Page 4 - 3D Metal Printing magazine Fall 2022

3D EDITORIAL Economics Will Steer
the Path Forward
By Louis A. Kren
In 2016, the inaugural year of 3D Metal Printing, we were wrapping our heads around exactly where metal additive manufacturing (AM) fit into the manufacturing landscape. Seven years later, the fit seems to be more clear, and we’ve all learned a lot.
Attending Formnext, RAPID + TCT, AMUG, and other events and conferences year after year has painted an interesting portrait of the industry’s evolution. The mid-2010s delivered a huge wave of metal-AM machines from a host of players. Following, as machine providers took steps to boost productivity of these machines via additional lasers and other methods, print-monitor- ing and quality-control software blossomed. Today, materials development, and efforts to serial- ize production and develop digital manufacturing ecosystems, have assumed center stage. Where many back around 2016 sought to sell this technology as competing with established processes, today, metal AM makes its best case as complementary, as many industry profession- als have pointed out. In high-value, multiple-iteration and limited-run aerospace; patient-spe- cific medical; and tooling/fixturing; AM with metal can rule supreme. It also proves compelling as an alternative in casting and injection-molding applications given an acceptable volume range. For cladding and repair, look to the directed energy deposition segment of metal AM. And, the rise of binder jetting and similar technologies offer answers to higher-volume applications such as found in automotive.
3DMP has traveled the world to chronicle breathtaking advances—in a shockingly short amount of time—in part design; quality assurance; material development and availability; process monitor- ing and control; build volume; production-run volume; and digital, serialized manufacturing.
All of this said, here’s my biggest takeaway: Metal AM serves as a powerful tool in a multi- process arsenal, replacing other processes on occasion; freeing processes such as machining and their high-value equipment for other work; and freeing engineers to imagine components that per- form as required without the constraints so often encountered in traditional manufacturing.
The very first issue of 3DMP, Spring 2016, included a quote from “Information Rules,” authored by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, which details how economic lessons from our industrial past apply just as well today: “Ignore basic economic principles at your own risk. Technology changes. Economic laws do not.” Ultimately, the truth behind this quote will guide metal AM’s path for- ward. Time will tell exactly how this technology will fit and prosper in the manufacturing world.
No matter the destination, this has been quite the journey, for the industry and for us. We will continue to cover this technology in our sister publication MetalForming, and continue to report on its role as an integral part of the digital manufacturing landscape.
© 2022 by PMA Services Inc. 6363 Oak Tree Blvd. Independence, OH 44131 216/901-8800 • www.3DMPmag.com
PMA President
David C. Klotz
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Vice President of Sales/Publisher
Michael C. Vohland
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Editorial Director
Brad F. Kuvin
bkuvin@3DMPmag.com
Senior Editor
Louis A. Kren
lkren@3DMPmag.com
Editorial Manager
Marlene F. O’Brien
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An official publication of
With this final issue of 3D Metal Printing, I speak for our editorial director Brad Kuvin, and the entire staff, in writing that we’ve enjoyed the journey immensely, and hope that we’ve helped add to the ever-expanding knowledge base surrounding AM and its extraordinary capabilities and potential.
Thank you for reading 3DMP.
Senior Editor lkren@3DMPmag.com
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Mark Barfoot, Director of AM Programs, EWI
Michael Celardo, VP, Business Development and Engineering, Cumberland Additive
Todd Grimm, founder and president of T. A. Grimm & Associates, Inc.
Sherry Handel, Executive Director, Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association
Cullen Hilkene,
CEO, 3Diligent
Lindsay Lewis,
Marketing Manager, Sintavia
Tim Simpson, Paul Morrow
Professor of Engineering Design and Manufacturing, Penn State University
Shannon VanDeren, president, Layered Manufacturing and Consulting
2 | 3D METAL PRINTING • FALL 2022 3DMPmag.com