DfAM Represent! Rapid 2022
Over the years, Rapid, AMUG and Formnext have been the major conferences to convene and learn about the latest offering in additive manufacturing. With booth stands historically being mainly hardware companies (160), materials suppliers (121), a few service bureaus (114), and even fewer software companies(49).
Note, the numbers above are for Rapid 2022 and are self reported based on the search filter for exhibitors. Things get messy pretty fast with some hardware companies in the software section because they ‘have software’ and many hardware and materials companies provide ‘services’ but you get the idea.
This year there are also 24 exhibitors that ticked the DfAM box when they registered and again there are a few that may be a little less ‘design’ than others but it is indicative of either interest or how they would like to be perceived.
Rapid Conference Program
The conference program things get a little more messy as many of the presentations sway more towards end users of the technology where the division between design, materials, machines, qualification and business case get way more intertwined, as they should in the real world applications.
That said, there is definitely more of a machine, material + process (MMP) focus at many of the sessions than those focusing on design for additive manufacturing (DfAM), and the software(s) required that really enable to extract value from the MMP and that is OK, it is important for all aspects to be advanced simultaneously.
Following is a list of some of the sessions that look like they may have a little more DfAM than others that might be worth checking out. I am pleasantly surprised there are this many that seem to actually include a focus on design.
Here they are possibly in chronological order.
Additively Manufactured Topology-Optimized Reflective Optics
Disrupting Design and Manufacturing in Aerospace and Defense
Innovative Heat Exchangers NATHENA
Utilizing Additive Manufacturing in the Automotive Design Studio
Redesigning Micromobility With KUHMUTE and the Formlabs Fuse 1
Additive Manufacturing – How to Build a Business Case
Digital Foam: The Sports Equipment Revolution
Design Strategies for Architected Materials
DfAM vs. Business Model Innovation — Which Unlocks More 3D Printing Applications?
Lazy Local Evaluation of Giga Lattices for Interactive Design and Visualization
Panel - Pushing the Limits of Additive Manufacturing Through Design
Future-Proof Your Business & Career With 3MF
Addressing Data Challenges in the Digital Thread through Standardization
The last two I will be participating in and although they may sound and get technical, we will show examples of how multi-objective design requirements beyond just geometry can be communicated using the 3MF format as per a previous article.
Also, come see me after the panel discussion in the SME zone theater for free stickers!
