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Metal AM company ranks in UK export league
Metal Powder Report Volume 72, Number 3 May/June 2017
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
US manufacturing institutes, LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow) and America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, have begun an initiative with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CSTCC) in the US to develop an opensource curriculum covering lightweight additive manufacturing. As the use of lightweight additive manufacturing continues to grow across the country, the skills gap in the workforce is growing at the same time, because the technology advancement has outpaced available curriculum and workforce education or those teaching tools have been available only to graduate-level students, according to the institutes.
‘Additive manufacturing is growing at an exponential rate across the manufacturing industry, so fast that the education and training tools cannot keep pace,’ said Elliot Ruther, chief development officer, CSTCC. ‘By developing this curriculum, we’ll put some of the most advanced lightweight additive manufacturing technology into the hands of more students.’
Production flexibility This new technology, particularly with lightweighting applications, requires the use of highly complex geometry and algorithms which provide the high strength-toweight ratios required by industry, while using the production flexibility provided by additive manufacturing.
As part of this initiative, CSTCC and its new Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will develop curriculum in two tracks: Using additive manufacturing equipment and techniques to produce precision objects across a wider field Using an array of digital tools to allow students to become additive manufacturing designers, molders and simulators. ‘The use of additive manufacturing is exploding across industries due to its flexibility and availability of equipment,’ said Leanne Gluck, deputy director, workforce and educational outreach, America Makes. ‘To ensure additive can be used to its utmost potential and by a skilled workforce, we must invest in education and curriculum to support it.’ America Makes; www.americamakes.us
Metal AM company ranks in UK export league LPW Technology Ltd, which supplies metal powders for additive manufacturing (AM) has been named in the Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100 for the first time. The league table ranks the UK’s small and medium-sized (SME) companies with the fastest-growing international sales, and LPW has entered at number 29, making it the top-performing organisation in the North West of England, the company said.
In 2015, exports accounted for almost 75% of LPW’s sales. It has established a US subsidiary to meet the growing demand from the North and South American AM markets, has sales offices in Germany and Italy, and a global network of resellers in China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore and Turkey. ‘We understand that to achieve the challenging growth rate we have set ourselves, we have to both innovate, and look to the
global market place,’ said Dr Phil Carroll, founder and CEO of LPW. ‘We recognised early that there is a world-wide demand for the premium quality, traceable metal powders we supply. [. . .] ‘As we enter our tenth year, we’re continuing to scale up our operations.’ The company is building a purpose-built £20 million facility in Widnes, and expects to recruit to up to 120 positions by mid-2019. LPW; www.lpwtechnology.com
Oerlikon expands 3D printing capacity Surface materials specialist and powder producer Oerlikon plans to expand its global additive manufacturing (AM) business with a R&D and production facility for AM advanced components in North Carolina, USA. This move is part of the company’s strategy to identify additional growth areas such as AM, where it expects
demand to increase rapidly in the coming years. Oerlikon will invest around CHF55million in this facility in 2017 and 2018, and expects to create over 100 new jobs at this site over the longer term. The new facility will offer US industrial customers a single source for a full suite of services for end-
to-end advanced component manufacturing, including R&D, design, applications engineering and series production to post processing. While the site will be fully operational in 2018, Oerlikon will already begin its AM business activities from the beginning of 2017 at an interim facility. Oerlikon; www.oerlikon.com
Carpenter Technology to acquire AM specialist Hardmetal specialist Carpenter Technology is to buy substantially all of the assets and business of Puris LLC, a producer of titanium powder for additive manufacturing
(AM) and advanced technology applications, for U$35 million. The assets and business to be acquired include Puris’ titanium powder operations
and business, AM assets, patents and related intellectual property. ‘This acquisition will provide Carpenter with immediate entry into the 211
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
New training for lightweight AM
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
US manufacturing institutes, LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow) and America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, have begun an initiative with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CSTCC) in the US to develop an opensource curriculum covering lightweight additive manufacturing. As the use of lightweight additive manufacturing continues to grow across the country, the skills gap in the workforce is growing at the same time, because the technology advancement has outpaced available curriculum and workforce education or those teaching tools have been available only to graduate-level students, according to the institutes.
‘Additive manufacturing is growing at an exponential rate across the manufacturing industry, so fast that the education and training tools cannot keep pace,’ said Elliot Ruther, chief development officer, CSTCC. ‘By developing this curriculum, we’ll put some of the most advanced lightweight additive manufacturing technology into the hands of more students.’
Production flexibility This new technology, particularly with lightweighting applications, requires the use of highly complex geometry and algorithms which provide the high strength-toweight ratios required by industry, while using the production flexibility provided by additive manufacturing.
As part of this initiative, CSTCC and its new Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will develop curriculum in two tracks: Using additive manufacturing equipment and techniques to produce precision objects across a wider field Using an array of digital tools to allow students to become additive manufacturing designers, molders and simulators. ‘The use of additive manufacturing is exploding across industries due to its flexibility and availability of equipment,’ said Leanne Gluck, deputy director, workforce and educational outreach, America Makes. ‘To ensure additive can be used to its utmost potential and by a skilled workforce, we must invest in education and curriculum to support it.’ America Makes; www.americamakes.us
Metal AM company ranks in UK export league LPW Technology Ltd, which supplies metal powders for additive manufacturing (AM) has been named in the Sunday Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100 for the first time. The league table ranks the UK’s small and medium-sized (SME) companies with the fastest-growing international sales, and LPW has entered at number 29, making it the top-performing organisation in the North West of England, the company said.
In 2015, exports accounted for almost 75% of LPW’s sales. It has established a US subsidiary to meet the growing demand from the North and South American AM markets, has sales offices in Germany and Italy, and a global network of resellers in China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore and Turkey. ‘We understand that to achieve the challenging growth rate we have set ourselves, we have to both innovate, and look to the
global market place,’ said Dr Phil Carroll, founder and CEO of LPW. ‘We recognised early that there is a world-wide demand for the premium quality, traceable metal powders we supply. [. . .] ‘As we enter our tenth year, we’re continuing to scale up our operations.’ The company is building a purpose-built £20 million facility in Widnes, and expects to recruit to up to 120 positions by mid-2019. LPW; www.lpwtechnology.com
Oerlikon expands 3D printing capacity Surface materials specialist and powder producer Oerlikon plans to expand its global additive manufacturing (AM) business with a R&D and production facility for AM advanced components in North Carolina, USA. This move is part of the company’s strategy to identify additional growth areas such as AM, where it expects
demand to increase rapidly in the coming years. Oerlikon will invest around CHF55million in this facility in 2017 and 2018, and expects to create over 100 new jobs at this site over the longer term. The new facility will offer US industrial customers a single source for a full suite of services for end-
to-end advanced component manufacturing, including R&D, design, applications engineering and series production to post processing. While the site will be fully operational in 2018, Oerlikon will already begin its AM business activities from the beginning of 2017 at an interim facility. Oerlikon; www.oerlikon.com
Carpenter Technology to acquire AM specialist Hardmetal specialist Carpenter Technology is to buy substantially all of the assets and business of Puris LLC, a producer of titanium powder for additive manufacturing
(AM) and advanced technology applications, for U$35 million. The assets and business to be acquired include Puris’ titanium powder operations
and business, AM assets, patents and related intellectual property. ‘This acquisition will provide Carpenter with immediate entry into the 211
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
New training for lightweight AM