November 5, 2024
Gerret Lukas and Moritz Kolter, ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing
Gerret Lukas is Managing Director at the Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM). Aside from his role at the ACAM, Lukas leads the Department for Corporate Development at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering WZL at RWTH Aachen University and is Head of Consulting at the Aachen Tooling Academy Aachen. His focus lies on consulting producing companies in strategic and organisational topics including digital and sustainability transformation and change management. He holds a master’s degree in engineering management with a major in material sciences and process engineering and a PhD in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
Moritz Kolter is a leading expert and Director Consulting at the Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing (ACAM). Starting his AM journey at BMW more than seven years ago, he contributed to both polymer and metal projects. Besides his role at ACAM, he is the chief engineer for digital product and production at the Chair for Digital Additive Production at RWTH Aachen. His work focuses on digital solutions for AM, e.g. to foster product innovation or reduce cost per part in AM production.
About ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing The ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing is the one-stop-shop for Additive Manufacturing, covering the entire process chain from the design to recirculation. As a dynamic community of AM makers, we bring together knowledge developers who shape the future of Additive Manufacturing as well as users who drive innovation with Additive Manufacturing tech. Our strong team of AM experts combines of professionals from research, industry, and other fields, focusing on topics such as process chain and design automation, the development of customized materials, increasing productivity and reducing turnaround times in Additive Manufacturing systems.
The system for aligning university research with industry is a bit different in Germany than in other parts of the world. Give us a quick explanation of how ACAM’s structure allows industry to support university research and those technological developments to flow through to industry.
The ACAM, a spin-off from RWTH Aachen University, is part of the RWTH Aachen Campus, which serves as a physical ecosystem designed to connect researchers with industry partners. The campus offers space and infrastructure that enable companies to directly engage with cutting-edge research through specialized centers like ACAM. This setup allows researchers to develop and test their ideas in collaboration with industry partners. Consequently, it fosters a dynamic push-and-pull relationship that drives both industry-oriented and science-based projects forward. This synergy ensures that technological advancements flow seamlessly from university research to practical industrial applications.
From your vantage point where research meets commercialization, do you see good alignment or a mismatch in where technological development resources are being focused? Are AM technology developers focusing on the right capabilities?
Our mission is to support research and development capabilities as a service. The close proximity to RWTH Aachen University, both physically and ideologically, allows us to explore new advancements from a perspective less influenced by financial KPIs. This enables us to focus on AM developments that align with evolving customer requirements, whereas established AM players might be constrained by their existing technology areas. It’s clear that the broad range of technical possibilities has resulted in an excess of AM technologies with limited alignment to customer needs or differentiation among sub-technologies. In my view, integrating AM into existing process chains and establishing standards, such as machine connectivity, is more crucial for increasing AM adoption than merely developing the AM systems themselves.
How well do you think technical capabilities of AM practices across the manufacturing and supply chain application are communicated to end-users as business benefits?
From our perspective, the communication of AM benefits is accurate at a technical level. However, for most established manufacturing companies, AM represents a significant transformation in product design, product management, manufacturing operations, and supply chain processes. The communication of AM benefits often overlooks the strategic context in which end-users operate. Decision-makers are faced with numerous opportunities arising from various trends, so AM must align with their vision for the company’s future to be compelling.
What does sustainability mean to you and how important is it to leverage this potential with additive design, manufacture, and strategy?
Rooted in the research conducted at RWTH Aachen University, sustainability means maintaining a business across multiple generations. Adapting to changes in the economy, ecosystems, climate, and society requires different measures, but it always involves transformation. I see numerous opportunities for AM in these transformation processes. AM can help mitigate the need for personnel skilled in traditional manufacturing, which may be less appealing to learn. It can also reduce supply chain risks by enabling economically viable smaller lot sizes, facilitating a distributed or local-for-local manufacturing approach. Most importantly, AM offers a new way to think about resource efficiency. The shift towards a circular economy, where design and manufacturing enable a circular product and production strategy, presents a significant potential for AM to provide solutions and become integral to various industries.
How do sustainability and resource efficiency factor into your discussions with industry partners? Where does sustainability fall on the list of objectives?
At ACAM, we have established two pillars of sustainable thinking: economic efficiency and ecological effectiveness of AM. In our working groups, which focus on Design & Applications, AM shopfloor Operations, and Technologies & Materials for Polymers and Metal, we have defined specific targets for both economic and ecological sustainability. These targets guide our community’s efforts to ensure that AM practices are not only financially viable but also environmentally responsible.
You work with a broad range of business sectors. Where are you seeing new, interesting interest in adopting additive design and manufacture?
I see a growing demand for repair and remanufacturing solutions, especially in heavy industries dealing with large and expensive parts. This trend is driven by the capabilities of additive technologies like Directed Energy Deposition (DED). In addition to the perennial applications of AM, such as heat exchangers and specialized small-lot parts, there is significant interest from the hydraulics and semiconductor industries. These sectors are keen to leverage additive designs to further enhance efficiency.
What most excites you about additive practices as they gain traction in the marketplace?
Many people might say that bigger machines are the future of AM, but I am excited about two other developments. First, the creation of machines tailored to specific application areas rather than being general-purpose or narrowly focused. More importantly, I am enthusiastic about design automation, which I believe will be a key driver for significant growth in the AM market. The industry is seeking scalable applications, and design automation tools not only reduce development efforts but also generate designs that fully exploit AM’s capabilities. Additionally, we will soon see how artificial intelligence will contribute to this area.
How important are organizations like ACAM and AMGTA to moving the set of AM technologies into the mainstream?
Sometimes industries need organizations that approach topics from multiple perspectives simultaneously. ACAM supports this need with a systematic and science-oriented approach, generating value by being agnostic and fact-based. We consider viewpoints of users, machine developers, AM service providers, and others equally. Meanwhile, AMGTA highlights the potential of AM for sustainable business. Both approaches differ from typical industry players, but they have a higher chance of increasing AM’s reach and acceptance. Organizations like ACAM and AMGTA bring the right people together, reduce uncertainty, and address essential R&D activities. This also has a cultural dimension, as the US and European markets can sometimes feel disconnected. There are many good ideas and solutions on both sides, but better integration into the mainstream of both markets is needed.
Where would you like to see ACAM in 5 years and what would you view as success?
In five years, I would like to see ACAM continue to hold the pole position as Europe’s most dynamic AM ecosystem. However, the true success criteria lie within our community. ACAM’s success is measured by how effectively our recent and upcoming work helps member companies drive their business sustainably. For example, if the smart hatching solutions we are currently developing become integrated into our community’s data preparation processes and we see new market applications emerging from that within five years, then we have done a good job.
As a company with close ties to university education, what is your view on the future work force in the AM industry?
We believe that university education needs to do more to teach changes in design methodology and improve the operations of AM shopfloors. While process knowledge is well-covered in mechanical engineering and materials science programs, the industry needs more high-profile generalists who can cover topics from design, processes, and materials to operations. Our goal is to provide research associates from our RWTH Aachen research partners with opportunities to experience real-world problems and gain these skills. These associates are highly capable of solving such issues and work with our community companies and other companies on consulting projects. After gaining this experience, they can grow to become experts and leaders in the AM industry. Additionally, we need more skilled workers, such as artisans and technicians, to run shopfloors and operate machines from pre- to post-processing.
Anything else you would like to share with the other AMGTA members and the broader manufacturing sector?
Like the industry, ACAM experienced the hype phase of AM, dominated by the excitement of this new technology. Now, in the consolidation phase, our focus remains on developing technologies to advance AM with focus on economic viability, but we must also bring along those outside the AM community who need time to catch up. Endurance and customer focus will be critical success factors in the coming years until professional education catches up.
The claims and views expressed in this Member Spotlight Interview are not necessarily those of the AMGTA, its staff, its Board of Directors, or member organizations. The AMGTA is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any information or claims provided as part of this Member Spotlight Interview and shall not be responsible for any decisions made based on such information.
