All the Moving Pieces: Nexa3D’s Chief Government Officer Elisa Teipel Explains 3D Printing’s Role in Logistics
Right as Formnext 2023 was getting started, Nexa3D announced its acquisition of Essentium, a deal that officially went through earlier this month. The two companies have hit the ground running as a combined force, with Elisa Teipel, formerly the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Essentium, now serving as the Chief Government Officer (CGO) at Nexa3D.
At the time of my interview with Teipel, 2024 was just over a couple of weeks old, but both Nexa3D and Essentium have already had a busy year, and not just because of the acquisition. Essentium was also the main sponsor for the Military Additive Manufacturing (MilAM) Summit in Tampa, FL, where Teipel was the keynote speaker.
I write about the US military’s use of AM quite frequently, so I think often about one particular operational advantage that can be supported by 3D printing, which is key to the MilAM Summit: sustainment and readiness. The ability to keep in-house as much of the supply chain as possible for a given component epitomizes why the military’s interest in AM is growing at a seemingly exponential rate:
According to Teipel, that consideration of enabling decision-making on the frontlines was one of the topics from MilAM that stood out most strikingly:
Indeed, the military’s unique demand for and capacity to test new technologies on the fly is precisely what has made the US armed forces such a pivotal factor historically as an early adopter of cutting-edge technologies. At the same time, of course, to make the biggest impact, those gains from “learning by doing” eventually need to become permanently embedded into the military’s routine operations. Teipel noted that MilAM provided reasons to be optimistic on that front, as well:
While those other things don’t have to be AM-related, Teipel nonetheless pointed out other examples that are, which fit the same mold of enhancing the military’s logistical cohesion, but in non-combat contexts:
And, despite the growing number of crises in the world, MilAM left Teipel more optimistic than ever about the prospects for the AM industry:
Images courtesy of Essentium, a Nexa3D company.
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