Learn how using large-FOV calibrated imaging systems with laser guidance can monitor automated production.
About the presentation As automation accelerates value-added activities in the production of complex components, a growing portion of the cycle time is taken up by quality monitoring activities, including manual inspections and those performed by coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). This trend creates an opportunity to reduce overall cycle time by accelerating inspection and corrective actions. Laser profilometers and conventional “smart camera” systems have been applied in some cases, but these technologies have limitations on both inspection type and cycle-time reductions. An automatic inspection and laser feedback system developed for aerospace composites manufacturing is currently being evaluated for application to automotive, wind, and other industries seeking to maximize throughput and minimize waste. The technology’s aimed vision system captures high-resolution images of small regions within its large field of view (FOV) (typically 3m x 3m); calibrates them using photogrammetric transforms; and analyzes them using algorithms created via machine learning. Automatic laser feedback speeds corrective measures by guiding operators to flaw locations. This presentation details the technology and shares results of current applications and ongoing evaluations.
Meet your presenter As President and Founder of Aligned Vision, Scott Blake pioneered composites fabrication digitalization efforts, including 3D industrial laser projection, automatic inspection for composites, and the use of artificial intelligence to accelerate application development. He holds three patents in the area of automatic inspection, and his composites manufacturing process control system, forerunner of Aligned Vision’s BUILDGUIDE fabrication management system, garnered him the 2000 National Tibbetts award for SBIR work. Blake is leading his team to integrate inspection and laser projection into the digital thread for aerospace and automotive composites.
About the company Since 1988, our mission remains the same: help manufacturers raise production speed and product quality. Collaborating with our customers, we innovate in ways that increase throughput, reduce the cost of production and rework, and enhance quality and traceability.
VOLLMER summarizes sustainability under the slogan "Sustainable sharpening. Because the future demands precision,” forming the basis for seven columns, which can be divided into the areas of Innovations, People, and Companies.
"A passion for perfection" – for decades, this familiar quotation has stood for reliability and quality from VOLLMER in Biberach. It embodies the sustainable handling that, across generations, has turned the sharpening specialists into international technological leaders for machines for machining rotary tools as well as circular and band saws. Now, with the slogan "Sustainable sharpening. Because the future demands precision," the machine manufacturer is consolidating their sustainability, resting on seven pillars: Sustainable solutions. Real service. Loyal customers. Reliable suppliers. Loyal employees. An environment worth living in. Our company. Sustainable solutions. Real service. Two pillars stand for ideas and innovations We started with an idea – and Heinrich Vollmer had this idea in 1909, when he invented the first saw-setting and filing machine and founded his company. His vision of developing maximum sharpness for cutting tools and saw blades, is still being lived by at VOLLMER today. The machine manufacturer is therefore looking deeper into sustainable solutions rather than merely looking at the power consumption of a sharpening machine in watts. For machine developments, VOLLMER is therefore looking to service life, energy efficiency, automation, use of resources, digitalization, maintenance services, and reuse.
VOLLMER machines are equipped with numerous energy-saving features. But it’s about so much more – and one thing is certainly true: Products with a long service life and a high capacity for repair and recycling are economically sustainable. The realization is simple – the implementation is complex. The experiences that VOLLMER has gained from its 113-year history mean it can find the perfect interaction between materials, technologies, kinematics, automation, and services. VOLLMER machines are therefore in use by customers for a very long time. VOLLMER backs up their sustainable solutions with real services for maintenance, service, training, upgrades, or digitalization. These allow for a long service life and optimal operation and ensure that defective machines are quickly up and running again – or that they do not fail in the first place. VOLLMER achieves customer proximity thanks to subsidiaries in 14 countries across the world, as well as via digital V@dison solutions for holistic machine control. Using the Visual Support app, the web-based VOLLMER help desk can be integrated into the maintenance process, and spare parts that have been available for many years can, in future, be ordered any time by a customer via their personal digital customer portal. Loyal customers. Reliable suppliers. Loyal employees. Three of the pillars focus on people for VOLLMER, people are at the heart of sustainability, starting with VOLLMER's customers and their staff, right through to suppliers and partners in associations and organizations. This involves strengthening personal relationships over the long term and developing fair cooperation. VOLLMER is therefore a reliable partner to its customers where, for example, joint product developments are involved. When it comes to suppliers, VOLLMER relies on long-term partnerships and where possible, local procurement. Loyalty is the sustainable link that connects companies and employees. VOLLMER is proud to take on an above-average number of trainees and trains young people in technical and commercial professions. They offer flexible working hours, continuous further training, in-house health days, ergonomic workstations, or even leisure activities. The aim is to have a high retention rate for trainees – more often than not, employees remain with VOLLMER for their entire working life. Appreciating performance means that families often remain loyal to the company across generations.
An environment worth living in. Our company. Two pillars for a sustainable company VOLLMER always considers the economics from an ecological standpoint. An environment that is worth living in and one's own company are the factors that have a sustainable impact on the structure and culture. This includes energy-efficient manufacturing as well as the energy consumption for buildings or logistics. VOLLMER therefore ensures that packaging material, such as pallets or boxes, are produced in a sustainable manner. Sustainability also means taking responsibility for the workforce and the region. For the company, this means recognizing perspectives early on and being open to these. This not only applies for products and services, but also for the structure of the company. As a foundation, VOLLMER is secure in the long-term and will continue to be a reliable partner for customers, suppliers, and employees across generations. Furthermore, the Sieglinde Vollmer Foundation supports the training of young people and promotes projects that focus on STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
"With regard to supporting young people, we have already awarded the Sieglinde Vollmer Award on two occasions to young researchers who have engaged in STEM projects outside of school," says Dr Stefan Brand, CEO of the VOLLMER Group. "For us, people are at the heart of sustainability – they always have been and always will be the key to our tradition and our innovative strength!"
Learn how AddUp 3D printed a custom coolant nozzle.
About the presentation Fives Landis Corp. and AddUp, partnered to design and manufacture a 3D-printed coolant nozzle which was installed on a rebuilt Landis LT2 grinding machine to optimize its performance. The custom nozzle design allows the flow position and shape to precisely match the challenging wheel geometry with fewer components in the assembly. It also provides optimum flow to the metal cutting zone in the grinding machine, increasing the machine’s performance and optimizing the grind cycle. Using traditional production processes, fabricating this complex part is difficult and requires multiple pieces with ideal interior geometries. Metal additive manufacturing (AM) allows this nozzle component to be realized from digital design to the final metal part in only a few steps and in a matter of days, not weeks. The coolant nozzle was printed in stainless steel in only a few hours on the FormUp 350 PBF machine which achieves up to 0.1mm dimensional accuracy and 99.99% material density. This ensures accurate and repeatable part performance without failure. The final result is a one-piece optimized coolant nozzle accurately delivering coolant flow into precise locations, optimizing the performance of the machine.
Meet your presenter Nick Estock is a product manager with AddUp, a joint venture created by Michelin and Fives responsible for laser powder bed fusion (PBF) and direct energy deposition (DED) product lines for North America. In this role, Estock acts as the voice of the U.S. market while driving technical solutions to meet customer needs. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton and master’s degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University. He has more than 15 years of experience in product development across multiple industries and additive technologies, including L-PBF, DED, Binder Jetting, and EBM.
About the company AddUp is a French Joint Venture created in 2015 by Michelin & Fives, two referent industrial companies. We design and sell metal AM machines using powder bed fusion (PBF) and directed energy deposition (DED) technologies. From the discovery step to the production series, we are ready to support you along your additive journey and share the benefit of our workshop experience. Our goal is to bring you a beneficial experience and become a trusted industrial partner, sharing our passion for innovation related to AM.
By applying a controllable external magnetic field, researchers have been able to remotely control a magnetically steerable microrobotic guidewire.
A multidisciplinary team of robotics and electronic systems engineers working with cardiologists and materials scientists has developed a medical robotic apparatus that uses an external magnetic field to precisely and remotely control guidewires through tiny and tortuous blood vessels. The team, led by researchers at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), reported their results in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.
The apparatus, following further tests and commercialization, could minimize the exposure of physicians to X-ray radiation while looking for and treating narrowed or blocked blood vessels.
“Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, and it is very important to be able to diagnose and treat these diseases in the most minimally invasive way possible,” explains DGIST robotics engineer Hongsoo Choi.
Currently, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) involves introducing a guidewire through the large femoral artery in the groin or the radial artery in the wrist and expertly manipulating it until it reaches the largest blood vessel in the body, the aorta. A contrast agent is then injected into the aorta, where it spreads into the coronary arteries that feed the heart. X-ray images are then taken to pinpoint any blockages present in these arteries. This intervention requires a huge amount of skill and can still lead to vessel perforation. It also involves unnecessary exposure of the physician to X-ray radiation, as the procedure is conducted at the patient’s bedside.
In recent years, researchers have been investigating the use of robotic magnetic systems to improve the remote control of this sort of procedure. But the systems that have been developed are often bulky and do not respond quickly enough.
Now, Choi and his team have developed a system that involves remotely controlling a magnetically steerable microrobotic guidewire by applying a controllable external magnetic field. The field is generated by an ‘electromagnetic actuation system’ made of eight electromagnets arranged in a hemispherical configuration under a surgical bed. The patient is meant to be placed on the bed, with the guidewire inserted into an artery and guided remotely by changing the magnetic field. The guidewire is made of a biocompatible silicone tube that can move through blood vessels with very little surface friction. The tip of the microrobotic tube encapsulates a neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet and hard-magnetic composites for magnetic steering.
The researchers first tested the system using 2D- and 3D-printed blood vessel models. They then tested it in anaesthetized pigs, managing to remotely control the guidewires through small and tortuous arteries in the pelvis, kidneys, and heart.
“Our proposed electromagnetically controllable microrobotic interventional system (ECMIS) could reduce radiation exposure of physicians by empowering them to conduct the procedure remotely in an X-ray shielded control booth using low-strength magnetic fields,” Choi says. “It also does not require the high level of training needed for conducting conventional PCIs.”
More tests and improvements are still required, but the researchers are already planning to further modify their apparatus so it can also target vessels in the nervous system and lungs.
The research appears in the Advanced Healthcare Materials journal.
Learn about the manufacturing platform and suite of technologies 3DEO has developed and integrated over the last five years.
About the presentation This talk will give the audience a sense the manufacturing platform and suite of technologies 3DEO has developed and integrated over the last five years to become one of the highest volume metal AM service providers in the world.
But 3DEO's Manufacturing Cloud is more than a metal 3D printing company – it’s a software-powered end-to-end manufacturing platform that enables companies to launch and scale better products, faster. The Manufacturing Cloud integrates patented technologies across the entire production system – 3D printing, robotics, materials, and a software OS that manages everything from part design to finished product. The world 3DEO is building will allow product innovators to launch new products at the speed of software – in months not years and for thousands of dollars, not millions.
Meet your presenter Matt Sand is the CEO and founder of 3DEO. He earned his MBA from UCLA Anderson with a focus in entrepreneurship. He co-authored a book, The Agile Startup, published by Wiley & Sons in 2013. Since receiving his MBA, Sand has played a variety of roles across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He founded or co-founded several startup companies, invested in early-stage companies at two Southern California-based venture funds, and taught entrepreneurship courses at UCLA and LMU.
About the company As a leader in metal component manufacturing, 3DEO sells parts, not printers, without legacy manufacturing limitations such as tooling, high up-front cost, and long lead times. 3DEO specializes in serial production for medical devices, aerospace and defense, industrial manufacturing and more, giving customers the ability to launch physical products at the speed of digital.
3DEO patented a differentiated metal AM process that has allowed it to set new high-water marks in the industry. By many measures, our metal 3D printers achieve superior results – especially when it comes to surface finish, material properties, and dimensional accuracy. Last year, 3DEO announced shipping its millionth part, and nearly shipped one million parts in 2021 alone.