS ON THE SLM 280 BY FINNISH SERVICE BUREAU 3DSTEP OY
Once oriented on the plate, additional modifications were made to the design to improve printability and eliminate the need for support structures in regions that would be visible to the end-user after assembly in the sander. Print process simulations were used in order to determine where support structures would be required, to ensure that printdirection distortions would not cause collision with the recoater during the printing process, and to check that the final distortion levels of the component were within the requirements.
ETTEPLAN’S PLAN FOR SUCCESS
The stories the mainstream media will write about when it comes to successful AM are oftern consigned to aviation and medical applications. While those applications do have undoubted appeal, what really excites the industry is the limitless possibilities for AM to make its mark within the countless engineering companies across the globe. Finnish engineering solutions company Etteplan was tasked with redesigning the Y-connector of a robotic sander‘s dust extraction channel, optimising it for AM. The existing, traditionally manufactured component suffered from high costs, a long supply chain and a large
3 LEFT:
Y-CONNECTOR FOR ROBOTIC SANDER
footprint that caused problems in the assembly line. The customer hoped for a new solution optimised for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) production in aluminium that was significantly lighter than the original with improved airflow characteristics and produced at lower cost. Etteplan‘s first design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) iteration of the extraction channel smoothed the internal air channels and removed excess material from the design. At this point, process simulation software was used to conduct an orientation optimisation to analyse the effect of print orientation on build time, support volume, needed post-processing effort and predicted deformation/ distortion levels. Two orientations of the extraction channel produced comparable and preferred results in terms of support volume, postprocessing and deformations. These orientations resulted in the longest print times for the manufacture of a single component, but conversely they required the minimal area footprint on the build plate, thus when the build plate was fully nested with the components, the per-part print time was actually lower than the other orientation options.
The Etteplan AM cost estimation tool was also utilised during this stage to estimate and compare the costs of various design options with the original, traditionally manufactured part. It was found that for the amount of material and print time needed, it was too expensive to additively manufacture a single part. However, printing 11 parts at once was determined to be the threshold of where the traditionally and additively manufactured components cost approximately the same amount. Further design changes were made to maximise the number of nested parts produced in a single build. Optimising the design to allow components to be stacked 4-high in the print direction meant that a total of 120 pieces could be printed in one job on an SLM 280 machine, far exceeding the break-even price with traditional manufacturing. Process simulation was again used to estimate the support structures needed and to simulate the print process for a stack of four extraction channels. An additional 25% build time reduction at service bureau 3Dstep was achieved through parameter consulting and optimisation by SLM Solutions, resulting in additional production cost savings.
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AEROSPACE
WORDS: DANIEL O'CONNOR
A
criticism I often level at additive manufacturing (AM) presentations is their reliance on the GE Aviation LEAP fuel nozzle as an example of series production. My career in AM is roughly the same age as that of the LEAP fuel nozzles, and in the sum 50 conferences I've attended, I genuinely believe I've seen it mentioned in every single one. In two whole days at the Additive Manufacturing for Aerospace & Space Conference 2020 (hosted a month before lockdown hit), I didn't see a single slide with the application that is to 3D printing presentations what traffic is to my commute home, ubiquitous. If there was a theme from the proceedings, it was for the need for aerospace supply chain to get with the programme. The requirement for supply chains to print qualified parts was present in the talks of Boeing, Airbus, and Leonardo Helicopters. In his opening remarks, the chair for day one, Sebastien Messé of Safran Landing Systems, set the tone by posing the question, "is supply chain ready to produce parts at the right quality and safety?' Steven Catt, the AM Technical lead at Thales, said that the industry needed to work together to establish some businessas-usual standards so Thales isn't applying the same qualification levels to a coat hook as a flight-critical component. Steven is currently working to form a cross-industry collaboration involving the sharing of data for parts not considered to have significant intellectual property, to agree on an approach for supply chain standards.
Materials Solutions has over 50 machines, the problem appears to be that companies like Materials Solutions are few and far between. It's not just the qualification of parts that needs addressing; the qualification of machinery is a major pain-point. Melissa Orme VP of Additive Manufacturing at The Boeing Company responded to a question from the floor with a comment that once a machine is qualified at Boeing, they prohibit software updates as each update would require requalification of the machine. Steven Catt suggested the following day that machine requalification is one of the costliest endeavours in AM. He stated that in many cases, machine requalification is more expensive than recreating a mould.
“Is supply chain ready to produce parts at the right quality and safety?” Because, specifically with metal AM, we've been forging new ground for the last decade, the question of machine longevity also came up; it's, for this reason, the frequency of machine requalification in aerospace is high.
The rate-limiting steps of AM were discussed in great length during the panel sessions and networking breakouts; it could be enough to suppress one's AM appetite; that was if it wasn't for the abundance of AM in action throughout the remainder of the conference. Of particular interest was a talk from Dr David Wragg of Leonardo Helicopters, whose evaluation of were AM fits for them was both pragmatic and enlightening. Leonardo's approach to AM is to ask the question, where does it add value, and where does it create problems? David and the team consider additive manufacturing 'normal' in low critical uses such as jigs, fixtures, and prototyping. However, Leonardo is now exploring materials like ULTEM and carbon fibrefilled polymers for applications like spare parts and maintenance repair and overhaul. One particularly impressive example David shared was of an exhaust component. The traditionally manufactured version was notoriously tricky to fit onto the aircraft. However, the titanium AM version is not only designed for perfect fit but included part consolidation, reducing joins, which in turn reduces the risk of leakages. Overall, it's clear that although we've not seen a giant leap for AM in aerospace since the fuel nozzles, the small steps that everyone else is taking are charting the right course.
One of the event's main sponsors was Siemens and its VP of AM for the Gas & Power division, Markus Seibold, was keen to point out how Materials Solutions was founded on the very proposition on being an aerospace accredited AM service provider. The Siemens-owned business was the first UK company to receive the important Nadcap accreditation for the aerospace industry. However, even though
28.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 011
AM IN THE AIRCRAFT CABIN B
efore the world went into lockdown and we forgot what it’s like to even get on a plane, TCT flew to Hamburg for the Red Cabin Aircraft Cabin Additive Manufacturing conference. There, aerospace and AM companies from Diehl Aviation to Stratasys spoke about current applications for AM inside commercial aircraft, ranging from small parts like Lufthansa's redesigned wash basin filter, to Etihad Aviation Group’s ambitions to 3D print 60% of a next-generation cabin. Here, we take a look at just some of the interior aerospace applications possible today.
COCKPIT CUPHOLDER Satair created an optimised cupholder, inspired by the A300 wing tip and certified by Airbus, which reduces maintenance costs caused by spillages and can be manufactured efficiently in small batches. (Credit: Satair, an Airbus services company)
AIR GRILL Lufthansa Technik redesigned and 3D printed a damaged air grill for a 747 Cockpit ventilation duct. The new certified part is more durable and benefits from significant reduction to lead times, manufacturing and maintenance costs. (Credit: Lufthansa Technik)
012 / www.tctmagazine.com / 28.3
CONTROL UNIT COVER Used to enhance a business class seat and avoid unwanted activation of control buttons, these were printed with FDM by Additive Flight Solutions; one of 5,000+ cabin parts printed for the commercial airline aftersales market.
AEROSPACE
DUCTING Using a Stratasys Fortus 450mc and ULTEM 9085, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group has implemented several pieces of 3D printed ducting for air conditioners along with holders for safety knives and interior switches. SPACER PANEL Airbus worked in partnership with Materialise to print a spacer panel – which fills an end-gap in a row of overhead storage compartments – for installation on board Finnair’s A320. The part was optimised to achieve a 15% weight reduction and painted using flame-retardant Airbus-approved materials.
MONITORS Emirates Engineering used 3D Systems’ SLS to produce video monitor shrouds in flame-retardant Duraform ProX FR1200. They are 9-13% lighter and could contribute to significant reductions in fuel emissions over time. (Credit: 3D Systems)
FOOT PEDAL Polymaker’s flame-retardant polycarbonate-based filament is used by China Eastern Airlines to reduce lead times and costs by 3D printing interior spare parts in-house.
FIRST CLASS Companies are exploring how AM could be used to customise the first class cabin experience. According to Etihad, 3D printing in low production volumes could make entire retrofits 30% faster.
CURTAIN HEADER Diehl Aviation adopted Stratasys' F900 to produce a curtain header for the A350 XWB. Measuring up to 1140 x 720 x 240 mm and consisting of 12 components which are glued together after 80 hours print time, it is Diehl’s largest serial 3D printed part to date.
PARTITION Building on a concept introduced in 2015, Autodesk has been working to optimise the design of an Airbus partition wall that supports crew jump seats. Following initial trials in metal AM, the design is now 3D printed as a plastic mould which is then cast in a flight-qualified metal alloy.
28.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 013
Horizon Shift Protolabs’ latest industry report shows that disruptive technologies – and crises - are driving transition in the aerospace sector across Europe. Read and download the first chapter of the report at protolabs.co.uk/aerospace-chapter-one/
Stay connected with Protolabs
AEROSPACE
INNOVATING FOR EFFICIENCY WITH AM IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY Patrick Dunne, Vice President, Advanced Application Development at 3D Systems explores the advantages the aerospace industry can gain by embracing DFAM/AM.
A
s green credentials increasingly gain importance for many businesses, manufacturers are looking for new ways to create products that deliver performance efficiencies. The aerospace industry is at the forefront, looking for opportunities to innovate with novel designs that ultimately help improve fuel efficiency. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a revolutionary technology that is changing the way many companies are designing and producing products. In aerospace, this rapid, minimally constrained design environment allows for step changes in design optimisation. At a practical level this is now enabling aerospace companies to design better, faster and more efficient platforms.
DESIGN SIMPLIFICATION, CONSOLIDATION AND PART COUNT REDUCTION
Historically, complexity, cost, time-to-market as well as end system reliability hold a close correlation to the number of subcomponents within an assembly. The fewer parts you have, the less assembly required and ultimately, the fewer points of failure. While a reduction in the number of parts as a design philosophy is not new, nor even exclusive to AM, it allows engineers to take it to a whole new level. My favourite recent example was a direct metal component that was traditionally made from 12 separate castings and tubes, all welded into a single part. Aside from assembly labour, tools, jigs and fixtures – as well as a complex multi-vendor
supply chain – it ultimately contained a QC step where nearly 10 metres of weld lines had to be meticulously CT inspected for defects. When AM was applied, 12 parts became one – and jigs and fixtures, assembly and slow QC inspection of weld lines were no longer required. The resultant part was lighter, had fewer points of failure, was more cost-effective and efficient to source and produce, and yielded better performance.
THERMAL TRANSFER
The fuel efficiency of jet engines is a function of multiple factors. One of these factors is system temperature. Typically, the hotter you can run the system, the more fuel-efficient it becomes. A 100-200°C increase in temperature can account for a 1-2% efficiency increase. While that does not sound like much, it can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel savings for an airline when you look at thousands of engines flying many thousands of hours. AM allows engineers to integrate the design of exotic/conformal cooling structures into sub-components that ultimately allow the parts to maintain functional and structural integrity at these elevated temperatures. Similar principals of thermal transfer exist within rocket combustion systems, where temperature drives pressure. This, in turn, yields performance, as well as the rate of wear and tear/ablation, feeding the trend towards system reuse economics.
However, nowhere is this improvement realised more than space systems. Design-driven structural optimisation, both manual and automatic, yields step changes in strength-to-weight ratios. Recent examples include Thales brackets for satellite antenna. Utilising advanced structural algorithms, Thales was able to generate a bracket design that, when expressed in Direct Titanium printing, was 25% lighter – while maintaining the performance of a traditionally manufactured bracket. Further opportunities for optimisation were identified based on transitioning to tubular structures, as we see in bicycle frames.
AM, THE EFFICIENCY BREAK-THROUGH
When you combine thermal transfer, component consolidation, and weight reduction, you can see how AM has a large part to play in improving energy usage figures for the aerospace market. There are other benefits too such as more costeffective R&D, reduced time to first part, and the ability to create bespoke parts, furthering innovation. AM is transforming how industryleaders are creating new, improved products while gaining efficiencies that place them well ahead of their competitors.
WEIGHT REDUCTION
AM holds huge potential benefits for the efficiency of spacecraft and satellites. Reducing the weight of parts that fly always yields improved fuel efficiency and performance.
5 SHOWN:
EXHAUST MANIFOLD
28.3 / www.tctmagazine.com / 015
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SERVICE PROVIDERS
PROTOLABS CEO: “I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY”
Protolabs CEO & President Vicki Holt talks embracing digital manufacturing and sustainability with Deputy Group Editor Laura Griffiths.
F
ive million and counting. That’s how many parts Protolabs had produced by mid-May, purely for COVID- 19-related applications. The company was one of countless manufacturers and service providers that quickly switched up their production lines for masks, swabs and ventilator components to produce vital parts on-demand. It’s a world away from those Met Gala ball gowns, 3D printed in collaboration with GE Additive, that featured in this very magazine just 12 months earlier. But Protolabs, a manufacturer of custom prototypes and production parts, has always known the value of digital manufacturing in responding to diverse challenges ever since its founding in a garage in Long Lake, Minnesota in 1999 with a vision to drastically reduce lead times for plastic and metal parts through digitisation. For Holt, who joined Protolabs in 2014 with already 35 years of experience in the sector, that vision remains the same.
digital manufacturing means end-toend digitisation of the digital thread of information that starts right at the beginning when our customers interface with us on e-commerce and they upload a computer aided design or CAD file. That data is what our proprietary software analyses in detail with parallel computing in order to understand how we're going to make that part, turnaround a quote for that part and then once the customer finalises their order, that same digital thread moves all the way through our manufacturing process and allows us to manufacture custom parts in as little as a day in very low volumes and very economically. That speed and the scalability around which we can produce custom parts is fully enabled with the digital model.”
6 BELOW:
VICKI HOLT, PROTOLABS PRESIDENT AND CEO
If there is a positive to be found in the midst of this health pandemic, the reliance on speedy and distributed manufacturing has allowed that digital model to shine. Amongst those millions of parts produced, Protolabs has supplied 10,000 sterilisable and reusable face shield components for Michelin to support medics at two of France's largest university hospitals before altering the design and switching to injection moulding to supply a further 20,000 in a matter of days. It has also worked with Mercedes-AMG F1 team and UCL to help manufacture an urgent CPAP device, and with Brescia-based engineers at Isinnova to supply 100 3D printed valves that turn snorkelling equipment into non-invasive ventilator masks. On the day of our conversation alone, the company had over 20 active COVID-19 related projects in production. “I think this whole thing has shone a light on the very, very important role that manufacturing plays in innovation and solving problems,” Holt explains. “I think people are realising the importance that manufacturing has for us to be able to be the society that we are and sometimes we take that for granted. I think this has shone a light, that no, we cannot take that for granted. We're very essential businesses.”
ADDING ADDITIVE
“It [digital manufacturing] does mean different things to different companies,” Holt tells TCT. “At Protolabs,
SHOWN:
PROTOLABS CURRENTLY HOUSES MORE THAN 170 3D PRINTERS
With facilities across Europe, the U.S. and Japan, Protolabs specialises in 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication and injection moulding services for prototypes and low volume production runs, all connected by a sophisticated software platform. Holt says it’s in the company’s DNA to “always think about a process from end to end” which is becoming increasingly important as the so-called digital thread becomes “part of how we think as companies and how we exchange with each other.” To that, Holt says 3D printing was a logical addition to Protolabs’ toolset, which materialised in 2014 with the acquisition of Fineline Prototyping. Now, the company has over 170 additive manufacturing systems worldwide, 120 in North America alone, including machines from Carbon, HP and EOS. The most recent addition was the GE Additive Concept Laser X Line 2000R metal laser melting system that’s already serving largevolume metal projects across aerospace and industrial equipment applications. Although 3D printing currently only represents around 13% of Protolabs’ sales revenue, Holt believes we’re still in the early stages of tapping into its potential and
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SERVICE PROVIDERS
4
RIGHT: PROTOLABS RECENTLY EXPANDED ITS METAL 3D PRINTING CAPACITY
as more product developers learn how and when they need to use the technology, those AM capabilities will continue to grow. “We see the technology [3D printing] bringing value in a couple of areas. It certainly, in its roots, was around prototyping and we still see an awful lot of prototyping solutions where a designer designs something, they just need something in their hand to see what it's going to look like and how it's going to fit. But more and more we're seeing manufacturers look at the actual structure of the product, and how could I design that product in a way that gives me another major business advantage whether it be lightweighting, whether it be energy efficiency, and when you have 3D printing, you have complete design flexibility." On being a one-stop shop for multiple processes, Holt adds: “The great thing about our business model is we're not wedded to a single technology and the technologies play different roles, depending on what the customers part geometry is and what problem they're trying to solve."
THE BUSINESS OF SUSTAINABILITY
While the pandemic has emphasised how technology can be used to solve immediate challenges, there’s another long-term challenge that Holt believes technology could have a real influence on: sustainability. The term has become a bit of a buzzword, particularly in additive manufacturing where the technology is often considered sustainable by nature; in theory, you only use the material you need rather than removing material from a solid block, in reality, it’s not so simple. Protolabs is taking an active role by investing in initiatives that reduce waste, recycling materials like CNC machining shavings, water from the injection moulding process and AM powders, and taking advantage of renewable resources. “I am passionate about sustainability,” Holt says. “I believe that the answers to problems we've got around climate change are going to come from technologies and it's going to become from companies collaborating together to find these solutions. I’ve been very inspired by how companies have come together in this pandemic
6 BELOW:
CHARLOTTE VALVES 3D PRINTED WITH HP MULTI JET FUSION
“People are realising the importance that manufacturing has.” and it tells me we can solve the problems around climate change and focus on sustainability.” Holt argues sustainability is embedded in Protolabs’ business model. Customers can order the exact number of parts they need, whether that be 25 or 10,000 injection moulded parts or a single 3D printed prototype, there’s no need to order in large quantities to justify the cost of a mould tool or account for future demand. “One of the core things about our business model is we don't have minimum order quantities for customers. If you need one part, we'll make you one. If you need 52, we'll make you 52. A lot of companies and manufacturers require you to buy 10,000 of something or 100,000 of something. Well, that quantity might be a 10year supply and you might have a bunch of obsolescence and throw it away. For us, you just have to take what you need for your product at this point in time and eliminate the waste. That business model itself, I think drives for sustainability.”
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Across the next couple of issues, we’re taking a closer look at three classes of additive manufacturing machinery with the latest figures, trends and interviews with new and established players.
C
ONTEXT global market analysis of the 3D printing industry shows that as of the end of Q1 2020, many 3D printer companies from the US, Europe, China and everywhere across the globe have rightly refocused their effort away from printer sales to producing much-needed supplies to help combat coronavirus, according to the latest by CONTEXT, the market intelligence company. Focusing efforts on producing much-needed medical supplies has meant a move away from the production and sale of printers towards service businesses and service-bureau infrastructure. Coming on the back of weak shipments in Q4 2019, this refocus – and the supply-and-demand
“Focusing efforts on producing muchneeded medical supplies has meant a move away from the production and sale of printers.”
7,000
+19%
6,000 5,000 4,000
+21% +23%
Q4 -23%
-2% Q4
Q3 Q3 +9%
3,000 2,000
+7%
+29% Q4 Flat Q3
Q2 Q2 +15% -21% Q2
1,000 0
+1%
©CONTEXT 2020
Starting with AM systems above the 100K USD threshold, CONTEXT's VP Global Analysis and Research, Chris Connery presents the latest findings from the Industrial section of the 3D printing market. For analysis on the current state of Design additive machinery, turn to page 52.
8,000
Q1 +13% Q1 2016
2017
2018
2019
-17% Q1 2020F
2021F
2022F
ABOVE: GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTER SHIPMENTS AND FORECAST
constraints expected in the weeks to come – looks to make 2020 a difficult year for 3D printer shipments.
to see a slide of only -2% in printer shipments in 2020 after its 5-year CAGR of +14% and anticipates a rolling recovery by region, starting with the East.
CONTEXT analysis shows that in the Industrial 3D printing market – which accounted for 68% of global 3D printer hardware revenues 2019 – shipments in the second half of 2019 were slow, even though this is usually the strongest part of the year, and the outlook for 2020 was, therefore, already challenging. Taking into account both these negative headwinds and the supply-and-demand challenges associated with global reactions to the coronavirus, this segment hopes
As the pandemic comes under control and economies return to normal, there is great potential for the 3D printer market since the ability of the technology to assist with the immediate needs of the medical community have showcased its quick-turn capabilities worldwide. Responses to the pandemic are also demonstrating that leveraging 3D printing for local production, instead of relying on complex multinational supply chains, has the potential to help many companies mitigate future risk.
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INTRODUCING HAUTE FABRICATION WORDS: Sam Davies
S
omewhere between Iowa and Texas, there is a suite of metal additive manufacturing machines in transit, a host of automation technology pieces as well, and a team of people who make up the latest contract additive manufacturing outfit on the market. Haute Fabrication is in the process of bringing online four variants of its Hybrid Direct Laser Sintering (HDLS) machines, with build volumes ranging from 600 x 600 x 600 mm to 5200 x 5200 x 5200 mm, the number of lasers spanning between 1-4 and 64-144, and each with the capacity to learn from previous builds through artificial intelligence (AI) and heat treat components up to 2,400F, as they are manufactured, through built-in autoclaves. It has taken to the road to situate itself within a region steeped in additive manufacturing expertise. In Austin, Haute will join Structured Polymers, the additive manufacturing powder company set up by Vikram Devarajan, James Mikulak and the late Carl Deckard, as well as put itself in close proximity to Deckard’s former supervisor, Dr. Joe Beaman at the University of Texas, all of whom have been the source of much guidance as appointed advisors in Haute’s early years. “We can help you spend millions of dollars and build a printer just like what’s out there,” Haute’s Chief Science Officer and co-founder Kevin Friesth remembers the Structured Polymers cohort saying, “but what you need to do is develop the next generation. If [3D printing] is going to be accepted as a mass manufacturing [technology], it has to be automated because one, you don’t want people around powder and two, the quality of life damages, such as carpal tunnel because
of repeated motions. You need to go automated and robotic to eliminate those two and then reduce the cost down to where it’s acceptable.”
AUTOMATION
Back when Deckard developed Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology in the 1980s, to automate the technology so humans never came into contact with powder wasn’t possible. It was barely possible in 2013. For Friesth, who had this vision of taking the foundations of laser sintering technology and supplementing it with AI-powered control systems and robotic devices, and scaling it up to sizes not seen before, it was more than a little frustrating that this was to be a steady development process, with much time waiting on other pieces of technology to get up to speed.
HAUTE FABRICATION’S HDLS PLATFORMS:
HDLS 250 Minotaur: 1-4 1100W lasers; 600 x 600 x 600 mm build volume HDLS 500 Tiamut: 4-9 1100W lasers; 1250 x 1250 x 1250 mm build volume HDLS 1000 Kraken: 9-25 1100W lasers; 2500 x 2500 x 2500 mm build volume HDLS 5000 Karathen: 64-144 1100W lasers; 5200 x 5200 x 5200 mm build volume
“Unfortunately, we lost Carl early - I really wanted him to see the next-generation machine.”
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around. The company will start by serving lower tech markets, manufacturing components like heat exchangers for ground source pumps and coolers for graphics processing units. “Some of the other printer companies are still working on getting certified with [commercial aviation] three and four years later. It’s one of the hardest industries to get into,” says Friesth. “Why would we want to spend 200 million on a product that we might only be able to sell in three to five years?” “Until about five years ago, the controller technology hadn’t developed to the point we needed it, you didn’t have a lot of the sensors that we do today. And when you had the sensors, you didn’t have the micro controllers, so it’s been chicken and egg,” Friesth tells TCT. “It’s been frustrating trying to fight through that, but now we’re getting to the point that artificial intelligence, data buses, networking capabilities, the storage tech has finally caught up.”
roadmap has already been laid out; the company knows which industries and applications it will target from the get-go, what comes further down the line in a few years, and how the company grows in response.
With Haute’s 2020 take on laser sintering technology, its robotic system is responsible for loading powder into an argon-filled melting system, which ensures no change of oxidation or moisture contamination, and later taking build cakes out of the machines for part removal and polishing. Job scheduling has been automated to help prioritise orders, while Haute’s set-up also includes an active feedback loop and AI-driven learned response from previous builds across its entire fleet of HDLS machines. Here, a patent-pending system of visual, thermal and ultrasonic imaging technology analyses the fabrication of every part layer by layer, detecting and recording defects and anomalies throughout.
“We’re going to go after the markets we know we can get into.”
APPLICATION
This infrastructure has been put in place to ensure Haute has a running start once operational later this summer. The
“We’re going to go after the markets we know we can get into,” Freisth outlines.
This means that, although Haute has designed its HDLS systems to deliver the quality and volumes required by the aviation industry and be robust enough to achieve certification, it doesn’t want to wait
While commercial aviation is on the back burner for now, Haute will get to work right away on rocket engines, with an order to build several rocket engines for Odyssey Aerospace already placed. With its Karathen 5000 machine, which might not be operation until next year, applications like this will be produced in one primary piece, with just the turbo pump component and piping added after. When Haute does tackle the aviation space, it looks likely that the company will set up a separate business unit, catering for what it anticipates being large demand and moving through the regulatory processes as the main Haute business focuses on low-tech components and rocket engines. This way, Haute believes it can solidify its base and allow the aviation business ‘the time to grow as it needs it’. That growth will rely on a collaboration of innovation and guidance. Friesth, while the business was located in Iowa, made the trip down to Texas frequently in the last seven years, regularly being turned around to do more work on the thermal control inside the machines or the AI around them. Advice like this, Friesth and his team have been more than happy to take on board. It was encouragement from the Structured Polymers team that set Friesth on this endeavour, their standards that raised his, and guidance like the titbit from Deckard that follows that went a long way to deciding how to bring HDLS technology to market. “One of the first things Carl said to me,” Friesth recalls, “he said, ‘you can make a lot of printers, but you won’t make money on them. If you’re going to make money, you’re going to make it on the materials or you’re going to make it on the fabrications. I’ve got 30 years’ experience, I can tell you first-hand, if you try to go into the market selling printers, you’re going to be like all the rest and barely make a dime.’ “[Carl and Structured Polymers] have been very valuable mentors. They’ve ‘been there, done that’ with multiple machines, and we were able to [benefit] from their 100-plus years of knowledge. Unfortunately, we lost Carl early because I really wanted him to see the next generation machine, born from his original technology.”
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JIGS AND INSPEX FIXTURES
3D PRINTING IN THE FASTLANE WORDS: Sam Davies
6 SHOWN:
3D PRINTED JIG USED TO ACCURATELY POSITION FASTLINE BRANDING ON GLASS WING BARRIER
T
he businesspeople of big city corporates and the students at public universities often start their day in the same way, passing through a revolving door, a polite hello to those in reception, touching an ID card to an electronic reader and walking on through the glass wing barriers marked by the Fastlane Turnstiles brand to the rest of their day. How the branding of Fastlane made it onto the glass walls that help the likes of Facebook, Dell, Google, Manchester University and 7 World Trade Center keep their buildings secure has typically been no easy process. It was done by hand and by sight and if the positioning of the logo wasn’t done correctly it would have to be removed and re-positioned on the glass wing. This was a difficult task to carry out repeatedly, time-consuming and occasionally stressful, and then 3D printing came along. The manufacturer of pedestrian entrance control systems first adopted the technology in 2018, after meeting UK reseller CREAT3D at an additive manufacturing trade show, in the form of a Mark Two machine. This platform, developed by Markforged, reinforces its Onyx material with carbon fibre, fibreglass and Kevlar, and was acquired
by Fastlane to streamline its R&D efforts, designing parts at lower costs in less time.
“With the ease of 3D printing, we're able to create more jigs to help production.” Working with CREAT3D, some initial sample parts – one, to check the form of an R&D component, and the other, to assess the function of a manufactured component – were printed, with Fastlane said to have been impressed with the strength properties, surface finish and temperature resistance.
After these initial parts, Fastlane installed the Mark Two in its engineering department, where it was immediately leveraged to print R&D components that typically would have been outsourced and produced in metal. Printing these kinds of parts was removing two weeks of lead time out of the design process and soon Fastlane’s production and assembly team were also looking to exploit the machine’s capabilities. From here, Fastlane’s application of 3D printing has snowballed, per CREAT3D’s Sabina Gonzalez-George and Simon Chandler.
IN POSITION
Often cited as additive manufacturing’s ‘low-hanging fruit’, production aids not only represented a quick win for Fastlane, with cost and time reductions achieved against traditionally manufactured jigs and fixtures but, by 3D printing a jig with a ‘locating edge’ to fit the exact geometry of the glass door, also solved the problem of positioning the company’s logo on those glass wing barriers.
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JIGS AND INSPEX FIXTURES
SHOWN: PART: BESPOKE FINGER VEIN HOUSING COST: £10 PER UNIT TIME: 12 HOURS
“The glass barriers were CNC cut, so we knew the barriers were fairly accurate to the [design] drawing; we modelled the jig using the flat and curved edges of the glass as datums in Autodesk Investor and were able to print it fairly quickly, which allowed production to attach the logo easily,” explained Fastlane Technical Manager Mike Lau. “[Additionally], the jig would be a fairly complicated and expensive part to make using traditional methods, with a lot of setup and machining out of costly material, so, as a one-off , 3D printing makes sense as the cost and time are only at a fraction of what traditional methods would normally be.” This is the kind of tool Fastlane would have typically outsourced to be machined out of aluminium steel at a cost of around 150 GBP and delivered after two weeks. With 3D printing, Fastlane produced the part in six hours, a reduction of 96%, at a cost of under 7 GBP; a reduction of 95.5%; and has recorded right-first-time application with 100% accuracy of its branding on the glass wings.
SHOWN:
PART: ROTARY R&D COMPONENT COST: £10 TIME: 4 HOURS
“The engineering department's functions of R&D, production support, custom projects and continuous improvements have all been greatly supported by 3D printing.”
PRODUCTIVITY IN 3D
“With 3D printing, we can now usually produce a jig in less than a day, which has greatly reduced delays to production,” said Lau. “Also, as it was previously very expensive and timeconsuming, we would limit the amount of jigs we had but now, with the ease of 3D printing, we’ve been able to create more types of jigs to help production.”
‘A MASSIVE IMPACT’
The company’s application of 3D printing for jigs and fixtures is now ‘extensive’, according to Lau, with R&D parts also representing a large number of internal print jobs. Fastlane has also identified several end-use production components that can be produced on the Mark Two, albeit at low volumes, with further work to be carried out to ascertain whether parts needed at larger volumes can be 3D printed. Whichever category of parts ends up requiring the greater application of the technology, Fastlane’s use of 3D printing is now broad across the business, and the benefits of the technology extend to each of its customers too. “The engineering department's functions of R&D, production support, custom projects and continuous improvements have all been greatly supported by having the 3D printing capability. Production has benefitted by having 3D printed parts that have greatly improved ease and time to assemble. Customers have seen benefits as we are more agile in being able to integrate third-party equipment to our products,” finished Lau. “The impact has been massive.”
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NOVEL INSPEX PROCESS
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
When is additive manufacturing not 3D printing and vice-versa?
S
ometimes it is difficult to draw the line at what is and what isn’t 3D printing. Take the LOM and then later Mcor technologies, both described themselves as 3D printing but if a common definition of that term is “a process that manufactures geometries by adding material layer by layer” those Sheet Lamination technologies may start by adding layers, but the geometry is created by subtracting material. Definition and categorisation of technologies can be messy but in the grand scheme of things all that matters is that parts are fit for purpose. Ultima Forma is a metal forming company that spun out of Queen Mary University of London in 2017 with a novel electrodeposition process that it describes as metal additive manufacturing, but quite different to 3D printing. Ultima Forma’s technology deposits metal atom by atom over a surface area to make light-weight, high performance, multifunctional, complex shaped components to net shape. Although that technology might not be 3D printing by the strictest definitions, Ultima Forma runs a wax-PLA mixture through a TRILAB DeltiQ 2 delta style FFF machine, for the majority of its tooling. Unlike many manufacturing processes that use a wax like 3D print for tooling, Ultima Forma’s tooling is not always sacrificial, the Ultima Forma electrodeposition process grows parts in tanks resulting in low residual stresses. Surface finish is directly related to the tooling since the atom-by-atom process deposits directly onto the tooling’s surface. No large presses or heated tools are required and the whole part is produced at the same time – from the inside to the outside surface finish. As a member of the European Space Agency business incubator at Harwell, an area of focus for Ultima Forma is replacing metal assemblies in satellites with an integrated multi-functional part, reducing weight and assembly time. Typically, transition metals and noble metals are used to 'grow' parts, whereby controlling the micro-structure Ultima Forma can create
5 ABOVE:
THE TRILAB DELTIQ 2
enhanced properties which can be varied across a single part. Parts are not alloys, but laminates of dissimilar materials. By controlling the lay-up of dissimilar materials the properties of the materials formed can be varied across relatively large ranges when compared to conventional metallic alloys. This innovation allows the material properties to be tuned to the specific mechanical design. The material properties can be varied within a component to produce multifunctional components as a single entity without the need to join or assemble dissimilar materials together. Increases in specific strength are often an advantage and by controlling local properties provide a major advantage for advanced engineering applications. Athermal properties are possible since the microstructure does not break down until 600°C making parts suitable for high temperature applications. For each component Ultima Forma can tailor the chemical and electrical solution to each part design & user specification. The electroforming additive manufacturing process enables Ultima Forma to grow
“The surface finish is directly related to the tooling” metal structures onto dissimilar materials so long as they can withstand acidic solutions. For example; ceramics, polymers, composites and pre-formed metal fittings, allowing hybrid components and assemblies to be formed into a single structure. Other metals can be grown onto with separate pre-conditioning process trials underway and Ultima Forma is working with Queen Mary University of London to understand the limits of 3D printed polymers for tooling, particularly investigating the limits of tolerances and topological features to inform design guidelines.
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Executive INSPEXQ&A
“3D PRINTING HAS CERTAINLY COME A LONG WAY.”
Diana Kalisz, VP Engineering at 3D Systems on three decades of AM, great lessons and big prints. What was the culture like in the early days at 3D Systems? Chuck Hull founded 3D Systems with his invention of Stereolithography (SLA). His spirit of innovation and curiosity permeated the place. It was a fairly small crew in the early days, and we were all on a steep learning curve. But we were all energised about the potential of the technology and what it could achieve. I often describe the engineering of 3D printing as a pie. The entire pie is comprised of several slices, and each slice represents everyone’s specific area of expertise. In addition to individual domain expertise, everyone needs to learn something about every other slice in that pie, to have a chance of creating a 3D printer that delivers parts into a customer’s hands – because that’s the point. The level of difficulty shouldn’t matter to the end customer, just get parts into their hands fast! You were heavily involved in the development of the first large-format SLA system, can you talk about what that was like? In the early days, we thought – quite naively – that a large-format SLA system would just be “a big SLA-250.” As we began the development work, we quickly realised how wrong that was. We aimed to make the system not just bigger, but also much faster. The intention was to build a system that could produce a large part for the engineer on a tractor programme
just as fast as a small part for a medical device. This project taught me really important lessons about scaling, which is difficult no matter what you’re doing - but when you add the third dimension in printing, it’s a killer. Each technology since then has its own challenges when you want to scale size, speed, or any other attribute. Great lessons! What were the material options like for SLA back then? Early on, there was just one material available for each 3D printer. For 3D Systems’ SLA printers, there were only acrylate materials at that time. The parts produced from these materials were yellow and brittle but served the purpose (i.e., prototyping) very well. They were miraculous. 3D printing has certainly
come a long way since then – with a host of print technologies and each printer typically has dozens of materials, all with very different characteristics. AM is increasingly being used as a means for production; were people talking early on about that potential? When 3D printing was first introduced, producing prototypes was the main goal. Simply having a part in your hand quickly, that represented the CAD fairly faithfully was a real challenge. As the printers, techniques and materials evolved, we envisioned creation of functional prototypes as a possibility. This would allow engineers and designers to use the printed part in the same capacity as a final part, just for a short time. When hybrid epoxy materials were developed in the mid’90s, the use of 3D printing for functional prototyping increased as the materials had better properties and parts were more accurate. 3D Systems also invented QuickCast that allowed faster production of metal parts through investment casting. Now, with our Figure 4 materials, we have materials that possess true production properties that are comprehensively tested to both ASTM and ISO standards including the indoor/outdoor lifetime properties needed for direct use of the parts. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the conversation around AM over the last 30 years? When you look at how long AM has been around – its history is comparatively short. Chuck Hull invented the technology a little over 30 years ago, but the industry has made remarkable strides. We’ve gone from prototypes that resembled the desired shape to materials and accuracy that allowed functional prototyping, to being in a position now to do direct production. AM is now enabling creation of parts that couldn’t be achieved using traditional technologies alone. It’s been an amazing road to run. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT: MYTCT.CO/DKALISZ
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TCT EAB COLUMN
WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE?
Nora Touré, Director, Sales and Service Factory Operations at Fast Radius and Founder of Women in 3D Printing tells us why it’s wise to be prepared for AM to take you to unexpected places.
W
hen talking to customers over the phone or inperson, I am usually either sitting at my desk, in the comfort of my home, more generally in a meeting room, and sometimes in the customer’s factory. Never, before working with Ivaldi Group, had I had to dress in a blue overall, wear security shoes, a security helmet, and literally climb 30 metres on a rusty non-rigid ladder in the middle of the sea to meet with a customer. Never say never, right? For some context around the following story: The year is 2018. I had joined Ivaldi Group a few months before and was on a “world tour”, from California to Mexico to Singapore, to meet the local teams as well as a few key customers. Arriving in Singapore, I knew meeting our customers and end-users there would be quite fun. Ivaldi Group provides distributed manufacturing solutions to heavy industry, with a strong focus on maritime, oil & gas, mining, construction and automotive. Singapore being the largest maritime hub in the world, I’m sure it’s easy to guess what kind of customers I was going to visit there. So, here comes the day I get to make my first visit. I was excited, like a Christmas morning. Something I should share here is that I have always been fascinated by machines. When I was younger I would watch all the episodes of Mega Machines and Mighty Machines (not kidding, even though I’m not too vocal about this for some reason). If you’ve already flown into Singapore, you’ve probably noticed the hundreds of vessels lined up in the port, some of them being a few miles away from the actual docks. That’s where I was headed - a few miles away from the actual port. So, it takes a speed boat to get there. As fast as these boats are, it still takes roughly 30-40 minutes to get to the destination-vessel. In
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the meantime, I was already amazed by riding so close to these impressive beasts. The closer we got, the more apprehension I felt. I kept looking at my security boots, my helmet and thick security gloves in my hands, starting to sweat from stress, excitement and overheating from being in tropical weather dressed like a winter-Smurf. Finally, we get there and it’s gotime. We were a team of three from Ivaldi, plus a couple of inspectors who are climbing such vessels almost every day. I was basically the newbie and EVERYONE watched me, from the captain of the speed boat, my team, the inspectors, to the crew on deck, 30 metres or so above. No pressure. As I (literally) jumped from the small boat to the ladder of the HUGE vessel (longer than the height of the
Eiffel Tower by the way), and started my endless ascension, I kept repeating the last-minute instructions I had just received: “3-point contact, 3-pointcontact. What the heck am I doing here? Focus: 3-point-contact, 3-pointcontact…,” until I finally got there and fell into the welcoming arms of my team who were already up on the vessel. I was tempted to order a cola and enjoy the view, but of course, we were there for a reason and only had a few hours to test the 3D printed parts we brought with us, gather feedback on already installed parts and meet our customers. Oh, did I mention I was pregnant back then, too? Bottom line is: you never know where meeting with customers will get you; always be ready for crazy, sensational adventures!
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