With examples ranging from jet engine parts to prosthetic limbs to entire cars, the additive manufacturing / 3D printing industry has definitely established a firm footing in Industry 4.0 and this is very visible at the Messe this year. Additive manufacturing gives manufacturers a new level of design freedom and flexibility to iterate and rapidly create products. The explosive growth in this area means many new possibilities for enabling industry as well as creative solutions that improve lives worldwide; but as with any rapidly developing technology it also presents questions related to safety, quality and knowledge gaps.
Aware of this need, UL is here to help with a broad range of services for the additive manufacturing industry, including training, equipment & facility safety, material & process management and part conformity advisory.
Simin Zhou, VP of Digital Manufacturing Technologies for UL, said “Additive Manufacturing / 3D Printing is a major focus at this year’s Hannover Messe. It’s clear that the Industry is aggressively pushing towards producing finished parts. We also saw significant developments by software vendors to provide solutions for design-to-print, complex structure modeling and process simulation. As a business, it was good to see the developments at Hannover Messe and to be able to talk to customers. We believe verification and certification of 3D printed materials, processes and parts will be critical as Additive Manufacturing adoption grows for finished parts.”