SME Awards Recognize Additive Manufacturing Innovation, Skill and Leadership

CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SME, the professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce, announced the winners of its Additive Manufacturing Community Awards, which were presented today at RAPID + TCT 2021, North America's largest and most influential additive manufacturing (AM) event, Sept. 13-15 at Chicago's McCormick Place.

The awards were presented by SME's AM Technical Community Leadership Committee and Direct Digital Manufacturing Advisory Team, which produce content for the organization's programs and other industry events on advanced AM technologies and processes that allow the development, testing and manufacture of new products faster and more cost-effectively. The Additive Manufacturing Industry Awards celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of individuals, teams and companies creating significant impact in commercializing AM.

SME's AM Technical Community Leadership Committee pre-dates the formation of RAPID + TCT. It originally was created in 1992 by the Rapid Prototyping Association (RPA), which joined the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) one year later to become the Rapid Prototyping Association of SME (RPA/SME). It later was renamed SME's Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community Advisors before eventually becoming what it is today. Its charge has always been to advise the organization on initiatives, activities, policy and strategy related to AM.

Because of this mantra, all three of the awards, which traditionally are presented at RAPID + TCT, are focused on the application of AM technology to production, not just research and development. This year's Additive Manufacturing Community awards include the following:

AM Industry Achievement Award
The AM Industry Achievement Award, established in 2008, was developed to recognize an individual or team for outstanding accomplishments that have had significant impact in the application of AM in any industry. The award recognizes achievements that have been implemented or deployed in a commercial/industrial environment rather than research investigative work. Winners are selected with consideration for the scope and scale of benefits realized and the potential future impact their work will have on the industry. The recipient is:

Name: David K. Leigh, PhD
Title: Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing
Business Affiliation: 3D Systems, Inc.

Dr. Leigh is recognized for his career-long contributions to the AM industry. He has been instrumental in pioneering standards and specifications on qualification of AM; building successful culture and systems at printing service houses; and founding (and eventually spinning off) companies that broadened the market and audience for AM technology.

Aubin AM Case Study Award

The newly re-branded and updated "Aubin AM Case Study Award" looks to recognize innovations in application of AM technologies. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding use cases of AM adoption and implementation and to provide inspiration to others in their journey of AM application. The recipients include:

Names: B. Dutta¹, M. Lewan¹, V. Singh¹, R. Fortuna¹, F. Ghadamli¹, P. Gradl², R. Hickman², J. Fikes², M. Ogles³, K. Wheeler⁴, V. Hafiychuk⁴, H. Hafiychuk⁴
Title: "Rapid Large Scale Additive Manufacturing of Full-scale RS-25 Engine Nozzle Liner" 
Business Affiliation: 1DM3D Technology, 2 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 3 National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME)-Auburn University, 4NASA Ames Research Center

Digital Manufacturing Challenge

The 2021 Digital Manufacturing Challenge is a call for action to inspire the next generation of engineers. They are challenged to re-think ways to design, create, and utilize infrastructure-level systems that deploy engineering design and manufacturing solutions to strengthen infrastructure in the response, mitigation and/or prevention of such disruptive and devastating events and envision an optimistic view of healthy, robust, sustainable, smart, agile, peaceful communities. The recipients are:

Names: Sagar Patel and Martine McGregor
Title: "Rapid Deployment of Patient-Specific Prosthesis Assemblies in Emergency Medicine"
Faculty Advisors: Mihaela Vlasea, Stewart McLachlin
Business Affiliation: University of Waterloo

For more information about the history of SME's AM Technical Community, read, "SME's Additive Manufacturing Community Celebrates Over 30 Years of Activity," by Zach Simkin, past chair of SME's Additive Manufacturing Community Advisory Board.

About RAPID + TCT
For more than 30 years, SME and the RAPID has defined the crucial role of additive manufacturing and empowered the establishment of an industry that continues to conceive, test, improve and manufacture new products at a faster, more cost-efficient pace. In 2017, the two industry leaders in 3D technology events, SME and The TCT Group, partnered to produce the annual RAPID + TCT event. For users and suppliers alike, the event is the premier destination for those who provide technology and for those who need to understand, explore and adopt 3D printing, additive manufacturing, 3D scanning, CAD/CAE, metrology and inspection technologies. For more information, visit rapid3devent.com, follow @RAPID_Event on Twitter or on LinkedIn.

About SME
SME connects manufacturing professionals, academia and communities, sharing knowledge and resources to build inspired, educated and prosperous manufacturers and enterprises. With nearly 90 years of experience and expertise in events, media, membership, training and development, and also through the SME Education Foundation, SME is committed to promoting manufacturing technology, developing a skilled workforce and attracting future generations to advance manufacturing. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg.

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SOURCE SME