At Magnitude, we want to do our part to help the additive community through a Masterclass initiative free for everyone to learn from, and contribute to, based on our industry experience with no fluff.
In each class, we’ll be covering hot industry topics regarding critical aspects for AM manufacturers. The latest course will provide insights into:
- Production Efficiency
- Continuous Improvement
- Cost savings
Coming up
Magnitude Masterclass is taking a break!
We will be back in a couple of months with many other interesting topics, productivity hacks for AM manufacturers, and special guests.
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Past events
1.4 Productivity challenges of multi-laser systems
June 24, 2020
In this class we discussed:
- Quality: Different lens configurations, laser overlap, and process pollution
- Qualification: difficult alloys to bring to market with large and multi-laser systems
- Economics: Risk of overlap zones, scrapped builds, setup times and capital investment
- Key takeaways from Stuart’s experience
Special guest:
Stuart Jackson
Business Development & Key Account Manager at Renishaw
- Stuart joined Renishaw in 2016 as Business Development Manager for Additive Manufacturing. Based in the UK Headquarters and primarily responsible for Key Account Management. After starting a 5-year engineering apprenticeship in the 1970’s his first industrial role was to introduce CNC Machines into the company’s Aerospace division producing critical parts for the Westland SeaKing helicopter. In 1994 he introduced a LOM RP Machine into the UK developed by KIRA, Japan. Between 2002 & 2016 Stuart ran the UK subsidiary of EOS GmbH, Germany. Having been heavily involved in the release of 2 Quad laser systems (EOS & Renishaw) he has real world experience of how this configuration compares to single and dual laser machines.
Lesson Q&A
- Can a multi-laser be profitable even though you do not precisely know in advance your production plan for the next two-three years?
- How do you mitigate process parameter scale-up, productivity and part quality?
- Strategies to coordinate multiple laser tracks?
- What areas of applications do you see being profitable with specific systems?
- How do we transfer process parameters between single and multi laser systems?
1.3 Finding a profitable niche in metal AM
June 3, 2020
In this class we discussed:
- Additive project phase breakdown and analysis
- VSM as a strategic tool
- Analysis of two builds
- Vertical niche in AM
- Key takeaways from Charles’s experience
Special guest:
Charles de Forges
Co-founder and CEO at Spartacus 3D
- Charles has 20 years of experience in several industries; he has been the managing director of a family-owned company in the glass packaging industry before founding Spartacus3D in 2014. Spartacus3D is focused on metal additive manufacturing and one of the main French players, operating in several industrial fields. Founding and developing Spartacus3D has been quite a journey and finding profitable businesses is still a challenge. Spartacus3D has developed key skills on some applications such as heat exchangers, hydraulic manifolds and turbine wheels, typical parts for which additive manufacturing can bring significant performance improvement.
Lesson Q&A
- How can we approach scalability in AM?
- Is it more efficient to let customers come to you with ideas or prospect them to introduce them to the technology?
- Do AI tools that scan a company part database to find suitable applications in AM work?
- How fragmented is the AM space and what impact does this have on how we analyze profitability?
- Do we invest in redesigning and approving an existing part in AM?
- While 3D printing steel parts do you mix parts with similar chemical combinations to reduce the build hours?
1.2 Continuous improvement in AM for highly regulated industries
May 20, 2020
In this class we discussed:
- Introduction to Continuous Improvement in AM
- Modifications to Kanban in Metal AM Value Stream Mapping
- How to do Kanban in Metal AM
- Focus of corrective actions
- Key takeaways from Gianluca’s experience
Special guest:
Gianluca Pagani
Production Manager at GF Precicast Additive
- Gianluca has 10 years of manufacturing experience as a project manager in Investment Casting with a focus on large structural components for aero engines. He was promoted to the position of GF Precicast Additive Production Manager in 2017 and led internal efforts to become the 1st company in southern Europe to achieve NADCAP accreditation for metal LPBF processes. Gianluca’s expertise in AM takes into consideration post-processing to drive the complete value chain of additive and casting components in a fully certified environment.
Lesson Q&A
- How do you ensure process repeatability for an application across multiple machines with an FMEA?
- How do you troubleshoot the process when the machine is a “black box?”
- Is it possible to implement an MES without VSM?
- What role does the manufacturer and tool builder play in the Kanban process?
- What CI tool is the most effective for performance improvement?
1.1 Conducting a remote production review meeting
May 6, 2020
In this class we discussed:
- Cost-Per-Part in metal Additive Manufacturing
- Meetings structure and participants
- Topics of on- and off-line discussion
- Focus of corrective actions
- Key takeaways from Matthew’s experience
Special guest:
Matthew Garrett
Former COO at Integrated3D Manufacturing
- With over 25 years of manufacturing and machine maintenance experience in various industries, Matthew first encountered Additive Manufacturing through his work in engineering design and prototyping. Since then, he was recruited as VP Operations for Rapidmade, a start-up company in the AM industry. Most recently Matthew co-founded Integrated 3D, an Oregon-based 3D metal manufacturer specializing in aerospace/spacecraft and defense applications.
Lesson Q&A
- How can we handle remote work with a paper trail that is not digital?
- What are the major KPIs that we need to focus on every week for our production?
- How should we prioritize work in production when we are understaffed?
- What is an effective Org. structure when we are all working remotely?
- How do you prioritize customers in the pipeline (based on number of project offered, price value…)?