The current state of technology adoption in regards to additive manufacturing was discussed by a group of business and technology leaders at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands in October 2015. By Saswitha de Kok, senior consultant, and Corwin van Heteren, senior manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Lightweight metals manufacturer Alcoa has opened a 3D printing metal powder production facility at its Alcoa Technology Centre, a research centre for light metals. The New York City-headquartered company will produce titanium, nickel and aluminium powders for 3D printed aerospace parts. Alcoa has also invested in a range of technologies to further develop additive processes, product design and qualification.

According to a report by Research and Markets, the global metal additive manufacturing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24.47 percent during the period 2016 to 2020.

The additive manufacturing (AM) wave continues to prove unstoppable even with the less than ideal economic climate.

The simplification of fuel nozzles proposed by General Electric (GE) proves to be the centerpiece of aerospace forum.

CloudDDM, a company delivering direct digital manufacturing (DDM) services has appointed Gary Fudge, former director for the American branch of Irish Mcor Technologies, a manufacturer of full colour 3D printers, as their General Manager.

At Mcor, he was responsible for building a dealer network that went a long way in increasing sales by 700 percent. Prior to that, Fudge had worked at other 3D firms, including Geomagic, a 3D systems company in 2013, and prior to that, Z corporation, a 3D printer company that was eventually acquired by leading 3D printer manufacturer, 3D Systems Corporation, in 2012.

“I’ve been working with 3D printing for decades and have witnessed a lot of exciting developments in the field,” said Fudge. “But the technology has yet to realise its potential. The time for that is now. And at this moment, I couldn’t think of a better company to be with than CloudDDM.”

Delcam has introduced the R2 ArtCAM Pro, with improvements that includes creating structures for 3D Printing, easier designing with vectors, more design options with real-time updating and faster machine simulations.

Optomec signed a distribution agreement with Dragonfly to expand sales of its solutions into Italy.

The 3D printing innovations just keep on coming

SmarTech Markets Publishing, the leading industry analyst firm in additive manufacturing (AM) announced five predictions for AM’s metal printing segment in the coming year.