EOS and UL to Offer Metal Additive Manufacturing and Safety Training to EOS Customers

You’ve probably heard the saying, “A company is only as great as its employees,” or some variation thereof. It’s a pretty obvious statement – of course the success of a company is going to depend on the skill, talent and effort of the employees that actually do its work. Some companies don’t quite grasp that, though, and fail to provide adequate training to ensure the efficacy, safety and comfort of their employees – and these companies often fail.

EOS is not one of those companies. Additive manufacturing is one field in which proper employee training is an absolute must, for both quality and safety purposes – especially when metal is involved. Metal powders require careful handling and inspection to avoid risk – both of an immediate nature, to those working directly with it, and less immediately, to those who depend on the structural integrity of the final part. To that end, EOS has announced that they are extending additive manufacturing safety training beyond their own facilities and offering it to their clients, with help from global safety science organization UL.

“Safety management is the most essential thing any organization can do to protect its people and its AM investment,” said Glynn Fletcher, President, EOS North America. “The hands-on training UL has developed is a comprehensive program designed to ensure students focus not only on making great AM parts, but also to fully understand the unique safety requirements working with metal powder on machines like the EOS M 290.”

UL will be offering a customized course called “Applied AM Metals,” which will include additive manufacturing metals training as well as facility safety services. The five-day, hands-on course will be held at the UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Center (AMCC), which opened a little over a year ago in Louisville, Kentucky, and will be offered as an alternative to existing EOS Basic Training. Participants will learn about process and material fundamentals, design, build planning, process paramaters, safety factors, post-processing and quality evaluation, using EOS metal additive manufacturing technology as their focus.

“With the significant growth of metal AM, particularly for production parts, the collaboration with EOS – a recognized industry leader – will help accelerate metal AM innovation in a safe and consistent manner while optimizing and protecting the customer’s AM investment,” said Simin Zhou, UL Vice President of Digital Manufacturing.

UL has made 3D printing and additive manufacturing safety a priority since even before last year’s opening of the Additive Manufacturing Safety Center, and has recently offered training to a diverse variety of organizations from materials research and development companies to the Dubai Police. EOS will be offering the UL additive manufacturing training and facility safety services to customers who have recently purchased EOS metal additive manufacturing technology. The two organizations plan to launch their collaboration immediately.

UL will be at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago from March 19 to 23. Stop by Booth 33 to say hello, or attend a special “Foundations of 3D Printing” session, the first part of UL’s three-tiered AM Training Program, on Friday March 24 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. This special AMUG workshop will be taught by Paul Bates, Manager of the UL AMCC and AMUG Vice President. Discuss in the EOS UL forum at 3DPB.com.