3D Printing News Briefs: August 16, 2019

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re starting with some business and ending with an upcoming event. The Rapid Application Group has earned an important industry certification, and GE Additive has signed an MoU with the NSW government in Australia. Airbus is deploying Sigma Labs’ PrintRite3D solution, and 3DHEALS returns to Singapore this month.

Rapid Application Group Achieves Important Certification

Oklahoma-based Rapid Application Group LLC (RAG) is made up of seasoned military and additive manufacturing specialists, and calls itself the only Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned, HUBZone, AS9100/ISO9001, ITAR-registered full production additive manufacturing company in the US. Now, it’s announced that it recently earned its AS9100 Rev. D quality management standard, which is the most current certification for the Aerospace, Space and Defense (AS&D) industries. Not only is RAG the first service-disabled, veteran-owned small business in North America to receive this standard, but the achievement signifies that the company is commited to serving customers with tough requirements.

“Adding AS9100 certification is a natural and required progression, given our strong presence as an additive manufacturing service provider in the military aerospace and defense markets. AS9100 was a mission critical achievement for RAG as it demonstrates our commitment to quality to all our customers but is especially important for our clients in the Aerospace and Defense verticals. To do that, we needed to meet the stringent certification requirements of AS9100D / ISO9001,” stated Terry Hill, Founder and CEO of Rapid Application Group. “We are the go-to leader in the Oklahoma aerospace and defense additive manufacturing market and this certification is a mark of our commitment.”

GE Additive Signs MoU with NSW Government

L-R: Debbra Rogers, chief commercial officer, GE Additive; Jason Oliver, President & CEO, GE Additive; The Honourable Gladys Berejiklian MP, Premier of NSW; and The Honourable Stuart Ayres MP, Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism & Western Sydney

This week in Munich, metal 3D printing leader GE Additive signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NSW Government in Australia in order to become a foundation partner of, and develop industrial-scale 3D printing for, its Western Sydney Aerotropolis initiative. As a result of this joint agreement, Western Sydney will become a center of 3D printing in Australia. According to Premier Gladys Berejiklian, a major part of a new space industry hub at the Aerotropolis will be enhanced 3D printing capabilities.

“3D printing is on the cutting edge of manufacturing globally and this deal will help make Western Sydney the nation’s leader. Our partnership with GE Additive will create many hi-tech jobs across the aerospace, medical and automotive sectors,” said Ms. Berejiklian.

“We are aiming to triple the size of Australia’s space sector to $12 billion by 2030, creating up to 20,000 new jobs in this industry alone. This agreement demonstrates our commitment to look globally to bring the best opportunities to NSW.”

Airbus Selects Sigma Labs to Complete Test and Evaluation Program

Airbus and Sigma Labs, the latter of which provides quality assurance software under the PrintRite3D brand, will be working together to complete a Rapid Test and Evaluation Program of PrintRite3D’s version 5.0 hardware and software; this will be then be followed with validation of a powdered fusion 3D printer. Sigma Labs will provide comprehensive PrintRite3D In-Process Quality Assurance (IPQA) system and services during the program, which will not only demonstrate how powerful the 5.0 version is but also show the potential benefits of using IPQA to identify process defect thermal signatures.

“We are honored and indeed feel very privileged to have our In-Process-Quality-Assurance tools as well as engineering staff engaged with Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer,” said John Rice, Chairman and CEO of Sigma Labs. “PrintRite3D INSPECT® 5.0 provides the market with a user-friendly experience to rapidly qualify an AM metal machine for serial production, and then, in the course of continuous production runs, to be able to warn process engineers of ‘signature’ precursors of process discontinuities and thus enable them to extract actionable data to restore the process. Our industry appears to be accelerating in its sophisticated quality requirements including highly accurate and economic third-party quality assurance. We at Sigma have committed ourselves to meet that need.”

3DHEALS Returns to Singapore

Later this month, 3DHEALS, a global healthcare 3D printing platform founded by Dr. Jenny Chen, is coming back to Singapore for another event. Together with NAMIC (the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster), the organization is co-hosting a “recurrent event” in order to connect local entrepreneurs and innovators in healthcare 3D printing and 3D bioprinting.

On August 28th, 3DHEALS will hold a Healthcare 3D Bioprinting Seminar from 1 to 7 pm in the National University of Singapore (NUS) Seminar Room, located in the Innovation 4.0 Building. The seminar is being co-organized by 3DHEALS, NAMIC, and the university’s Centre for Additive Manufacturing.

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