Brad Kuvin Brad Kuvin
Editorial Director

AMUG: Where AM's 'People Power' is on Display

April 19, 2021
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The “Trends in 3D Printing at Scale” report issued by Essentium late in 2020 reveals significant growth in the use of AM for production runs. Fifty-one percent of executives surveyed report that they are doing runs of thousands of 3D-printed parts.

Following up on its report, Essentium reached out to four industry experts for their 2021 outlooks. (For our part, this issue of 3D Metal Printing also includes an expert perspective on the coming year, from Daniel Lazier, a strategic application engineer with Markforged. Read his thoughts on three key ways in which we can expect AM to continue making an impact.

Among Essentium’s expert panel is industry analyst Terry Wohlers, Wohlers Associates, Inc., who cites as one of the biggest challenges ahead, “the time between design and bringing a product to market.”

So, while many companies continue to adopt AM for large-scale production, obstacles, remain in play. According to the Essentium survey these include lack of employee skills (28 percent) and insufficient expertise (24 percent).

That brings me to perhaps the single biggest AM-focused educational event in North America, where expertise and skills can continue to be honed: the annual AMUG Conference and its accompanying AMUGExpo. We offer up a detailed preview of the event, slated for early May in Orlando, FL. Among its highlights: two new pre-conference training and certification courses, designed to help fill the AM personnel pipeline. Because while manufacturers can invest mightily in equipment and technology, those investments will be wasted without the people power to make it function.

First up on the AMUG training and certification planner is an ASTM Certificate Course Quality Assurance for Additive Manufacturing, a two-day course providing guidance on what is key to control quality output and demonstrate compliance to requirements. Also new: an Additive Manufacturing Technician Review Program offered by Tooling U-SME.

As noted in a recent article from EdTech, by Doug Bonderud:

“As 3D printing becomes both more powerful and increasingly complex, one missing piece has emerged: Companies lack skilled staff capable of leveraging this solution on demand… Developing top-tier graduates for the manufacturing workforce demands training that focuseson function over form.”

Hope to see you in Orlando!

 

See also: Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG), Markforged, Essentium Materials LLC

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