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This year’s Rapid + TCT event celebrated 30 years of inspiring innovation through additive manufacturing at the trade show held in Chicago, IL at McCormick Place. During the event, the team shared unique advancements in additive manufacturing, demonstrating how we enable customer success in automotive and motorsports, semiconductor capital equipment, aerospace, medical device manufacturing, dental, bioprinting, and many more where expert consulting and tailored solutions for the most challenging applications are required. Check out the highlights:

RAPID + TCT 2021 Highlights

Impactful Achievements, Innovative Presentations, and New Levels of Industrial and Healthcare Applications

The 2021 Additive Manufacturing Community Awards, honored individuals, teams, and companies who created a significant impact in outstanding accomplishments in commercializing AM. We’re pleased to share that, Dr. David Leigh, 3D Systems’ Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing, was this year’s recipient of the SME AM Industry Achievement Award

Dr. David Leigh, 3D Systems’ Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing, 2021 SME AM Industry Achievement Award Winner

Dr. David Leigh, 3D Systems’ Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing, 2021 SME AM Industry Achievement Award Winner

Dr. David Leigh is recognized for his career-long contributions to the AM industry as he has been instrumental in pioneering standards and specifications on qualification of AM, building successful culture and systems at printing service houses and founding companies that broadened the market and audience for AM technology. This prestigious award was received in 2014 by Chuck Hull, 3D Systems’ co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Regenerative Medicine, and in 2012 by Dr. Brent Stucker 3D Systems’ Chief Scientist.

Check out SME’s AM Community Conversation with Dr. David Leigh, CTO for AM and 3D Systems.
  • Bridging the Biomaterial & Bioprinting Gaps Facing the Industry

    Jared Matthews of Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), moderated the panel discussion among industry leaders Brian J. Hawkins PhD from Pluristyx Inc., Henry Kim from Dimension Inx, and Adam Feinberg PhD from FluidForm Inc.

    Jared Matthews of Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), moderated the panel discussion among industry leaders Brian J. Hawkins PhD from Pluristyx Inc., Henry Kim from Dimension Inx, and Adam Feinberg PhD from FluidForm Inc.

    3D Systems’ General Manager, Bioprinting, Taci Pereira, was a panelist among industry experts in the field during a fascinating industry partner presentation at the SME Zone Theater. Taci highlighted the benefits of the acquisition of Allevi by 3D Systems, addressing our broad spectrum of bioprinting applications and how we are accelerating growth into biomedical and pharmaceutical research labs.

  • Live Stream Chat with 3D Printing Nerd and Notable Panel Discussions

    3D Systems’ VP, Advanced Application Development, Patrick Dunne, CEO of ASTRO Test Lab, Humna Khan, Associate Director of Programs of The Barnes Global Advisors, Jennifer Coyne

    3D Systems’ VP, Advanced Application Development, Patrick Dunne, CEO of ASTRO Test Lab, Humna Khan, Associate Director of Programs of The Barnes Global Advisors, Jennifer Coyne

    Patrick Dunne, Vice President of Advanced Application Development, conducted a live stream chat with Joel Telling of 3D Printing Nerd, a channel devoted to the world of 3D printing. Watch as Patrick talks through our latest application innovations and the core capabilities that additive presents to those interested in engineering, designing, and creating.

Patrick also moderated a discussion on Design Workflow for AM: Lessons Learned from the Trenches featuring CEO of ASTRO Test Lab, Humna Khan and Associate Director of Programs of The Barnes Global Advisors, Jennifer Coyne.

3D Systems’ David Cullen, SLS Technical Fellow, presented at the FabTech Additive Pavilion on Tangible Use Cases of Additive Technologies in Metal Tubing, Forming, and Welding where he covered use cases on production and assembly operations and examples of how to tailor jigs, fixtures, profile gauges, and locators to specific processes and components and quickly iterate for continuous improvement without costly traditional tool making and burdensome inventory costs. For metal working companies who are looking for thorough functional improvements or fast prototypes of thin-walled parts, metal additive manufacturing use cases will show you how flow improvements and part consolidation are enabled.   

Last, but certainly not least, 3D Systems’ Greg George, Application Engineer Manager, presented our recent software initiatives at FabTech for the presentation Empowering Quality Control & Inspection at Every Level with 3D Scanning.

Driving Speed and Efficiency in Industrial and Healthcare Applications

During the trade show, our team of application engineers shared a variety of on-site application demonstrations ranging from aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, turbomachinery, healthcare, dental, and bioprinting. We encourage you to visit our Instagram and LinkedIn pages to view snippets of these demonstrations.

We want to extend a huge thank you to all of the attendees, exhibitors, panelists, partners, and customers who were able to attend this year’s event. Not able to attend? We invite you to contact our team for more information or meet with us at one of our upcoming events.