Not because engineers are incompetent, rather due to the way engineering schools teach their students how to design parts using conventional manufacturing techniques such as machining, injection molding and other traditional methods, or where Additive Manufacturing (AM) was simply not part of the curriculum.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has a totally different set of rules than conventional manufacturing.

If one spends a week on the manufacturing floor observing the operation of AM equipment, they will learn:

• Why a 0.8 mm wall that looks acceptable in CAD becomes a problematic wall in an AM powder bed.
• The impact that the build orientation has on the mechanical performance properties of a part built with an AM process.
• How two visually identical CAD designs can produce two totally different products when manufactured using an AM process.
• Why DfAM is not just a phrase – rather it is the difference between a part that performs as intended and one that fails when manufactured using an AM process.

Therefore, as an invitation >>> our company’s CEO would like to extend a personal offer to his readers to visit with their engineer. He will demonstrate how to design products using AM technology — right from the very first CAD sketch — including wall thickness, build orientation, tolerances, and post-processing of the parts.