Additive Report Advisor: The truth about 3D printing in metal fabrication

Our new video series Additive Report Advisor with host Todd Grimm will provide real, honest insights about the advantages and disadvantages that additive manufacturing and other 3D-printing technologies present to metal fabrication shops. Getty Images; Larry Meyer, FMA

I am pleased to announce that I’m collaborating with FMA to produce a video webcast series targeting fabrication shops, machine shops, and other job shops that focus on the questions, concerns, opportunities, and challenges related to additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing.

The series is called the Additive Report Advisor. And, if I do my job well, I will be the host of each episode. For many years I have had empathy for small and midsized manufacturing businesses when it comes to additive manufacturing, and FMA concurs. Lacking deep resource pools, how can these shops digest all the activity and discern fact from fiction among big, bold claims that are often loaded with hype?

Aggravating this scenario is the tendency for information to come from the successes of large enterprises, companies with deep pockets and large resource pools. Sure, like job shops, they make parts (or have them made for them), but fundamentally they are different.

So, how can the reporting of the success strategies of a Fortune 500 company be inherently beneficial and directly applicable to smaller shops?

The fundamental assumption on which the Additive Report Advisor is crafted is that this informational environment creates confusion and overwhelms. So, our intent is to cut through uncertainty by providing real, honest insights honed from the firsthand experiences of job shops— their trials, tribulations, successes, and failures using 3D-printing technology.

Those who join the webcasts will hear their insights and the take-aways from their experiences. While there will be plenty of guiding information, there won’t be definitive opinions on what each viewer should do. Your company is unique, so the conversations will present information from which you can build your own plans for AM success.

The information stream in each episode will not assume that AM adoption is the right thing for all to do. Rather, the discussions will dig into the advantages and disadvantages, allowing you to make the choice.

For those that have or will pursue AM, our guests will share their thoughts on the full spectrum: technologies to adopt, processes to follow, and people to hire, coupled with best practices, challenges, and opportunities.

And where possible, we will also talk about the present and future in terms of how it will influence the use of the tried-and-true, traditional manufacturing processes. Will AM displace or augment? That is a question our guests will share their opinions on.

As the host of Additive Report Advisor, I will facilitate unscripted, nonpromotional conversations with people who have job shop-oriented insights. I will leverage my 30 years of experience in the additive manufacturing industry to keep the discussions real and to prod for deeper intel on the topic.

Mark Abshire

Previewing Episode No. 1 of the Additive Report Advisor

Our first episode, which is available here, features Mark Abshire, a man who I have often turned to for straight answers.

Why Mark for the first episode? He has the pedigree: a career with more than 30 years in AM plus hands-on work as a machinist and toolmaker. For the past 20 years, Mark has served as an application engineer for various companies (currently Computer Aided Technology in Buffalo Grove, Ill.), which means that he has worked to develop new applications and has taught others how to use AM.

In the early days, Mark ran lathes, mills, EDMs, and more. Currently he teaches mill and lathe classes at a maker space in St. Louis. In his Additive Report Advisor episode, we pull from Mark’s additive/subtractive work and leverage his work ethic of providing real, sound solutions that address issues and opportunities.

Please join me for this and future episodes if you want to “connect the dots” to make sense of additive manufacturing in a job shop environment.

Graphic by Larry Meyer, FMA