Posts in Articles
The Additive Manufacturing Process: An Expectation of Consistency

Let’s step back and take a brief journey through the history of AM to set the stage for how and why consistency is so important. The roots of AM are in what was then called “rapid prototyping.” The term prototyping implied one-off and not “real” production. Early AM technologies sufficed for supporting prototyping; users could live with scrapping two builds for every successful one.

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel
Will Government Aid Really Boost US Additive Manufacturing?

The Biden Administration's new package of aid for the nation's manufacturing SMEs called Additive Manufacturing Forward aims to promote innovation and adoption of additive manufacturing (3D printing) to solve a whole host of current problems – from blocked supply chains to off-shored manufacturing jobs to simply losing out to other nations when it comes to innovations in manufacturing. Americans are feeling the effects of the small manufacturers’ failure to modernize in the form of higher prices on goods, Biden said at the launch of the program on May 6 in Ohio.

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel
TBGA Expands Capabilities in Advanced Manufacturing Qualification

The Barnes Global Advisors (TBGA) is ushering in summer 2022 by welcoming Arun Ramachandran to the ADDvisor® Services team. Arun joins from Collins Aerospace where he was the Additive Manufacturing (AM) Leader of the Advanced Structures business. He brings a 15+ year career in strategy and technical program management spanning new product development, advanced manufacturing, translating global market trends to product strategy and technology roadmaps, and implementing business process transformations using advanced data analytics.

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Voices Amplified: Jennifer Coyne Leverages Career in Rail Sector To Industrialize Additive

The AM industry as a whole suffers from a lack of material data and established manufacturing criteria, leaving question marks about what these technologies produce or are capable of producing. In addition, the technology is quite complex, with numerous variables and process parameters that can affect the product outcome—something Coyne refers to as “turning the knobs.”

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The Barnes Global Advisors Launch TBGA Media for Advanced Manufacturing Customers

TBGA announces the expansion of its communications offerings for customers, officially launching this week as TBGA Media. This expanded offering helps customers solidify messaging and grow their presence in the ever evolving additive and advanced manufacturing marketplace; TBGA leverages 150+ years of additive manufacturing (AM) experience and relationships to maximize the impact of customers’ media investment.

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AMS Speaker Spotlight: Defining the Future is Hard Work

At the beginning of every year, we all look forward to the future and what it will hold for our industry. It is difficult to predict the future and define it with precision. As I prepare for the panel, my thoughts swirl around many topics ranging from qualification, all the way back to awareness of AM. Sometimes our AM industry faces too little or too much definition.

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel
Building Trust in 3D Printing

During my 17-year career in manufacturing, I’ve experienced many technology adoption journeys, giving me a front row seat to the good, the bad, and the ugly. Each of them came with their own interesting technical and business lessons, but they all had one common denominator: People. I am often asked, “Why is Additive Manufacturing (AM) not being adopted faster?”

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel
Order of Operations in Metal Additive Manufacturing

Like many manufactured products, multiple processes and inspections are required to make Metal Additive Manufactured (MAM) parts. Not only are these different operations necessary for the part to have the desired geometry and properties, but the order in which the different operations are performed are equally important.

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel
How an MES Can Help Power AM Qualification

“Knowledge is power,” the infamous quote attributed to Sir Francis Bacon comes to mind when reflecting on Industry 4.0 and the promise of more knowledge and insights. However, while Additive Manufacturing (AM) is creating piles and piles of data, how much insight and actionable knowledge is actually available?

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ArticlesAllie Kunkel