TCT North America 10.2

EDITORIAL

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06. INDUSTRIAL AM Siemens Energy details what it takes to get into serial production with additive manufacturing technology.

09. PARADIGM SHIFT

Nicholas Jacobson of the University of Colorado talks to TCT about the opportunities for a new 3D printing method in the medical space.

13. A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

The focus of this conversation is just that as Laura sits down with new Materialise CEO Brigitte de VetVeithan.

17. TILTING THE BALANCE

AddUp & Anatomic Implants discuss the development of a 3D printed toe joint replacement.

21. A NEW SMILE

Oli Johnson reports on 3D Systems’ new solution for jetted, one-piece, multi-material dentures.

23. #COLLABORATE

Laura speaks to Arburg and Hashtagtwo about their TCT Awardnominated Personal Fit Breast Prosthesis application.

RAPID + TCT

25. BACK TO THE FUTURE

The CEOs behind North America’s largest AM and industrial 3D printing event discuss what’s next.

THROUGH THE DOORS 33

33. DON’T GO CHASING

RAINBOWS

Sam Davies reports back from a tour of 3T AM’s facilities, where CEO Dan Johns explained why AM’s place in the manufacturing value chain isn’t where you think it is.

BUSINESS CASE 38

38. GOOD SERVICE

Laura explores the use of service providers as a business case for AM.

41. PROVE IT

AM service bureaus and resellers explain how manufacturers can future-proof their AM investments.

45. DOUBLING DOWN

Collins Aerospace breaks down the business case for its second investment in Nikon SLM Solutions’ 12-laser machine.

48 EXPERT COLUMN

48. A (SMALL) BUSINESS CASE FOR AM

America Makes shares how SMEs can successfully leverage new opportunities with AM.

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FROM THE EDITOR

LAURA GRIFFITHS

Reasons to be cheerful

It’s not an easy time to be in the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Cost reduction plans, consolidation and non-compliance notices from the stock exchange (I promise, there’s a positive point to this), have painted a somewhat bleak picture of an industry that, on top of its own challenges, is facing the same economic constraints and uncertainty as countless other industries around the world.

But then, it would be too easy to wash your hands of it and decide it’s just too hard. Of course AM is hard. It’s turning raw materials into powders, designing geometrically complex parts, building them with lasers, and sticking them onto planes or into human bodies. AM is hard. But, as you’ll read throughout this issue, it is also, remarkably, possible.

Some of the milestones the AM community has marked with this technology today should still be the stuff of science fiction. Yet, they’re not: FDA-approved joints for human implantation (p. 17); personalized medical models that use unique patient data to plan life-changing surgery (11); and flying engine components produced on massive 12-laser machines are a reality (p. 45).

When times are hard, it is important to take a step back and reflect on how far you’ve come and acknowledge the good – and perhaps also the bad and ugly. It is precisely why I feel it's more important than ever to take stock of this industry’s technological advancements, application developments and collaborations. Just before this issue went to press, we announced the

finalists for the TCT Awards 2024.

The shortlist includes more than 100 products and applications across 11 categories, with the likes of Boeing, Deutsche Bahn, Jabil and Siemens Energy featured among collaborators. We also announced the names of this year’s TCT Hall of Fame nominees, each of their tenures proof of the AM industry’s impact and of how far we’ve come in such a short time, and our fourth shortlist of nominees for the TCT Women in 3D Printing Innovator Award.

The TCT Awards cermony is the biggest celebration of AM and industrial 3D printing. If you’re looking for a boost of additive positivity, I guarantee you’ll find it, and then some, on 5th June in Birmingham, UK (get your ticket: tctawards.com). In the meantime, you’ll also find plenty of it in this issue. We’re taking a practical view of AM adoption by speaking to service providers about why using AM doesn’t necessarily mean owning AM, and how businesses can future-proof their investments. We’ve also got an interview with Collins Aerospace, which has installed not one but two of those huge multi-laser metals systems; a through the doors report from Sam Davies following a visit to 3T AM’s UK production facility; and in our Oliver Johnson’s last pieces of content on the TCT team (don’t worry, he’s not going too far away - you can now find him editing our sister magazine Med-Tech Innovation News), a conversation with Nicholas Jacobson of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus on using bitmap 3D printing for complex medical applications.

INDUSTRIAL Siemens Energy’s journey to serial production.

There are 15,000 production components additively manufactured annually across Siemens Energy’s five global additive manufacturing (AM) sites.

For over a decade, the company has been on a mission to industrialize AM, using its own parts as a playing field for innovation, and turning it into a robust service for AM production.

How it got there is a story of additive learning, transformation and purpose, and one the company is ready to tell as it steps into a new era uniting its AM operations across Europe, North America and the UK.

INNOVATION AND QUALIFICATION

To step into a Siemens Energy AM facility today is to step into perhaps the closest reality to the coveted ‘smart factory’ holy grail. Rows of metal Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) systems populate clean factory floors supported by materials and post-processing machines to ensure parts come out finished and validated for end-use. Getting there has taken a lot of time, energy and R&D.

“It has taken decades to qualify material, develop our print parameters and fully validate the print and heat treatment processes. That depth and knowledge level isn't so easy to replicate,” Manish Kumar, Head of Business Development, Strategy and Sales at Siemens Energy, told TCT. “When we offer components to similar companies, whether it is for flying people in the sky, satellites going to space or drilling for oil offshore, a similar level of expertise and capabilities will be required. It is just a necessity.”

Those rigorous requirements have been proven via in-house precision printed metal parts that have spent over two million operating hours in Siemens Energy gas turbines and given the company a level of confidence that enables it to go out into the marketplace and deploy the same technology for its customers outside of Siemens Energy.

"Many customers come and think, ‘we'll just buy a printer, no problem, and we'll push the button and get the part,’” Kumar said.

“I want to humbly go and tell them that that's not true. You want to start that journey today?

We will meet after 20 years… Or we can join hands and work together today.”

Siemens Energy has already been there, done the legwork, felt the pain points and found the solutions. Kumar compares it to making a home cooked meal for your family; there’s an inherent trust, and Siemens Energy says it will only offer solutions to the market that it trusts to use itself.

“The rigor, commitment and care has been there because we are putting this into billions of dollars of our own gas turbine product line and now we are offering this to other customers who are hungry,” Kumar added.

ADDITIVE VALUE

When Siemens Energy first got into AM in 2008, it did so in search of a better way to enhance the performance and working lifetime of its gas turbines. Having been sold the common ‘control + print’ narrative from the AM industry, Siemens Energy quickly learned that this simply wasn’t the case but recognized there was value to be tapped into, unlocking the design and engineering freedom that AM technology brings. A call made by the Siemens Energy CEO at the time insisted additive would be engineered into its turbine products going forward. Since installing its first EOS M270 system in Finspång in 2009, the team has followed that mantra and believes it has been able to realize “the true value of additive.”

“We're an engineering company which just happens to have printers,” Jem Drew, Head of Sales Europe at Siemens Energy, said. “But printers alone are not enough. You also need the right material, processes, infrastructure and people in place to deliver AM in tens of thousands of parts, consistently and repeatably.”

“Engineering your printed parts at scale.”

SHOWN: Materials Solutions – a Siemens Energy Business, Worcester, England

Today there are over 200 dedicated employees at Siemens Energy AM, including 45 DfAM (design for AM) engineers. Helping lead the charge in the US is Tad Steinberg, Manager of Siemens Energy’s Additive Manufacturing Business Development, who says AM is just another tool in the design/ production engineer’s toolbox.

“What's the best manufacturing method given all the constraints, performance,

cost, lead time and any of the other litany of things that could bear witness on these parts?” Steinberg said. “The mindset within the Siemens Energy business has definitely been transformed. Once you think past that, AM adoption becomes a little easier.

“It hasn't all gone smoothly for us and like most businesses, it won't go smoothly until it has been proven. With 100, 000+ hours of run time of metal AM parts in turbines, the technology has been proven and we want to share that with others.”

Siemens is acutely focused on true industrial parts; like the two oil sealing rings installed as replacement parts in an SST-300 industrial steam turbine or the first 3D printed water pump impeller that is now in successful commercial operation at nuclear power plant. Users may have been sold the idea that additive can do everything, but Steinberg says of his six years in AM, and two decades as an engineer, one of the most powerful lessons he has learned is the ability to push back: “'No' is very powerful, but you have to say no with a background of understanding as to why.”

“I've been doing engineering for a long time and being able to see where this technology fits and be able to apply that philosophy has been beneficial,” Steinberg said.

Taking a part from ideation to finished component requires multiple steps, skilled people and knowledge. You don’t get to 150+ part numbers in serial production without figuring out that end-to-end process. It is an ‘engineering ecosystem’ that spans everything from design to qualification and Siemens Energy has built a signature process that enables it to reliably deliver a single part thousands of times across its 50+ Laser Powder Bed Fusion platforms and multiple geographies.

“It is ours,” Steinberg said of this unique ecosystem. “We don't let anybody else tell us what to do or how to do it.”

IMPLEMENTATION

One of the major ways Siemens Energy leverages AM for production is for parts on demand. Steinberg offers the example of an old gas turbine swirler that was traditionally cast and machined; a part Siemens Energy no longer sells but continues to support. The problem was, there were no patterns left to make it, and with a low volume of only 20 needed, it is a job no sensible casting house would touch. It is, however, the perfect AM candidate. The swirler took a total of six months to qualify but is now available to print on demand as and when customers need it, whether that means making five or 500 a year, and whether that is in Orlando, Florida, Finspång, Sweden or Worcester, UK. Yet to Siemens Energy, even those numbers aren’t quite what it would consider ‘production’. That label would be better suited to another swirler that the team redesigned using analysis, smart tuning of parameters and layer thickness, and consolidation from six parts to one. For that particular application, Siemens Energy now additively manufactures over 4,000 parts per year, and has done consistently and consecutive for multiple years now.

“We took it to the next level,” Jem said. “Owning the design authority provides a freedom that allows you to implement and enact change faster. We can now make the business case stack-up, more quickly and easier than ever before. With scores of proven industrial use-cases in highvalue, end-use, precision-printed metal parts. And not just from within gas turbines, but many more industrially relevant, highly engineered applications too.”

Siemens Energy believes it is positioning AM in a very real and practical way. It is on track to exceed its decarbonization targets, which will see its own operations certified as climate neutral by 2030, alongside aspirations for a Net Zero value chain. It is also looking to grow its fleet with targeted investments in additional machines like the EOS M400-4 and SLM Solutions’ NXG XII 600 systems.

It all takes time, and it is not easy, but Siemens Energy believes that its strong foundations for additive in its own operations, and opening that up to industry as a service can proliferate the adoption of AM, and further its ambitions for AM industrialization, not just for itself as a manufacturer, but for anyone looking to additive as a potential production solution.

“It is difficult, it is expensive, it takes a huge amount of time, but we are in production,” Jem said. “We want to grow the business. We want to grow the technology. We want to grow the capability and we want to lead the adoption of AM at scale.”

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AM printed gas turbine elements

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PARADIGM SHIFT

Oli Johnson talks to Nicholas Jacobson of the University of Colorado about bitmap 3D printing in medicine.

SHOWN: Jacobson gives his keynote presentation at AMUG 2023

Bitmap 3D printing, a new method of additive manufacturing, has emerged as a way to produce 3D prints directly from medical images at a level of spatial fidelity and spatial contrast resolution equivalent to the source material. According to Nicholas Jacobson of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in a study published in 2022, previous bitmap printing attempts have been limited to using two materials to replicate variations in high resolution, but two materials hinders the ability to define differences across an organ, defined by multiple different anatomical descriptions. Jacobson and his team created a six-material bitmap printing process, which they say simplifies the current process and more clearly defines differences in tissue variation.

Jacobson gave a talk on bitmap 3D printing and its uses in medicine for planning, prosthetics and implants at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference 2024. Prior to the talk, TCT got the chance to sit down with him to discuss his work. Jacobson described the bitmap 3D printing process like this: “Bitmap 3D printing is the native way that a 3D printer works.

Every 3D printer does it. People talked about the process of bitmap printing back in the early '90s. It is the language that the printer uses to control every droplet, so in a way it’s kind of like G-code. Some people are familiar with G-code, but I’m basically telling the printer where to put every droplet, how to move, when to move, why to move.

“There’s something that happened to 3D printers not long after they were commercialized, which was that they built an internal slicer. The idea being that you send a volume, an STL model, and the printer has internal software that would slice it for you and create those slices. It makes it very user friendly, and also ties in with the current standard paradigm for making, which is STL models, or assemblies of parts. But it doesn’t take full advantage of the capabilities of the printer. The polyjet printers that I use print very much like an inkjet printer, where you’re printing a full color image. You just have to be able to send the right kind of file for it, so that’s what we do. It’s really powerful for medical applications

because we can print all of the data volumetrically.”

The advantage of being able to print like this for medical modelling is that it allows you to see what is happening inside of the body, from one pixel to another, rather than just the shell of the brain, filled in with a solid material.

As a former architect, Jacobson has drawn from his background and applied knowledge of structure to his work with 3D printing. He told TCT: “When we build buildings, we’re not able to take full advantage of how we know structure really works, because we can only represent it with beams and concrete slabs, but in actuality, stresses move in really complex ways. They move volumetrically, and there’s a gradient of forces within any structure. Voxel printing, or bitmap printing, allows us to capture all of that, because we’re slicing it volumetrically. So that’s why it’s really powerful.”

Jacobson says that with this method of 3D printing, the body can be represented better than any other method as the gradient can be captured volumetrically and there is no loss of data. He says that models created this way open up a number of new opportunities for surgeons to create new surgeries, to perform surgeries better and to better understand diseases. Pre-surgical models also allow for surgeons to explain to patients the surgery that will be conducted prior to it taking place. The technology is also used for prosthetics and implants, and Jacobson says that it can be used to create something that fits better than anything else.

On the software side, Jacobson told TCT: “To be able to create a

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bitmap print, you can’t do it with standard technology. So unfortunately, we have had to build all of our own software. Within that ability of voxel modeling, there’s a whole bunch of new opportunities, so being able to have something, a prosthetic for a cleft palate that fits the patient’s mouth beautifully, but also then take into account a tremendous amount of data, patterns of palatal growth, we can then deform and morph this appliance to grow with the patient. So, voxel modeling is really the incorporation of a lot of data. I call it tangible intelligence, it’s a form of encapsulating a lot of data.”

Jacobson says the idea of making implants and prosthetics that are patient specific is the biggest benefit of using the software. Most prosthetics are not patient specific, although they are starting to be because of 3D printing. Using cytocompatible materials, hemo compatible materials, a solution can be made for every unique patient. Jacobson says that implants can now be made specifically around soft tissue, which has been difficult in the past.

Another benefit of bitmap 3D printing, according to Jacobson, is the ability to print at really high resolutions: “It’s, kind of, limitless complexity. So, we can model really, really complex structures, really small which is a limitation of the traditional process of modeling. With the resolution, your file size becomes impossible to get down to the level that you need it. And then to be able to control it with these custom materials becomes really, really difficult, if not impossible. So, our process allows us to create these microstructures.

“Again, I’m an architect, I’ve had this idea that we’ve drugged cells, we’ve radiated cells, we’ve forced cells to do all kinds of things, but no one has ever really asked a cell what it wants and where it wants to live. As an architect, what I’m trying, what I’m thinking, is let's a build a new house for cells and see if they want to move into it. So, we’ve been exploring the three-dimensional environment for cellular growth. Do different three-dimensional microstructures, both solid and flexible, have an impact on cellular growth? And our results are showing that it does, but everything with bitmap printing means that we can build the plane as we are flying it. So, moving into three dimensions for cellular growth is hard on every level, but I’m excited to show some early results.”

Jacobson spoke about how the “nextgeneration” of surgeons get into this type of technology no problem, whereas older generations, who are still used to previous methods, take more convincing. He said:

“I remember the first time I brought in a deep flap model to surgery, the lead surgeon who is some 60 years old, took a look at it and said, 'There’s no way that these vessels are in this location, the model must be wrong.' And he pulled up the imaging and he did some measurements, and he was like, 'Oh okay, it is.' And to me, that was the greatest moment in my work because he realized that his perception was compromised based on the tool that he was looking at. And the 3D model is more accurate than an image because

“I call it tangible intelligence.”

it’s the real life [version] of what they’re going to do.”

Jacobson says that when he first began producing these models, they were mere paperweights on desks for surgeons, whereas a younger generation of surgeons are now “beating down his door” with all kinds of ideas of what could be possible. They see the models being used and the benefits, and think: “I can be faster, I can be better, here’s my competitive edge.”

SHOWN: A close up of a bitmap 3D printed model

SHOWN: Cleft palate devices created with bitmap 3D printing

What’s important for us at RAPID + TCT is that it’s where we get feedback from the market, our customers and our prospects. We find out what the requirements are today and for the future, and that goes immediately into the development of any new platforms and technologies.

A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

Laura Griffiths sits down with Materialise's new CEO.

2024 has already been full of milestones for Brigitte de Vet-Veithen. On January 1st, she took the helm of one of the additive manufacturing (AM) industry’s oldest and most respected companies, Materialise, a milestone too for a company that has been led by its same founding leadership team since the early ‘90s. Then, last month she was selected by industry peers as one of the top five female innovators in the 3D printing industry as part of the coveted TCT Women in 3D Printing Innovator Award shortlist, in which she advocated for more women in leadership roles in AM. Today, when I meet with the newly appointed CEO at the 2024 Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago, there’s another accolade to add to that list as de Vet-Veithen leaves Materialise’s medical division, a segment that became its fastest growing and most profitable under her stewardship, for a new seat at the table.

“One really nice fact,” de Vet-Veithen adds, “in the fourth quarter of 2023, [the medical division] has also been the largest in terms of revenue. It was a nice way to end that phase for me.”

That phase concluded with de Vet-Veithen serving as Executive Vice President of Materialise Medical, a division within the Belgian AM leader which focuses on developing software and 3D printing solutions for the healthcare sector. When reminiscing about joining the company in 2016, she admits to having never heard of ‘AM’ until Materialise’s outgoing CEO Fried Vancrean showed a case study of a patient who had been using a wheelchair for three years, but after being fitted with a customized 3D printed implant, was able to walk again within six weeks.

“That got me really enthusiastic,” de Vet-Veithen tells TCT. “Technology is exciting but it gets really exciting because of what we can do with it and this was just one case that totally convinced me that there's so much potential here.”

SHOWN: Brigitte de Vet-Veithen

Prior to joining Materialise, de Vet-Veithen held senior management roles at Johnson & Johnson and served as CEO of medical device company Acertys Group. With a background in business and engineering, she has led companies through growth and transformation, and acted as a consultant for several technology firms. Vancraen describes de Vet-Veithen as having “the perfect combination of internal and external experience.”

“My sweet spot has always been making the bridge between technology and markets,” de Vet-Veithen explains. “I'm a technology enthusiast but I get really excited when we manage to get that technology adopted in the market. I've always loved scaling industries or applications or businesses.”

It’s the first time de Vet-Veithen has attended the AMUG Conference, renowned for its mission to stoke conversation and knowledge sharing. The perfect playing field then for a CEO with ‘more collaboration’ at the top of their agenda.

“I think continue and even accelerate,” de Vet-Veithen says of Materialise’s arguably pioneering push for cross industry

collaboration. “The state of the industry is not in the happiest or easiest place at this point in time. So, now we need it more than ever if, as an industry, we do want to get to where we eventually think this is going to be.”

de Vet-Veithen's appointment marks the first time Materialise has welcomed a new CEO since its leader Vancrean co-founded the company alongside Hilde Ingelaere in 1990. Its guiding light across the three decades since has been to create a better and healthier world, a vision that remains clear.

“That is not going to change. That's the purpose. That's what we live for,” she confirms. “We're so driven by that. Obviously the way we get there might

RAPID + TCT is all about the people: connecting with customers, seeing the innovative work they’re doing with our software, and exploring all that’s made possible with the latest manufacturing technology across the show floor.

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change but the better and healthier world is what we live for, literally.”

A change in leadership often signifies a period of greater change for an organization. For de Vet-Veithen, who has spent almost a decade overseeing how Materialise’s software and 3D printing solutions improve patient outcomes, the company’s central mission will remain unchanged, but she believes some intentional change will be necessary for the wider AM industry if it is to broaden the adoption of 3D printing technologies.

“I do see changes, not for the sake of change, but because the industry is changing,” de Vet-Veithen explains. “As the industry changes, we do need to adapt. Making it easier to adopt additive. It's been a big driver for medical so making it easier for customers to use and step into additive and personalize products on the healthcare side.

“That same mechanism applies to other industrial sectors. We just need to make it a little easier, less confusing, less complicated for people. We might not have needed to do that in the past when prototyping was the main focus but we have to do this if we want to industrialize and get big time into end use products. As that shift in the market is taking place from prototype to end use parts, and we want to accelerate that shift, now it's time to work on making it easier, making it faster, making it even more reliable.”

AM technology is as complex as the parts it seeks to make. After overcoming a rollercoaster of consumer hype and bloated expectations in the early 2010s, throw in also a pandemic, global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, it all stacks up to a challenging few years of curious M&A decisions, layoffs and stock market noncompliance notices. While no organization is immune to those disruptions, Materialise seems to have managed to stay away from the noise and remain focused, and despite the challenging economic backdrop, reported a total 4% revenue growth its most recent financial results.

“I think, honestly, because we've always really believed in our mission to create a better and healthier world,” de Vet-Veithen says of Materialise’s continued position in the market. “With some of the hype, credit to Fried, if he didn't believe that it really

was going to create a better and healthier world, he didn't step into it.”

When Vancraen guested on TCT’s Additive Insight podcast back in 2020, he spoke about sustainability as an extension of Materialise’s health-driven mission, describing it as “another word to define that better and healthier world.” While sustainability has become a much hotter and widely contested topic for AM, Vancraen was an early advocate for how the technology could have a meaningful impact in creating a greener future. de Vet-Veithen says the company’s sustainability mission will “continue on the roads that Fried built,” and must remain high on the agenda through seeking out applications that can have a positive impact, like those in e-mobility, greater demonstrations of full lifecycle analysis, and reducing its own carbon footprint.

“We've always really believed in our mission to create a better and healthier world.”

“We always talk about our kitchen concept,” de Vet-Veithen says. “We cook the recipes in our own kitchen so that we understand our customers even better to bring the right recipes to them. It's really important because we test our products internally before we bring them out to the market. We listen very much to our Medical unit and our Manufacturing unit because they run into the same trouble as our customers, and they can inform us about what we need to do to industrialize, to scale, and really tap into that end product market.”

When we discuss the future of the AM technology, de Vet-Veithen's grasp on the opportunities for the medical sector is both hopeful and practical. She believes “we've only been scratching the surface,” particularly in terms of personalized devices but should only be looking to use it where necessary.

“Take orthopaedics as an example,” she offers. “It doesn't make sense to have a personalized product for every single patient, but it does make sense to have personalized products for a lot more patients than we treat today. In some countries, in some of the applications we are serving, there are hospitals that say 100 percent of their patient population, for example the cranial maxillofacial application, get personalized products. You can imagine what that means in terms of the potential that we still have to cover. This is not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen by itself. There's a lot of building blocks that we need to put in place.”

“We really want to set an example because it can be done, and it should be done,” de VetVeithen adds.

It’s interesting spending time with de VetVeithen at AMUG where several exhibiting companies are users of its products; whether that’s its e-Stage for Metal+ for laser powder bed fusion, which was announced as a module inside its flagship Magics software suite at the event, or next generation Build Processors which power additive hardware from the likes of Nikon SLM Solutions. While much of its business comes from providing these kinds of software products to users, Materialise is also a user of its own with Materialise Medical and Materialise Manufacturing segments facilitating production runs for some major manufacturers – like Sartorius, which has ordered 26,000 biocompatible plastic bioreactor parts over the last five years. This, de Vet-Veithen believes, provides Materialise with a unique understanding of the needs of the marketplace.

One of those building blocks takes us back to the topic of collaboration; between both technology providers and the people – the surgeons and healthcare providers – using them. “Great progress” is being made there, according to de Vet-Veithen, and she believes a lot of those learnings can be applied to other industrial segments as well.

There’s still a lot of 2024 left and de VetVeithen plans to use it to make progress on that collaboration pledge, which she believes can be achieved with more honest conversations between industry leaders leaving their own interests aside in the interest of the bigger industry picture.

“Let's work together and make it happen and let's collaborate, let's see how together we can make a difference,” de Vet-Veithen concludes. “And let's keep our enthusiasm around it. That's the most important one.”

The Additive Manufacturing industry needs to realize that AI is one of our greatest tools for sustainability, scalability, profitability, and progress. Join Nexa3D at RAPID + TCT and let’s continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.

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TILTING THE BALANCE

Sam Davies reports on the development of a 3D printed toe joint replacement product which could obtain FDA clearance by the end of the year.

Having your first product cleared by the FDA would represent the launchpad for most start-ups.

It would be validation of the company’s processes, approach and expertise. There would be cause for the founders to think they did it once and so they can do it again.

But for Anatomic Implants, it will be the end of the road. The company expects its Anatomic Great Toe Joint product to receive FDA 510(k) clearance by the end of the year.

Then, in co-founder David Nutter’s own words, “the future for Anatomic Implants is putting the Anatomic Great Toe Joint in a good home with another orthopedic company to buy it from us once we get FDA clearance and let them help patients by bringing it to market.”

Metal additive manufacturing OEM AddUp is helping them to see this mission through. AddUp, in the last 18 months, established a medical advisory board that is helping the company refine its services to the medical industry. A strategy was put in place to build on AddUp’s existing play in the sector, with one idea being to identify a novel medical application and support

a company through the FDA 510(k) clearance process.

“Allen Younger, our sales leader for the medical space, has been in additive for ten-plus years, mostly in the medical segment, and he’s built a great deal of relationships,” explained AddUp Deputy CEO Nick Estock. “So, as we brought this idea forward, he knew somebody that had a perfect fit. He called David up, said we have this idea, we want to partner with somebody with a novel product and help you bring it to market.”

It was perfect timing. Anatomic Implants – a start-up founded by David and his dad, Dr. Scott W. Nutter – had by now been working on the development of the Anatomic Great Toe Joint, 1st metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint, for five years. Additive manufacturing had been decided as the manufacturing method a long time ago, but Anatomic Implants had never been able to find the right partner. Eighteen months ago, it was at somewhat of an impasse.

“It just fell in my lap,” David said. “AddUp came along at the right time. We’ve been helping them validate their machines, get the OQPQ validations – that has to be done to get the validation of our parts – and we hope to start testing things within the next two and a half months.”

As the partnership was finalized in October, AddUp invested into the Anatomic Implants business, and will now provide the manufacturing expertise to help get the product commercialized. Using AddUp’s FormUp 350 metal 3D printing platform, the Anatomic Great Toe Joint is manufactured in Ti64, selected in accordance with ASTM International’s F3001 Standard Specification.

With AddUp taking care of the manufacturing, the partners are now preparing for the comprehensive review of safety and performance data of the Anatomic Great Toe Joint to ensure it is ‘substantially equivalent’ to implants already on the market. FDA clearance is anticipated by the end of 2024, but not before tests have been carried out to assess biocompatibility, instrument reprocessing, cleaning and sterilization.

What then will be taken to market is a 1st MTP joint that is believed to be the first to be

What sets RAPID + TCT apart is its inclusive, multidisciplinary focus…from aerospace and defense to medical, automotive, oil and gas, heavy industry, and consumer products. It’s impactful to hear emerging trends from industry leaders.

Dr. Melissa Orme VP of Additive Manufacturing, Boeing

developed with metal 3D printing technology. It is said to replicate the human anatomy ‘nearly perfectly’ thanks to complex lattice geometries, enabled by a technology that also facilitates osteointegration through porosity. This capacity for osseointegration will give the implant a much higher chance of bonding to the bone, ensuring a successful surgery and reducing the likelihood of the implant being rejected by the body.

that a net structure can give you with 3D printing, you can’t get that lattice structure [with conventional printing is omni directional, it’s the most important thing in getting that

The use of 3D printing has allowed Anatomic Implants to manufacture in the most accurate way, according to the company. In the development of

“3D printing is the most important thing in getting that net structure. It’s integral.”

industrial backing and medical sector experience, that turned out to be AddUp.

“What we understand is how to optimize the orientation, support structures, parameters, etc, to produce the best possible products,” Estock said. “The design is outside of our scope, but we help them go through that manufacturing process. That’s when we can start to grab hold of a project and pull it through that industrialization process.”

As Anatomic Implants will tell you, it’s very necessary that this know-how and capacity is in place. The company had tried and subsequently failed to get this far with two other 3D printing companies, but now partnered with AddUp, there’s an expectance that FDA 510(k) clearance will be secured.

the device, Anatomic Implants used laser scanning on human bones to capture data which was manipulated to create the STL file, then leaning on 3D printing to output this data in its true form.

Once the design was settled on, it was then about finding the right partner to help Anatomic Implants bring the project to fruition. With its ISO 13485 quality management certification,

What David and his father see before them is an 800 million USD global market for MTP toe joint reconstruction that isn’t being as well-served as it should be. Patients are experiencing hallux rigidus, where arthritis has become so bad that the cartilage has been worn away and bone is now at risk of fusing to bone, and hallux valgus, where a bunion has developed and is pushing the big toe into the other toe. The big toe, because of its role as a main point of balance, is likely to be the first part of the foot to develop arthritis. And if you live long enough, you’ll probably experience it.

Inspired by the use of the technology for spinal and maxillofacial implants, Anatomic Implants has moved to fill an industry gap.

“We’re seeing these new 3D printing technologies come down further into the smaller joints, filling these gaps that need to be met,” David finished. “The bigger companies tackle the bigger problems and smaller start-ups, like me and my dad, we’ll go capitalize on a market that is underserved.”

SHOWN: The toe joint is manufactured by AddUp ABOVE: AddUp FormUp 350

RAPID + TCT meets you where you’re at. You may be a longtime user of additive, or you may just be launching your journey into discovering and learning about additive. Sharing time with industry professionals and enthusiasts will surely offer inspiration and understanding.

Shannon VanDeren President, AMUG

Oli Johnson speaks to Martin Johnson, Technical Fellow & VP, Product Development at 3D Systems, about the company’s new solution for jetted, one-piece, multi-material dentures.

3D Systems recently launched its new solution for jetted, monolithic (one-piece) dentures that utilize multiple materials to deliver a durable, long-wear prosthetic to the patient, a product which it says is the first of its kind in the additive manufacturing industry. This solution is enabled by the creation of bespoke materials for both teeth and gums, which the company says deliver ‘the desired combination’ of aesthetics, wear and stain resistance in the teeth, and ‘exceptional’ break resistance in the gums.

When the solution was announced, 3D Systems described it is ‘superior’ to all other currently available, monolithic, jetted denture solutions. Speaking to TCT at the 2024 AMUG Conference, Martin Johnson, Technical Fellow and Vice President, Product Development at 3D Systems told us why: “It’s multi-material, not one material, multi-color. We’re able to provide a solution that’s compliant and a little more durable, that’s easier on the gum. Then we can add that to other materials and get the hardness, color, and the rigidity in the teeth. The ability to put that all in one print and get the colors makes a really nice denture, so that was really significant.”

Materials scientists at 3D Systems developed NextDent Jet Denture Teeth and NextDent Jet Denture Base, the former created to mimic tooth rigidity and aesthetics, and the latter to absorb impact. The company says that when the materials are used as part of the monolithic, jetted denture solution, dental labs are able to produce dentures

with ‘exceptional’ performance, including high break resistance.

3D Systems says it expects 510(k) clearance from the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its solution in the second half of 2024. Johnson told TCT: “Initially things will be going through Glidewell Dental in the second half of this year, and as we get into the next year, and we start to expand, where do we want it, where does it go, and how does it populate? Gildewell Dental is a great company to pair up with to get this out because of where they stand in the industry and they’re so well respected. It was great to work with them and push that out initially, so we’ll see where we go from there. But the second half of this year is when we want to see dentures in people’s mouths.”

In the announcement, Stephenie Goddard, CEO of Glidewell, said: “The capabilities presented by the new jetted denture solution are unmatched in the industry. The combination of 3D Systems’ high-speed printing technology and its unique materials deliver dentures with superior durability and aesthetics. I’m looking forward to

“There’s lots of opportunities for where this can go.”

our implementation of this solution later this year, and the benefits it will deliver not only for our business but for our customers and their patients.”

Speaking about the opportunities this opens up for dentists, Johnson added: “It opens up the availability for a lot more dental labs to be able to do this, and you don’t have to have the high-skilled labor because, making dentures in the traditional process requires very skilled people. Now you can go in there and take lower-skilled labor, because now you have people that don’t have to be experts at making the teeth, they can go in and start digitally fitting, they can get parts out to you really fast, if you have problems, you can get them replaced really fast. If I’m travelling for instance, say I go to the beach in South Florida and break my dentures, because they’re digital, I can find somebody that offers the service down there, and get them printed while I’m at the beach. There’s lots of opportunities for where this can go.”

The company also plans to offer the solution outside of the USA once the FDA approval process has been completed, and the rollout has begun stateside.

SHOWN: A denture created with the new solution

Expanding the RAPID + TCT North American Tour to new locations is a strategic move for fostering growth and engagement within the manufacturing community. The event is an opportunity to build connections that can lead to valuable partnerships, knowledge sharing, and business opportunities.

John Wilczynski Executive Director, America Makes

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

#COLLABORATE

Dr. Didier von Zeppelin (DVZ), Manager Additive Manufacturing at Arburg, and Alexander Reutelingsperger (AR), CTO at Hashtagtwo, discuss their TCT Award-nominated Personal Fit Breast Prosthesis collaboration.

TCT: How did this collaboration start?

DVZ: Arburg and Hashtagtwo crossed paths during the research phase of a 3D printing startup at Chill (Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs) in the southern region of the Netherlands. The concept revolved around harnessing new 3D scanning, printing techniques, and materials to create custommade external breast prostheses.

TCT: What unique advantages does 3D printing, specifically the freeformer, provide?

DVZ: The quest for the appropriate 3D printer involved extensive collaboration with Chill, the innovation and learning lab of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences at Brightlands Chemelot Campus.

The open system of the freeformer was the key to rapid success in identifying the settings for the different materials. This endeavor culminated in the selection of a medical certified original material (Cawiton SEBS) with a Shore A value of 40. The granule is processed and the prostheses printed using ARBURG's freeformer. This material is exceptionally lightweight, flexible, and breathable, allowing the prosthesis to be worn directly on the skin without the need for a special bra. Few others can replicate the open structure of the prosthesis as effectively as the freeformer. ARBURG supported the Limburgbased company in developing this application. The material used is much lighter than silicone, can be worn directly on the skin, and is suitable for activities such as swimming and sports. Additionally, it is suitable for reuse.

TCT: Can you talk about the demand for this product?

AR: Unfortunately, the global incidence of breast cancer continues to rise. The options for external solutions were extremely limited and, until recently, consisted only of standard silicone products. However, women do not have standardized breasts, so these products were either too large or too

small. Reconstruction often relied on implants, but there is a growing trend of women questioning the use of silicone in their bodies. Another option involves reconstruction using the patient's own tissue, but not all women are willing to undergo or qualify for this lengthy process. A custom-made, personalized 3D prosthesis provides an additional choice.

The difference between wearing a standard silicone prosthesis, which needs to be worn in special bras and is heavy and warm, compared to a lightweight, custom-made, personalized prosthesis that can be worn in a regular bra is substantial. With silicone prostheses, women must always adapt to the prosthesis and consider its vulnerability. In contrast, the printed prosthesis adapts to the wearer and her lifestyle.

TCT: How does the process work?

AR: The entire process takes place online. Users need a smartphone, the Hashtagtwo app and a QR code. Women

can scan their breasts and/or scars in their own environment at any time of the day using their smartphones. The application captures a total of four point clouds: two for the shape and symmetry of the breast in the bra, and two for the scar area. These point clouds are then sent to the central computer. The app and the phone are then empty. The application, developed by Hashtagtwo, converts the point cloud into a model that can be printed, tailored to the woman's scar and body in the color of her choice. A post-operative variant can be printed if the mastectomy is recent, followed by a final version when the scar has healed, fitting snugly in the bra.

TCT: Can you talk about the sustainability element and why that was important?

DVZ: Sustainability was a top priority in selecting suitable materials for soft 3D printing. The goal was to reuse all materials. No inventory and no waste. Silicone prostheses are not sustainable at all. For our innovation, we aimed for a cradle-to-cradle approach, ensuring ownership of the materials throughout the process. Hashtagtwo's prostheses are available through a subscription model, where wearers pay a fixed monthly fee for a duration of one year. Wearers return the prostheses they no longer use to Hashtagtwo. The material is processed into new feedstock for the ARBURG freeformer.

TCT: What has the feedback been like so far from users?

AR: No longer confined by standard sizes or uncomfortable fittings, wearers enjoy newfound freedom and confidence, seamlessly integrating the prosthesis into their active lifestyle. Women are taking control again. They now have a choice. Nothing to hide anymore. Delighted to finally have the freedom to choose their own bras and swimwear.

www.tctawards.com

ANNOUNCING THE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

June 25-27

LOS ANGELES

April 8-10

DETROIT

April 14-16

BOSTON

NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND INDUSTRIAL

3D PRINTING EVENT

LEARN MORE

BACK TO THE FUTURE: WHERE NEXT FOR RAPID + TCT?

Throughout its 35-year history, RAPID + TCT’s mission has remained the same: to keep driving the additive manufacturing (AM) industry forward.

The event has always been, and continues to be, at the forefront of AM innovation, with the most cutting-edge technologies and biggest power players sharing unmatched insights and real-life applications on North America’s main stage for AM. If the additive manufacturing industry had its own Super Bowl, RAPID + TCT would be it.

TCT recently sat down with the CEOs from the two organizations that come together to produce the largest AM and industrial 3D printing event in North America: Bob Willig from SME and Duncan Wood from the TCT Group.

Here, the long-time partners talk about the dynamic evolution of RAPID + TCT from a half-day clinic in 1987 to North’s America’s most important AM and industrial 3D printing event, along with some exciting news about the future.

TCT: RAPID + TCT has grown to be North America’s largest AM and industrial 3D printing event. Can you describe that evolution?

Bob Willig, Executive Director and CEO, SME: RAPID + TCT has evolved as the industry has evolved. From the very early days of stereolithography, morphing

into early prototype developments, RAPID was there. To developing next-generation material processing, handling and forming, RAPID was there. To defining next-generation near-net shape parts and secondary postprocessing, RAPID was there. To the development of all these next-generation manufacturers and suppliers, use cases, ROI developments and entrepreneurial start-ups, RAPID is always there!

You hear from so many people about the recollection of something that occurred at RAPID, something that they saw for the first time. I think the beauty of the event over the last three decades is that it’s organically grown to represent what's happened in a specific set of technologies; you can chart the development of the technologies alongside the development of the event.

RAPID + TCT has been the scene of many industry firsts and “you had to be there” moments. From the early days of stereolithography and major mergers like that of Stratasys with Objet to known brands like HP making its debut in the AM market, RAPID + TCT is the manifestation of an ecosystem of technology discoveries and advancements that have occurred over the last three-plus decades.

Duncan Wood, CEO, TCT Group: The first time I went to RAPID was in 2000. It was obviously a lot smaller, but even back then, it was the de facto North American event. You saw the technology of the day, you met the experts of the day, and the whole thing was predicated on learning and

sharing information. It hasn't changed in that mission. It's obviously a lot bigger, there are more exhibitors, there's more innovative technology, there's more conference streams. These are the attractions of an industry leading event; these are the reasons people leave their offices.

People come to learn about the fundamentals of additive manufacturing. They learn about use cases, they learn about application strategies, they learn about the technical side of applying additive manufacturing. If you want to get your head around how to implement this technology into your business, or maybe you’ve figured that out and now you need to decide what equipment you are going to invest in, then RAPID + TCT has everything you are going to need.

TCT: So, with all that said, you have exciting news to share about the future of RAPID + TCT. Tell me what’s ahead for the event.

Willig: Of course, SME has created a strategic roadmap for the continued growth of RAPID + TCT, and we’re sending a clear message to the industry that we’re listening to the marketplace and building a path for the future of the technology.

The industry is back out in person at events, stronger than we’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic. We know exhibitors and attendees are planning farther out. We typically announce RAPID + TCT dates roughly one year before, however, we’re working toward announcing dates sooner as this provides our diverse stakeholder groups the opportunity to plan and participate in future RAPID + TCT events. In addition, we’re excited to announce a new city in our rotation and want to give everyone as much advance notice as possible.

As everyone knows, for 2024, the event returns to California for the first time in almost a decade, opening a new frontier of possibilities at the heart of the U.S. manufacturing output. Home to the likes of Boeing, Tesla, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, a plethora of medical device companies and at the heart of the entertainment industry California is a powerhouse in all manufacturing senses. Over 400 exhibitors will be there on the show floor in addition to the highest-quality technical conference the event has ever seen, as well as special features, such as an executive keynote

series and a Hollywood Showcase. We will celebrate California’s adoption of AM technologies for the special effects industry.

Wood: It's going to be an exciting year. There’s not been a major additive manufacturing event on the West Coast since 2015. I believe there's pent-up demand for RAPID + TCT in California. Think about how many people have new jobs or started new careers who want to learn about this technology. We're excited to bring the premier AM event to Los Angeles.

We have a world-class conference program with over 160 presentations alongside the show floor — for those in California who haven’t got to Chicago and Detroit in recent years — this is a fantastic opportunity to hear from the likes of Google, Boeing, Rivian, the U.S. Air Force and Zimmer Biomet. A truly inspirational line-up!

TCT: You’ve also got a slew of exciting announcements for 2025 too I understand. What can you reveal?

Willig: In 2025, the event will return to Detroit, the home of SME and North America’s automotive legacy. Detroit has produced the largest audience in the events history (2019), and a strong rebound in 2022, post-covid, and 2025 in Detroit sees something completely new.

SME has a long history of collaboration; RAPID + TCT itself is a brilliant collaboration, and 2025 will see two significant co-locations sit alongside the event. Both events enable us to impact a wider audience with the transformational possibilities of AM, and consequently the potential for our exhibitors is supercharged.

First, we’re partnering with the Society of Automotive Engineers to co-locate with its World Congress Experience event, WCX, which welcomes over 6,000 automotive and mobility professionals.

The mobility industry is transforming into a multi-billion-dollar industry. WCX is North America’s largest technical mobility event, providing an unmatched opportunity to see all the moving parts in today’s mobility industry — and the ground-breaking innovations that are shaping the next phase.

The second big announcement for 2025 features the exciting co-location of

“RAPID + TCT takes an openarmed approach to collaboration with industry.”

SME’s AeroDef Manufacturing event alongside RAPID + TCT. AeroDef is the premier aerospace manufacturing and defense manufacturing event with a conference and exhibitor pavilion bringing in a whole new audience of aerospace and defense customers, which is, of course, a key audience for RAPID + TCT.

Since its inception in 2011, AeroDef’s mission has always been to foster innovation across the extended enterprise to reduce costs, expedite production times and maintain manufacturing competitiveness. It was created in partnership, and with direction from the leading OEMs and government agencies in the U.S., so with this co-location, we can showcase AM to this fast-moving sector.

Wood: I think it’s important that we signpost to the industry what our plans are. 2025 is a busy year and signposting these exciting co-locations will drive increased audiences from some of the biggest

user groups in AM, which means our exhibitors can be certain that RAPID + TCT will deliver a superb ROI for them and help them make the right choice for their marketing budgets. We’ve also got something to announce later this year that will be hugely exciting to the medical users of AM, so watch this space!

TCT: You’ve announced that in 2026 RAPID + TCT heads to Boston for the first time. Why did you select Boston?

Wood: This has been in the works for a long time. In fact, it’s been one of the most requested cities from our exhibitors for many years. Boston and the surrounding area have a rich heritage in AM, in research, in technology development and in use cases. There’s a real buzz in the air.

Our partners and exhibitors look to the city and surrounding areas historic and emerging manufacturing sectors, medical technology community, leading educational institutions, and government investment as fresh playing fields for creating AM awareness and increasing that AM adoption. The need for new markets and new audience is essential.

It’s simple. To increase adoption of AM, which is our joint mission, then you need to go to places you haven’t been before. It’s exciting and offers us the ability to regenerate a new and exciting event with new attendees every year as we move to new cities.

TCT: Collaborations and partnerships are clearly at the core of SME and indeed at the heart of RAPID + TCT. Can you talk about that?

Willig: Collaborations define SME. You only need to look at our FABTECH event, which SME and the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International launched in 1981, to see how partnerships, founded on a common goal of making an industry better, can have a profound impact.

The event started as two organizations that chose to put their egos aside and work for the betterment of the industry. Since then, FABTECH has grown with five partners into one of the top trade shows in the country. The RAPID + TCT collaboration is rooted in the same mindset and thought process.

TCT: So, for our readers who may be new to the event, how did this partnership came to fruition?

Wood: Back in 2016, TCT was looking at the U.S. market. We’d finished working with International CES on its 3D Printing Conference and wanted to continue to help further adoption of these technologies in the U.S., however, what we found was that the market didn't need more events, it needed people to collaborate, to work on developing an event that could be bigger and better, and deliver more for the industry, as well as continue to drive it forward.

That’s when it became obvious that we could really do something special together. We could have stayed in our own lanes and ended up competing against each other. The right thing though - for the industry, for the market, for our clients - was to work together, so RAPID + TCT was born!

I think this story is still hugely pertinent in today's market because the same situation still exists really. We’re a niche technology with huge potential, so we should always do right by the market — don’t confuse it, don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

SME has always been collaborative. We’ve always been collaborative. And we've both always been like that because we believe that's the best way to serve the industries we operate in.

Willig: RAPID + TCT takes an openarmed approach to collaboration and has actively pursued it with industry partners like America Makes, AMUG, ARMI, ASTM, RSNA, SAE and Women in 3D Printing to ensure that the industry continues to grow from the strong foundations they’ve collectively planted. This openness largely stems from SME’s key position as a mission-driven non-profit organization.

Our focus is to expand the opportunity for individuals to be engaged in the additive manufacturing space, to advance the adoption of AM and to educate those who want to become a part of it in any way. We can collaborate with other partners in this industry because, at the end of the day, the measure of

our success is the speed at which this industry grows and prevails for more people to get engaged in and be part of it.

This collaboration effort isn’t possible without the people behind it. Whether that’s industry partners, trusted event advisors or RAPID + TCT’s dedicated community of volunteers, there’s a collective of passionate AM advocates behind every conference paper chosen and strategically selected locations that gives the event its unique position in the marketplace.

TCT: How does SME’s position as a missiondriven non-profit help shape the event?

Willig: Going back to SME's roots of 90-plus years ago, we were founded as a membership association, and that really hasn't changed how we look toward our members and volunteers to really help us shape and guide the event. Whether it's through reviewing technical content from hundreds of conference submissions to our exhibitor advisory council, which is helping us shape a better experience for exhibitors, to selecting the correct demographics and audience for the event to helping us with our trends, we've always relied heavily on members and volunteers.

SME isn’t afraid to let its community have influence. In fact, we welcome it and feel it’s a two-way street. While SME wants to work with partners to rise the AM tide, we also ensure that SME continues to respond to what the market needs in a tangible way.

Wood: The communities maintain your relevancy in the marketplace because they’re the marketplace. Whether they're representing large enterprise companies or small independent supplier manufacturers, you get a cross section of what matters to all of them.

The reality is, when you have a cross section of volunteers representing all the industry, you're able to build a better product and experience, and the SME army of volunteers, all experts, are unrivalled in my experience in their willingness to get behind the event, its mission and drive the industry forward. That passion and dedication, whether it be in conference paper reviewing, track hosting or working on student initiatives, is quite amazing to witness.

TCT: The RAPID + TCT community extends much further than one week in a convention center every spring. Tell me more about that.

Willig: SME’s efforts around AM are year-round. For instance, through SME’s Voices AMplified series and awards programs, SME is dedicated to sharing the stories and achievements of people in the industry, and listening to them at events like the AM Summit, which convenes leading thinkers and doers to explore where AM could go next and how SME can help take it there. Tooling U-SME, the workforce development arm of SME, has built

robust AM learning resources to upskill and new skill talent, helping accelerate AM adoption supporting thousands of manufacturers and educational institutions each year.

The SME Education Foundation supports high school career and technical education programs to build the next generation of AM skills development. It’s also inspiring the next generation of engineers and manufacturers by co-sponsoring (with Stratasys) the SkillsUSA Additive Manufacturing Competition; its handson Bright Minds program, which attracts close to 1,000 students to RAPID + TCT each year; and robust scholarship programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

TCT: How are these student programs helping manufacturers?

Willig: There was a time in the events industry, and at RAPID + TCT, where your average exhibitor would say, “I really am here just for the business-tobusiness opportunity.” There’s great importance of these initiatives to not only students, but industry too.

EDMMax 434W

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EDMMax 818W

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EDMMax 1100HW (Single Axis)

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Footprint: 3500 x 3100mm (138" x 122")

Suddenly those students coming and talking to them has developed into a major highlight. Dedicated individuals from HR are trying to create an impression for this future talent so that one day they're working at these organizations.

Wood: It's not all about the commercial side of things. It's about having an impact on the industry. A line underneath all of this is that SME has always been critically committed to additive manufacturing and advancing it, whether it was that smaller event in 2000, to this year and looking forward to 2025 and 2026, you know you're going to get the right experts in room, the right companies in the room — that's an enduring legacy. To be around as an event for that long, and still be hugely relevant to the industry it represents, isn’t something that should be ignored.

understood and championed the need to develop standards to support the adoption of AM technologies. Additive manufacturing is SME’s deepest and richest portfolio.

TCT: Let’s talk about the wider impact of RAPID + TCT.

Willig: The impact of RAPID + TCT can be found in the many initiatives that have stemmed from its community. One of the most significant is the ASTM Committee F42 on Additive Manufacturing Technologies, which emerged from a group of thought leaders who

While RAPID + TCT is evolving into an all-year-round experience, the springboard was the initial small community that created a clinic, a workshop and so on. With that, they created working groups. Right now, we have our Additive Healthcare Advisory Group, a Direct Digital Manufacturing Advisory Group and other groups, essentially to help create programming all year round.

TCT: Any last thoughts on the future of RAPID + TCT?

“SME has always been committed to additive manufacturing.”

Willig: AM has strong roots planted in North America. Technology was founded here, and it continues to be a powerhouse with the largest install base of industrial 3D printers in the world. American firms like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Ford and General Motors are already using the technology in key industries, and that will only continue to grow as efforts to reshore manufacturing and disrupt supply chains require new, innovative processes. RAPID + TCT will be at the center, and it’ll continue to go where there’s a thirst for additive technologies to ensure this industry grows with it. RAPID + TCT is the Super Bowl of AM, and cities are clamouring for the show to arrive.

We truly believe that once a year in North America, in the city where we're holding RAPID + TCT, there’s an opportunity to display the entire depth and breadth of this wonderful industry and community. And we do that proudly and collaboratively.

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Words: SAM DAVIES

DON'T GO CHASING RAINBOWS

Three years on from BEAMIT’s acquisition of the company, 3T AM opens its doors to TCT Magazine.

SHOWN: Inside the 3T AM facility

Seven days ago, the additive manufacturing (AM) manager of a large aerospace player was walking these floors, sipping this coffee, and looking at this set-up.

They were in the neighborhood on business and wanted to see some additive manufacturing innovation before the flight back to the US.

“Do you have anything exciting and innovative to show me?” the email in 3T wAM CEO Dan Johns’ inbox read.

“Not really,” came his reply.

“Oh… that’s interesting.”

The response was not meant to be rude, nor was it even meant to be modest. That there’s nothing particularly interesting about this facility is, in fact, a point of pride. Having worked for both GKN Aerospace and Airbus, Johns has seen how manufacturing plants tick. And so, what has been built

since he came into the business upon BEAMIT’s takeover of 3T AM is nothing to write home about. But because of that, it is.

Tours of 3T AM’s factory begin at the end. For good reason. The first is because the hundreds of cylindrical end-use parts that are being ferried around the facility via trolley are the whole point of a factory like this. It’s not about the printing, it’s about the parts. Another is because this is where most of the 3T AM team lives. And Johns likes 3T’s guests to get acquainted as much with the team as the machinery.

Before a tour gets fully underway, however, Johns will make use of the coffee machine. This was the very first capital expenditure signed off when BEAMIT made its acquisition of 3T – the

theory being that you can’t risk stocking bad coffee with Italian owners. It’s also an excuse to go via the commercial team’s office where Johns likes to provide a bit of context to what his guests are about to see.

Here, two of 3T’s Strategic Account Managers, Matt Wennington and Sarah Powell, reveal the average order price has increased tenfold and their order ‘win ratio’ is up from 8% to 72% in the three years since the new ownership came into the business. The company’s highest order in that time – celebrated, apparently, with a team outing to a steak restaurant – was over 1 million GBP.

“That value has come from these guys building what we call customer intimacy,” Johns says. “It’s very much about engaging with them, understanding the customer’s requirements, the customer’s product, and the customer’s decision-making processes. The customer intimacy is a core part.”

The 3T AM conference room is where tours of the factory conclude. While his guests find a seat and the clock ticks towards the end of the day, Johns takes the opportunity to do two things. The first is to deliver a presentation, adding more color and more context, and the second is to grab Commercial Director Eddie Andrews to contribute – and to make dinner arrangements for tonight.

Neither live locally to 3T’s base in Berkshire – Andrews is in Bristol, and Johns is even further away in Devon – so this is a frequent occurrence when spending multiple days on-site. Fine dining, it turns out, is a particular interest of Johns’. And not just as a source of sustenance.

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SHOWN: 3T AM's machining centerwhere parts are manufactured rather than finished

Like anyone who drives long distances, Johns can appreciate the transactional, quick turnaround nature of a fast-food joint, but he prefers the kind of restaurant that provides a high level of service, quality, and intimacy; the kind you might even have to book months, maybe a full year, in advance. That’s what he wants 3T to be.

“Our ambition is three-star Michelin restaurant,” Johns says, “That’s a big difference in what we serve, who our customers are, and how long our customers spend with us. Everything to understand about making AM a success is in that analogy: McDonald’s to Michelin restaurant. You’ll never have a kitchen that has got Michelin customers in the front of your restaurant and in that same kitchen is a window at the back with a drive-thru doing burgers. That kitchen operation can’t do that because you’ll never give the right quality of service to either side. You have to choose what you want to be. You can’t be both.”

Derek is another team member to be introduced. Briefly. As Head of Operations, he can usually be spotted rushing, clipboard in hand, across the shop floor. He was brought in to help set the factory up like it should be set up. The EDM and CNC equipment are

“Our ambition is three-star Michelin restaurant.”

now neighbors, with the operators, programmers and technicians all sitting on the same bank of desks in the heart of the shop floor. 3T’s inspection space also lives next door, having been brought over from the facilities that house the 3D printing systems across the industrial park.

There are more than half a dozen machining systems here – one of them a Matsuura machine purchased recently to help scale the manufacture of those aforementioned cylindrical components. These parts are downthe-hole oil and gas applications, machined to their end-use shape after being printed on a metal powder bed fusion system down the road. It’s a part that, initially, had no redesign. 3T secured orders on this component, transitioning the production from subtractive to additive, by processing the design the client had been working with for years. When the design was revisited at a later date, the client merely removed one of the two flutes that supported the structure of the part to improve gas flow. 3T is now manufacturing this component at around 1,000 units a year and expects to have ramped up to around 3,000 in the next 18 months.

Elsewhere, parts are being manufactured for the likes of Airbus

SHOWN: A 3T AM part under inspection

and the MOD, including one for the latter which is locked away behind a secure door that not even Johns has the keycode for.

These are some of the customers that remained after a significant consolidation of the number of clients 3T works with.

That consolidation of clients has been part of 3T’s transition from a branch of McDonald's to a Michelinstar restaurant, though Johns concedes 3T is merely a ‘two-rosette gastro pub’ at this stage.

To get to where it has got to today, though, has required some brave decisions. By working with fewer customers, 3T has managed to enhance the quality of its services. It is winning more business and bringing in more money per project. In an act of transparency, Johns opens the company’s books to his guests,

SHOWN: Part inspection has been moved closer to the point of manufacture at 3T AM

showing how the annual losses of 1.2 million GBP when the new ownership took over has been turned into profit, with a 2 million GBP swing in profit in less than four years, and 60% YoY growth.

The company has even been prepared to say no. One customer application, for example, was losing the company money when the new ownership came in, so 3T was minded to walk away when the contract came to an end if the client wouldn’t renegotiate the terms.

3T has also stopped doing rapid prototyping jobs and works less now with motorsport users than it ever has done –its sister operation in Italy is used for ‘Fast Make’ projects – though it doesn’t stop the business from thinking like one.

As he leads the way through its 3D printing facilities, Johns is keen to place the emphasis on manufacturing rather than additive. The entire structure of the business and its factory layout has been built around that single word. It is what a facility looks like when it treats AM as just another tool in the toolbox.

But a guest touring these facilities will not leave Berkshire thinking that the people here aren’t passionate about AM. They love it.

At the window of an EOS M290, Johns will encourage his visitors to take a peek inside. He knows they know what a printer laying down powder looks like, but there’s something different about the spectacle inside this machine. And it’s that, in the corner of the chamber, you can see the build plate. The print is halfway done, but there’s no powder being laid down in the corner to the left-hand side. The machine has been short-fed, deliberately, because there’s no part there, ‘so why lay down powder in that area of the plate?’

is about continuous improvement. When people say you can’t compete with AM, you can, but you’ve got to make tiny, marginal gains in absolutely everything. It’s the same philosophy as a Formula 1 team. We’ve made the dramatic changes at the beginning. Now, it’s incremental, 1% gains, every single day.”

3T’s engineers are KPI-managed to reduce the usage and waste of material, which has helped bring down the cost of implementing additive. And it’s a good job because the company’s dozen or so EOS M 290s and three M 400-4s are booked up for the rest of the year, so the company is going to be getting through a lot.

If the printers are busy, so too are the machining systems. 3T doesn’t have a single customer job where parts are shipped without machining. And that has shaped the way the company thinks about AM.

Per 3T’s philosophy, it is the machining center that makes the parts. The AM factory down the road? That merely makes the material.

Johns makes the point throughout his tours. It is mentioned before the guest is even offered a cup of coffee, it comes up again when walking the machining factory floor, and once more as he delivers his presentation. From his experience, 3D printing machine manufacturers aren’t always on board with the idea that their machines are used much earlier in the value chain, but 3T and its customers are apparently on the same wavelength.

It is this approach that Johns is interested in sharing with the wider additive manufacturing community. To glance at the AM industry, you would see some success and some frustration, some who have identified suitable applications and others struggling to make a business case for the technology. But in 3T, there is a company making the technology work across a myriad of applications. Johns puts it down to the decision not to position AM as the leading part of the company’s value chain.

“The cost of the machines are too expensive,” he says, “but people saying [this part] is too expensive is because, I bet, they are not comparing apples for apples. They’re looking at that [part] and saying if I CNC machine it, I’m just going to look at the cost of CNC machining time at 40 pounds an hour [for example] versus the AM print time at 40 pounds an hour. And then they go, ‘It’s too expensive.’ They need to consider the cost of producing the material, as well as the CNC machining, because you compare it on what your cost of billet is not your cost of machining. Comparing CNC machining and AM is not apples for apples. Our philosophy is that AM prints a billet and then you make parts. So, if you want to compare AM, compare it to the cost of the billet.”

As he returns to the point at the end of the day, a second cup of coffee now in hand, Johns flashes a presentation slide across the screen. It depicts the typical supply chain for metal products, from the end part all the way back to the ore extraction point. He notes how once metal is mined, it is put through heat processes, then shipped to have manufacturing and machining processes applied to it, then shipped to be put into a sub-assembly, and then shipped again to be put into a product for use.

Back in 3T’s conference room, Johns and Andrews are now stressing the importance of focus. In the last three years, the company has focused on low-mix, higher volume applications, it has honed in on manufacturing rather than design, and it has moved away from the common pitfall of trying to offer every service to a client from inception to finished part.

It's at this moment, the squelch of marker pen on whiteboard brings a halt to the conversation.

“Powder that goes into overflow is cost and it’s a quality concern,” Johns explains. “Every little part of this business

“But if we consider AM prints the material billet, we’ve shrunk a foundry into a box and that box produces the billet,” he explains.

This thought process started to develop sometime ago. In the early 2010s, while working at Airbus, Johns commissioned an environmental engineer to conduct a lifecycle mapping study of AM versus a traditional machining process. The study found that by doing things the conventional way, to manufacture a 1kg part, 10kg of billet would be machined away and 26 tons of rock would need to be mined. Using additive without a redesign would only require 9 tons of rock to be mined with 1.2 kilos of ‘billet’ being used.

A conversation that has been establishing the 3T AM way of thinking. That you need to build your business on your core competencies and your core competencies alone. That you perhaps need to think differently about AM’s place in the manufacturing value chain. And that you can’t adequately serve series production applications and quick prototyping jobs with the same operation.

With that, it’s time for coffees to be sunk, for bags to be packed, and for Johns to find a restaurant he can take some inspiration from.

As the lights are switched off and door is closed, four words are left alone on the whiteboard.

“Don’t go chasing rainbows.”

Words: LAURA GRIFFITHS

GET HIP TO HIP

This is not the simplest of topics,” starts Peter Henning, Director Marketing & Sales at Quintus Technologies, a company that has been specializing in high pressure technologies for half a century.

Around a decade ago, the Swedish company underwent a rebrand, adopting the name ‘Quintus’ in a nod to a secret 1947 project, code-named under the company’s founding ASEA brand, which led to the invention of a heat and pressure process for the production of synthetic diamonds. It was around that same time in 2015 that the company also began to turn its attention to another emerging industry where its technology could offer a significant advantage: additive manufacturing (AM).

“We started to discuss with our customers what our technology could offer them in terms of value,” Henning told TCT. “We increased our awareness and competence and we started to build not only a very strong experienced team in machine building, but also a team of material scientists that could apply those features to a machine and bring real customer value.”

At that point, the company had supplied some lab style equipment to the AM market, but as demand for AM as an end-use production process grew, and conversations continued, Quintus decided to develop a high-pressure heat treatment technology that could be deployed by industrial AM users, and combine the benefits of high-speed cooling with temperature uniformity.

“Our equipment can do what you normally do in two different processes,” Henning explained. Ultimately, what Quintus was offering to the AM market, as Henning describes it, was a solution to go from “printed product to a functioning, real-life application.”

While Quintus had established itself in Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), a process used to eliminate the porosity in metals and ceramics to improve their mechanical properties, AM's unique demands meant there was work to be done on how the traditional HIP process works for AM and how to apply it.

“HIPing is a known technology to many in the industry and it is applied very late in the process,” Henning explained. “But there are so many advantages to our technology that are not really incorporated in the setup.”

The unique, as printed, microstructures of metal AM parts require different considerations. While printing can be optimized to maximize part density, HIP uses very hot gas under very high isostatic pressure to act on all surfaces and internal structures on even the most complex AM parts.

“You have to think what does your entire process look like?" Henning explained. “People are investing a lot of money in process steps that don’t necessarily contribute to the performance of the whole product.”

Stresses, porosity, cracking. These are challenges that HIP aims to remove from AM parts while improving ductility, fracture toughness, elongation and fatigue life. Nickel-based alloys can be difficult to print without cracking, and even parts with a high level of density are still at risk of porosities. HIP can be used to remove those defects.

“For AM we tend to see a lot of high performing alloys put into challenging applications where there's a high degree

of geometric complexity,” Henning said. “You need to do it right. Just because it is HIPed in one way for a cast product, doesn't mean that this is the right way to get the maximum out of a printed part.”

Quintus’ HIP technology is being applied to a range of high-performance applications, particularly in industries like aerospace, medical and space. Demand from those verticals is mirroring that of AM itself: bigger parts, made faster. As build volumes get bigger, the capability of AM-ready HIP equipment needs to follow and Quintus is continuing to grow with the same performance at a larger scale.

“We are engineering something for a higher performance rate but it should be used [correctly],” Henning said. "Everyone is trying to replace one part by making it a new way but the real benefit is when you use the flexibility of AM rather than trying to replace a forged or cast part.”

The next frontier is new materials. Printing of aluminum is growing and Quintus is already working on low temperature solutions and fine tuning its process for those applications. The next is to scale.

“I'm convinced the best is yet to come when it comes to AM,” Henning concludes. “We are very committed to this industry.”

BELOW: Hot Isostatic Press from Quintus Technologies

GOOD SERVICE

Laura Griffiths explores the use of service providers as a business case for AM.

Almost ten years ago, as a junior on this very magazine, I got on the phone to several additive manufacturing (AM) service providers to find out if video was in fact killing the radio star. The theory, fresh off the back of a wave of consumer hype, was that customers would bypass established model makers and prototyping houses in favor of simply printing stuff at home with their own lowcost desktop printers.

That, of course, never happened. In fact, in some cases, as Matt White, Business Development and Sales Manager at Ogle Models & Prototypes tells us, it went the other way.

“There's a couple of examples of people that have had [AM] in house and decided to close it down and outsource based on costs and various other reasons,” White shared. It paints a broad picture of the challenges companies face when deciding to invest in AM. The first question you might ask when starting that journey is: which machine should I buy? The right question, White offers, should really be: is AM suitable for my application?

“If it isn't right, we'll always advise,” White explained, adding that the last thing this industry needs is more disgruntled users throwing in the towel when AM isn’t the

get the most cost effective or best results they can get. That applies to one-off aesthetic models or functional prototypes all the way to volume manufacture."

Application discovery is key but finding the business case for AM is multi-layered, and piece cost isn’t always the most accurate metric when comparing with traditional processes – rarely is it the most favorable towards AM either. Value comes in various shapes and sizes, as White explained.

“Utilizing AM and optimizing design can unlock cost savings on the assembly line. For example, multiple parts can be merged together to save on assembly costs. Parts could be more lightweight, so operational costs reduced over the lifetime of the product or have improved serviceability. Even if the AM part is slightly more costly, overall, it may not be!”

This year Ogle is celebrating its 70th anniversary. The UK-based model shop’s first customer was Bush Radio, which commissioned Ogle to design a transistor radio and a record player. When former Managing Director Len Martin saw the stereolithography process on Tomorrow’s World in the early 90s, Ogle made the decision to bring it in house and, within five years, AM transformed the business.

“It's the years of experience,” White said of Ogle’s near 30 years using industrial AM. “It does make a difference. Quite a lot of our customers think 3D printing is plastic filament extrusion. They visit us and they

see these huge industrial style machines which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and it's a different ballgame.”

Oftentimes, it not a case of either or, and clients with their own kit in-house can rely on the capacity and flexibility of bureaus to take on certain production tasks.

“We're an extension of that company,” White said. “We could do bits that they find quite challenging because we’re used to working with tens of thousands of different parts and geometries.”

Service providers, with years of expertise and a diversity of technologies to tap into, can provide a good starting point for newcomers who haven’t yet built up their own AM knowledge or infrastructure. Jonathan Rowley, an AM consultant, and former service bureau leader, advocates for new users starting their AM journeys via service providers to build confidence and combat that all too common narrative of users buying an AM system, without the knowledge to fully leverage it, and becoming disillusioned.

“Using AM does not mean owning AM,” Rowley told TCT. “For most people, it will never mean owning AM. They just need to be encouraged to procure AM, the right stuff from the right people.”

3D printing bureaus are not just rows of machines. Those machines are run by people, and Rowley urges users to seek out those that are open to having a dialogue

“Using AM does not mean owning AM.”

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about their application rather than relying on automated ordering systems. Whether buying a machine or using a service, the needs of one customer requiring a prototype will be completely different to those of another ordering a run of 1,000 parts in a particular material, under certified conditions.

“If the right choice isn't made by the adopter in whatever context they're trying to use it, it's very unlikely that they're going to have a successful outcome,” Rowley said.

There's a strong argument for 'try before you buy.' Rowley ran a successful selective laser sintering-based bureau Digits2Widgets for eight years and tells us, to his knowledge, that out of the thousands of clients he worked with, only one ever bought a machine. Often, customers would come in, see the process for themselves and quickly learn that amongst the powders, printers and post-processing systems, adopting AM requires more than a machine.

“Most of the people who are ever going to get involved with AM are already in it

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to some extent,” Rowley added. “But nobody, not even huge multinationals, should buy anything until you've tried it.”

Rowley is, however, a 3D printing optimist, believeing that anyone who makes anything could use a little AM. But understanding how and building relationships with the right people and providers is vital, which is why he recently set up the AM Manifest Companion as a guide to AM via real case studies. The more success stories AM has, based on those foundations, the greater adoption could be.

“That will only happen on the back of everybody coming on board with it and understanding its value because that kind of faith and level of adoption stimulates the R&D that's needed to bring it forward,” Rowley concluded.

“The success of this industry isn't based on machine sales. It's based on how many people are working, making things, and enjoying the value that it brings.”

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Service bureaus and resellers explain how manufacturers can future-proof their AM investments.

Across eight locations, the UK subsidiary of an Italian multinational aerospace and defence firm is looking to engineer a culture of additive manufacturing (AM).

As the company looks to prove out AM’s capacity as a ‘valuable production process’ it has commenced a series of training initiatives. So far, ten engineers have been put through design for AM training, ten have received tuition around the qualification and certification of critical parts, and ten have been educated in non-destructive testing. Most recently, 17 engineers –who are said to be involved in ‘critical high value projects’ – have been trained in how to build an effective business case for additive.

“This,” Ross Herbert, Additive Manufacturing Lead at Leonardo UK, said at the recent AMADS Conference, “is so important to address the risk factor in the eyes of the program managers. How do you make sure we're managing risk in adopting additive?”

For many business leaders and procurement managers, investing in additive is exactly that: a risk. The technology can be expensive to buy, expensive to run, and expensive to understand. More than that, the technology is still developing, so businesses are also tasked with avoiding obsolescence of their processes.

This has often been a big worry for ADDMAN, a US business comprised of five separate brands offering subtractive and

additive manufacturing services. It has, in recent years, expanded its offering to include the polymer 3D printing capacity of Dinsmore and the metal AM proficiency of Castheon, all the while working to ensure its growth is sustainable. That means making some serious considerations and realistic projections before investing in equipment.

To do that, Laser Lines Sales Director Mark Tyrtania offers, all buying decisions should start at the desired customer/ end user outcomes. Working back from there, the buying company should then consider a myriad of factors, from the required facility upgrades to the performance of the OEM supplying the technology. At CIDEAS, another US service bureau, CEO Mike Littrell and his team will assess the power requirements, ventilation requirements, warranty prices, material suppliers and waste stream, before also doing some due diligence around the OEM.

Then, they’ll look inwards to chart a course for how they achieve a return on investment. For ADDMAN, that’s being organized, conservative and transparent. Projections will be made prior to the purchase of a machine around the volumes the company will be able to print at, bringing customers into those conversations and being honest about the amount of capital required to install new machinery in its factories. Among the considerations for ADDMAN is how

quickly projects get launched and how quickly they return the investment that will allow the company to proceed with other capability enhancements. It also looks to fill 50% of its volume before committing to an order.

“Our bar is typically whatever the return math we need to have, we want to have strong conviction on half of that volume as we’re making the investment,” ADDMAN CEO Joe Calmese tells TCT. “So, we’re starting with some momentum, that’s the concept, and then we build out the other half as fast as possible. As you increase utilization, it decreases the cost of manufacturing on a per unit basis, and so as you decrease the cost, you increase the utilization and adoption. It’s a great cycle.”

This approach helps to relieve the pressure of an investment for ADDMAN, with the company knowing from day one that it has filled half of its machine’s capacity for a certain period of time –whether it be one year or five years – from day one. That isn’t that, however.

CIDEAS is a company that deals with customers big and small, old and new. It therefore has to cater for both of these types of client not just in terms of technology and capacity, but in payment terms too. For new customers, CIDEAS requires immediate credit card payment, but there are larger, longerterm clients who are pushing payment intervals from 30 days, through 60, 90 and occasionally 120. This, Littrell says, can be taxing on a service bureau.

“We have an old saying in our shop – ‘Getting the work isn’t the problem, getting paid for the work is the

problem,’” Littrell remarks. “At the time of an order being placed, we are allocating the material, maintenance, labor, post-processing, electricity and, more importantly, fixed production time – our most valuable and precious commodity. If we aren’t paid for a large program, it doesn’t just affect our profitability but more importantly, lost capacity that could have been used for profitable ‘paid’ work.”

Across the pond at 3T AM, there is a similar mindset to taking orders. Service providers are there to support OEMs and end users, of course, but only on terms that work for them. So, having invested in expensive AM machinery, every piece of equipment and every staff member operating that equipment at 3T has an hourly rate, helping the company to calculate the real-terms cost of the manufacture and inspection of parts.

3T has gone further still. As you’ll read on pages 33-35, the company has adopted a slightly different philosophy when it comes to AM, and it’s integral to how it can justify its continued investment in the technology.

“If you’re a metal AM contract manufacturer, you need to expand your internal capability to include all the downstream,” Johns suggests. “It’s the only way you can then optimize your cost to be able to make your parts competitive. If you keep outsourcing your machining, outsourcing your heat treatment, outsourcing all the other ops because you’re only focused on the AM print bit, you’ve been oversold where AM is in the value chain. By outsourcing all those additional operations,

you’ve got margin on top of margin on top of margin. You have no control over the cost and time from a delivery perspective.”

Finding a business case with AM and maintaining its viability over the longterm is all about control. And, ADDMAN would argue, know-how too.

“Our approach – our metal additive approach in particular – is a fundamental physics-based approach to additive manufacturing. It’s not completely unique to others, but we do it on a larger scale,” Calmese says. “This fundamental materials property knowledge and ultimate control of the laser disconnects us from the software control and the OEM parameter sets and things of this nature. And since we have such a great understanding of how to manufacture these parts and, in particular, how to produce the material properties that are needed for qualification in these systems, it gives us a great leverage of the technology.”

What can’t be ignored, since most buyers need to understand the pathway to ROI before a purchase is made, is the company a machine is being bought from. In the manufacturing world, that can be from the OEM directly, or more likely, via a distribution partner. Whichever it is, the buying company must seek to understand the position that company is in, the services they offer, the warranties they provide. You can bring the technology in-house

“Getting the work isn't the problem. Getting paid is.”

to control the costs of the process, you can get good at understand materials and parameters, but you’re always going to want the support of the supplier.

“Work with a respected and established partner,” Tyrtania emphasizes. “We’ve been supplying and supporting Stratasys AM solutions for over 30 years. We have multiple customers that are on their third or fourth generation of 3D printer and many have multiple 3D printers of different technologies to cover off a wider range of applications and uses.”

“While looking at equipment, take note of the available material portfolio and ask the manufacturer what is in the pipeline,” Littrell finishes. “Our customers have been requesting more exotic high-performance materials in rigid and in elastomers. Your needs should align with your current and forecasted needs. Ask the manufacturer about life expectancy and repair part replacement policy after the machine is discontinued or if upgrade paths will be available – and document your correspondence.”

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DOUBLING DOWN

Laura Griffiths speaks to Renee Begley at Collins Aerospace about its second 12-laser metal additive manufacturing investment.

We really believe [additive] is the future of aerospace technology,” Renee Begley, Director and General Manager at Collins Aerospace told TCT during a conversation about its latest machine installation.

The aerospace engineering and manufacturing company has been investing in additive manufacturing (AM) technologies at its site in West Des Moines, Iowa since 2016, and last year solidified its commitment with the opening of a 14 million USD expansion to its AM center there. A year earlier, it launched another AM centre at its multi-million-dollar campus in Monroe, North Carolina. That future, for this RTX business, it seems, is very much in sight.

“There are so many different benefits that it gives to our customers,” Begley explained, offering examples of lead time reduction, unique design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) freedoms and part consolidation that it now wants to make readily available to its customers across the aerospace gamut.

“We do a lot of brazing and welding and when you design for additive manufacturing, you're able to eliminate some of those braze joints and weld joints,” Begley elaborated on the technology’s unique value. “There are some designs that you can only do additively, and we're able to design unique, complex features to meet our customers’ needs.”

Collins Aerospace’s additive journey at its West Des Moines site started out like a lot of large engineering organizations, with a modest single laser powder bed fusion system. But in the space of just two years, the company was able to conceptualize and ship its first production component from that system and eventually grow its fleet to three single-laser printers and in-house auxiliary equipment, allowing it to go from file to finished printed part within its own 9,000 square foot capacity.

“We've continued to advance the technology,” Begley said, “and we're really excited to continue to grow our different capabilities.”

Indeed, those capabilities have grown, with bigger build sizes and more laser power, two factors, alongside material capabilities, which Begley tells us have been key to the AM adoption decision

making at Collins Aerospace in recent years, and made its installation of Nikon SLM Solutions’ 12-laser NXG XII 600 back in 2022 a no brainer.

“The build volume gave us eight times the volume of our current capability with the single lasers. That was really important for us,” Begley said. “Looking at the parts that we're manufacturing and then with the 12 lasers, that was the technology that was on the market that enticed us.”

Collins Aerospace was one of the first 10 companies to invest in the technology

SHOWN: Nikon SLM Solutions NXG XII 600 at Collins Aerospace

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“Additive is the future of aerospace technology.”

as the trend for more lasers inside powder bed systems dominated the AM industry. With a build volume of 600 x 600 x 600 mm, the machine will ultimately be put to work producing aircraft engine components and is now in the materials characterization phase. This new multi-laser capacity led to a lot of learning, which Begley shared has been critical to optimizing the machine’s capabilities and production costs, and soon after proving out its business case with that first system, the organization began to evaluate the total list of parts that it could potentially produce with AM. It all pointed to more; more parts, and more machines, and earlier this year, Collins Aerospace decided to double down on its investment by purchasing a second NXG XII 600 machine. The plan is to run different materials on

each platform to add another layer of flexibility.

“When we produce additively with the build volume we have, it can be one big part, it can be two mid-sized parts, it can be hundreds of small parts,” Begley said. “That's really exciting, it gives us a lot of different options.”

As Begley explained, investing in additive is not always a straightforward financial business case. The complexities of printed parts, from latticed internal features which can be costly to produce, to time-consuming post-processing steps to clear up supports, can mean it’s not always effective to simply compare with a cast or machined product. Begley notes that there are “so many other things that we take into consideration,” and that usually starts with taking a step back and looking at current internal and supply base capacities to see if there is a pertinent challenge that additive could help solve.

“We take a look at the total landed cost model, which is really start to finish,” Begley explained. “What are all of the factory costs? What are

some of the advantages that we see with additive, whether it be freeing up capacity to do other things or eliminating some quality issues? Those are the types of things we take into account when we're looking at that business case and what kind of value we can bring to the customer, whether it be weight reduction or an inventory reduction, or a lead time reduction.”

With each of those considerations, Collins Aerospace has its intentions set on pursuing future additive applications in aerospace engine components where it sees a multitude of benefits, particularly in weight reduction which could help contribute to grander ambitions around reducing fuel consumption and providing more sustainable alternatives to the aerospace sector. Collins has already done the work and proven its own business case for additive. Now it’s up to the industry to take the leap too.

“The aerospace industry is a pretty risk averse industry,” Begley said. “Many of our customers have invested a lot of money certifying aircraft and certifying engines. So, getting the buy in to change and go to a new technology takes a little bit more time and a little bit more thorough testing.

“But other than that, there's just so many advantages that that we bring in. That's why we're continuing to pursue it.”

SHOWN: Bigger build volumes led Collins Aerospace’s latest AM investment

A (SMALL) BUSINESS CASE FOR AM

Historically, small additive manufacturing (AM) businesses have encountered economic constraints, limited resources, and a need for more knowledge of market demand. Nevertheless, research and development (R&D) efforts coupled with increased federal advanced technological investments are opening new lanes. JuggerBot 3D, an industrial 3D printer original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Youngstown, Ohio, exemplifies how these small-to-medium-size enterprises (SMEs) can successfully leverage these new opportunities.

Founded by Zach DiVincenzo and Dan Fernback, JuggerBot 3D’s signature Tradesman Series P3-44 harnesses the 3D printing technique of pellet material extrusion.

Pellet extrusion technology is a costeffective and efficient method for creating high-performance manufactured parts in low quantities, enabling the use of highperformance polymers typically unavailable in traditional filament-based 3D printing. With greater control over mechanical properties, this technology produces larger parts with higher strength, durability, and accuracy.

"We've found success in aerospace, defense, automotive, ship-making, and energy—there are a lot of characteristics that come into play when pellet is necessary or is the most feasible option. It can help a customer meet a deadline or lead time," says Benjamin Toomey, marketing manager at JuggerBot 3D.

Recently, the ten-year-old company hit a milestone when it was awarded 4 million USD by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop a hybrid, large-scale AM system that incorporates two-part resin and pellet-fed material extrusion technologies. The goal of the system is to enable the processing of both advanced thermoset polymers and performancegrade thermoplastic materials. The project is being funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Manufacturing Technology

(OSD(R&E)). The award sets the stage for the advancement of thermosets and thermoplastic material composites—while serving as an industry-wide demand signal for AM SME gains.

"As a small company, we work on projects driven by customers' needs. However, when those projects are complete, they often sit idle if we cannot justify further economic investment. Through the support of the Air Force, we have two years and significant funding, enabling us into the next mezzanine of innovation,” says Fernback.

JuggerBot 3D's challenges mirror the broader accessibility issues facing AM SMEs, which often lack the economic support for technological exploration to advance AM. While navigating capacity challenges, these small-to-medium AM enterprises are swimming in murky waters of technological limitations, making this project's success even more monumental for widening the scope of AM applications.

"The limited number of materials, the technology's scalability, and the cost remain among the biggest barriers to adoption. Suppose you carry that over to the thermoset side, the other part of that project. In that case, a full family of materials widely used in conventional manufacturing is not available in 3D printing. This project gives us the bandwidth to take on the next phase of performance materials there," notes Fernback.

For SMEs looking to ground themselves in their respective sectors, JuggerBot 3D's strategic approach has proven successful.

"We focused on areas of actual growth by choice and necessity, and I think we've done a good job of maintaining a focus," says Fernback. “Now we know the lanes to play in, which comes down to customer segment and application."

Through collaboration with a consortium of academics, local government, and like-minded institutions, the company has benefited from access to an established network, enabling strategic partnerships, such as its work with BDI Additive and DSM Additive Manufacturing to create custom endof-arm tools for robotics high-quality materials.

AM’s steady evolution is paving the way for smaller businesses to revive U.S. manufacturing. As industry-wide developments broaden accessibility and reliability, small businesses like JuggerBot 3D are positioned to take the helm to drive innovation forward.

"We consistently take incremental steps towards our goal of printing big, functional parts. Processing materials effectively is key to achieving this goal. As we progress, other end-users are becoming more aware of the real opportunities," says Fernback.

SHOWN: JuggerBot 3D pellet extrusion process

JUNE 25-27, 2024 Los Angeles Convention Center

Meet the leaders harnessing cutting-edge applications of additive manufacturing. Hear these visionaries reaffirm the possibilities of technology, explore inventive opportunities, and discuss key trends shaping the future of industrial 3D printing.

JUNE 25

Driving Innovation: BMW Group’s AM Strategy and Vision

Maximilian Meixlsperger Head of Production, Additive Manufacturing Campus

JUNE 26

The Story Behind COBRA GOLF’s AM-enabled Golf Clubs

Ryan Roach Director of Innovation

JUNE 27

The New Space Race: How Relativity Space is Revolutionizing Rocketry with AM

Joshua Brost Chief Revenue Officer