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ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING


Challenges also exist in certification and optimization on the shop floor, but US firms have a competitive advantage, at least for now


Metal AM adoption racing ahead of capacity to provide qualified workforce


Ilene Wolff Contributing Editor


M 52


etal additive manufac- turing has been in use long enough for users to have figured out best practices related to safety and part in-


spection, but challenges remain in terms of workforce, controllers and automation, and plant and process certification. Ed Tackett, director of education pro-


grams at the UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Center at the University of Lou- isville (Louisville, KY), said the No. 1 problem holding back more widespread use of metal AM is having a workforce qualified to use it.


“At the rate of adoption in industry now,


we’ve outstripped the capacity to provide a qualified workforce,” Tackett said. Jim Fendrick, vice president, North America, at SLM Solutions (Novi, MI), said: “One of the first things I get asked when I visit a vendor is do you know of any good technicians?” The problem is widespread in manufac- turing in general, as millennials and others that will make up the future workforce view manufacturing as old school, something their parents and grandparents made a living at. Training a qualified workforce will likely require collaboration between industry and


An aerospace swirler made with an EOS metal AM machine.


Spring 2016


Photo courtesy of EOS North America


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