Agoria wants to give an impulse to additive manufacturing, to make more Belgian technology companies aware of the opportunities that lie here. Adoption needs to go up. A step in this is the Additive Manufacturing Event at the end of April. The winners of the Agoria Design & Engineering Student Challenge will also be announced at that time. Student teams from five universities have solved real problems in Belgian companies with additive manufacturing.
3D printing, one of the digital production techniques, can be a solution to many problems in the industry. Broken supply chains, lack of professionals, high transport costs, impact on the environment and so on. Additive manufacturing can make the manufacturing industry more flexible, more resilient and less dependent on labour-intensive processes. However, many manufacturing companies struggle with the questions: how to get started? What to invest in? And with whom to collaborate?
Industrial companies share their AM experiences
The Additive Manufacturing Event of Agoria aims to answer these kinds of questions, among other things. The meeting is specifically aimed at professionals from the technology and manufacturing industry, such as C-level, Operations, Productions, Supply Chain and Sustainability managers and others. After an introduction by Kevin Verbelen, Expert International Trade at Agoria, regarding the promise of AM, companies such as CNHI, Signify, Thales Alenia Space and Safran Aero Boosters share their experiences. They each outline the steps they have taken to get started industrially with additive manufacturing. In addition, some time ago they presented students from five Belgian universities with a real problem, asking them to come up with a solution by using additive manufacturing. During the AM event, the students will present their solutions. Each team must provide a concept and a tangible, working prototype, including answers to questions such as which AM technology to use? Which material? Which finish?
What challenges did the students face?
For example, for CNHI they had to develop an internal maintenance tool, which is no longer available. Another assignment at the manufacturer of agricultural equipment is the 3D printing of spare parts. Aerospace supplier Safran Aero Boosters asked the students to optimize a test vane and to do a topology optimization of an actuator to save weight. Signify sent the students out to redesign a part of a 3D printer so that it is more accurate. Thales is concerned with both an interface that protects electronics in space once morest dust and heat and a flexible array for mounting PV cells. During the meeting, the student teams will present their results and the winners will be announced.
The event is framed by a mini-market, where several Belgian companies involved in additive manufacturing, either as a supplier or as a manufacturing company, present themselves. Agoria’s Additive Manufacturing Event will take place on April 27 at Technopolis in Brussels (from 12:10 pm – 5:50 pm). More information can be found here, including the link to register (required).
Photo: a heat exchanger, 3D printed by Melotte that participates in the mini market.
