“For users, by users” runs the slogan of the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG). Ahead of the group’s annual meeting, this year taking place from March 31-April 4, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois, 3D Printing Industry asked several of the keynote speakers (who are also AM users) about their expectations, insights and reasons for attending AMUG 2019.
Winning with Additive Manufacturing
Brad Keselowski has nearly 15 years experience competing in NASCAR racing. He currently races for Team Penske, driving a Ford Mustang engineered to win with additive manufacturing. Having seen the on track advantages of AM, Keselowski founded Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM) a hybrid manufacturing company using state-of-art CNC and AM equipment to deliver custom solutions to industries including automotive, aerospace, defense and energy.
Keselowski will be attending AMUG for the first time and told 3D Printing Industry, “I am excited to meet the key people in the industry who have advanced the industry to the point where it is today. I am excited about forming new relationships that will not only drive KAM into the future, but also how we can advance the industry as a whole.”
Keynote Speech from Brad Keselowski
Todd Grimm will be giving Monday’s keynote, “Additive Manufacturing: Making your own reality”. While Tuesday’s keynote comes from Brad Keselowski and is entitled, “Winning the Manufacturing Race”. Keselowski says, “Additive Manufacturing is in its infancy. A good comparison would the late 1800’s when rail lines were being laid, oil was first being processed, and electric power stations were constructed. Like these examples, additive manufacturing will unleash many opportunities that have yet to be conceived. However, for major industries such as aerospace and medical, we have just begun to scratch the surface. In the coming years and decades to come, “additive manufacturing” will simply be “manufacturing” as the processes matures, the industry matures. As that happens, the growth in this market will be exponential.”
KAM is on a mission to “spearhead a modern-day industrial revolution”, I asked Keselowski how additive manufacturing helps with this goal. “The First Industrial revolution was the taming of steam in order to capture its potential to perform work. The second revolution was in the utilization of steel, oil, and electricity. And the third revolution saw the advent of nuclear power and compact electronic devices,” he says. “We are in the midst of the fourth revolution where genetic medicine will revolutionize healthcare; artificial intelligence will speed development and decisions across all of society; and new innovations in manufacturing will equally spur advancements across society in the things we buy, vehicles we travel in, and any aspect of our lives which involves a manufactured good. I fully believe we are laying the foundation at KAM as we speak to be at the forefront of all these areas.”
For Keselowski, “Additive Manufacturing is all about unleashing the potential of the design engineers and building parts and assemblies that are optimized for cost, weight, efficiencies, and any property that the customer demands. Previously, engineers were limited by the ability of machine tools and casting technologies as to how complex a part could be in order to be practically manufactured. With additive, although design freedoms are not infinite, these freedoms are significantly greater than traditions means of manufacturing.”
