Rapid 2009 - Event Review
Rapid 2008 took place last year amid the early signs of the impending economic crisis. Twelve months on touching down stateside for the 2009 edition in Schaumburg, Illinois my visit was couched more in hope of a great event rather than expectation.
Although attendance seemed to be down a little there were still good reports from many exhibitors, with good contacts and good conversations taking place.
It might be that exhibitors in the current climate lower their expectations in terms of visitor quantity, and the organisers SME may have benefited from some latitude as a result of this which I think is entirely fair assuming the quality of enquiry is still of a good standard. Many exhibitors I spoke to, particularly those selling capital equipment know that one or two quality enquiries is worth a thousand literature and freebie magpies!
The scene in the US is further complicated by the launch of TC Expo from Gardner Publications, the new owners of Time-Compression Magazine in the US. TC Expo will take place alongside NPE later this month and it is true to say that some visitors faced with the prospect of two similarly focused shows in the same state inside 5 weeks will have opted to visit only one.
That said RAPID attracts the great and the good from the industry and is a valuable networking opportunity on the calendar. A roll call from the dinner table on the first evening helps to demonstrate this, Airbus, Boeing, MTT and ARRK were all present. A diverse and in some instances surprising group but this is the type of situation that good new ideas and partnerships emanate from.
Add to this mix the heads of state from the likes of 3D Systems, Stratasys, Z-Corp, EOS and Geomagic, some established industry experts such as Terry Wohlers, Todd Grimm and Graham Tromans and add some newer names from the European circuit such as Dan Johns and Max Ruffo and you start to see why the event remains a focus for the industry.
As usual the range of presentations available at Rapid is vast and cover almost every technology you can think of. Mike North of The Discovery Channel programme Prototype This presented the keynote address on day one, which went down very well. Keynote presentations on subsequent days came from luminaries such as Ping Fu, Terry Wohlers, Chuck Hull and Carl Deckard, proof positive that this event is taken seriously by those in the industry who are instrumental to it's direction.
The SME Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing Community presented its Industry Achievement and Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Awards during the event. Worthy winner of the RTAM Industry Achievement Award was Andy Christensen, President of Medical Modeling Inc. Christensen’s work with the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has enabled it to build and successfully implant more than 30 custom porous titanium implants into wounded soldiers. I've seen the implants first hand and they really bring home the power these new technologies have to make a difference to the way we think and operate.
Frank Liou, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Mary Kinsella, PhD, Chief, metals processing section at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, received the Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award for their technical paper on applications of a hybrid metal manufacturing system, which combines the best traits of additive manufacturing processes and conventional machining operations.
It is not the first time I've heard the phrase hybrid machine in the last few weeks, it's a interesting development as such a process can produce finished products or parts for high-performance applications, such as high stress or high temperature that can't be achieved using purely additive techniques...watch this space.
Out on the show floor all of the major machine manufacturers and materials players were there, the ranges of equipment and materials are still moving forward, some incremental improvements, some new innovations but it is fair to say that even with the tough conditions the industry we operate in is still pushing the boundaries and improving the techniques, parts and finishes.
Satish Mysore of 3D Digital was presenting the EScan and Optix product lines, in particular a new modular system that enables multiple cameras to be attached to a single scanner and operated by a single interface, the beauty of the system is that you can switch cameras without re-calibrating enabling the user to scan small objects (25 x 25mm) and large objects up to 1.5m dependent on the requirement, entry level options on this with 2 megapixel scans start from around $29,000. Satish was positive about the his RAPID experience as was Ali Siblani, CEO of Envisiontec Inc who launched their new ULTRA machine at the event.
Tony Moran, CEO at RPDG echoed these thoughts "We had a successful introduction of our new Rapid Injection Tooling (RIT) service at the RAPID Show."
The proliferation of model plating/coating companies that started to appear last year has also continued with no less that five offerings on the floor VacuCoat, Repliform, Fini Finish, Metalise It and DSM's MC2 process all apply metal coatings to RP models - all with varying degrees of thickness of coat and method of application.
Star exhibit of the show was the amazing SLS tree which greeted you on arrival into the exhibit hall, this fine example of what is possible was produced by FIT - Fruth Innovative Technologien, and designed in their netfabb Selective SPace Structures software. You can see it in the image to the right. Ulf Lindhe, International Business Development Manager of FIT commented "The SLS tree was a great attraction and really caught peoples attention as it demonstrates how complex structures can be designed with the right tools. People told me there were fewer visitors than last year, not in our booth, we had plenty of traffic"
In conclusion RAPID was and is a good event, maybe it was down on attendance a little but business was still being done, ideas were still being shared and projects still being initiated - sounds like a success to me!
There are rumours that we'll be off to California for 2010 but nothing confirmed yet!
