Page 26 - 3D Metal Printing Spring 2017

3D FEATURE
A Metal-AM Industry Expert
Peers
Toward
the Future
The digitization of manufacturing; use of automation
to drive enhancements to quality and machine utilization; and education initiatives all are coming together to help move 3D metal printing out of the R&D lab and into mainstream manufacturing.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
EOS director of global application and consulting Gungor Kara takes a deep dive into the trends driving metal additive manufacturing forward. “There is a jetstream driving all of manufacturing forward at an accelerating pace, based on the growing use of sensors, machine-to- machine communication and data analytics. We see it everywhere and it’s pulling in additive manufacturing.”
The overriding trend among users of 3D metal-printing technology, particularly those in regulated industries such as medical and aerospace: use of “smart-manufacturing” technology based on sensors, data analytics and soft- ware applications to manage process flow, track and optimize product quality, and minimize machine downtime to optimize OEE. So notes EOS director of global appli- cation and consulting Gungor Kara, in an interview with 3D Metal Printing. In his look ahead at 2017, Kara takes a deep dive into the trends driving metal additive manufacturing (AM) forward.
Kara has spent the last 30 months lead- ing the EOS global application teams, work- ing with engineers as they help customers ramp up their development cycles, includ- ing selection of parts and redesigning them for AM, and process qualification.
3DMP—How does the digitization of
manufacturing and Industry 4.0 initiatives impact the metal-AM market?
Kara—There is a jetstream driving all of manufacturing forward at an acceler- ating pace, based on the growing use of sensors, machine-to-machine communi- cation and data analytics. We see it every- where and it’s pulling in AM. While this technology utilizes connected hardware devices, it’s the software applications that really dominate the landscape. Companies with several 3D metal printers, for exam- ple, can monitor their use and develop sophisticated ROI models based on the data they can pull from the machines. Further, customers can upload their part designs, and receive immediate cost quotes based on embedded cost models.
These applications are bringing trans- parency to the AM industry—I call this “agile transparency,” where we’re not looking back at what has occurred in the past, but
24 | 3D METAL PRINTING • SPRING 2017
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