Ricoh UL education
UL and Ricoh training the trainers.
In February 2017, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and Ricoh made a joint announcement to declare their partnership to educate people in the safe and proper use of additive manufacturing (AM).
It sees the industry expertise of Ricoh meet the 3D printing know-how of UL. The global safety science organisation has developed a three-tier ‘train the trainer’ program tailored for the AM industry, after identifying it as a market which needed assistance in the area of education and training. Tier 1 focuses on the ‘essential information’ to begin working with AM in industry; tier 2 builds technical and economic competency to optimise AM designs; and tier 3 is the advanced stage, teaching how to successfully fabricate metal, polymer composite and ceramic parts, covering the entire manufacturing process from design to build to post process and quality assurance.
Ricoh, as a reputable supplier to the AM industry, and manufacturer of its own 3D printing hardware, partnered with UL to deliver the first two tiers of the curriculum in its training locations based in Lawrenceville, Georgia and Irvine, California. In the main, the students are customers of UL and Ricoh. Since the two companies have such a vast reach around the world, let alone in their own continent, the target audience is vast. The aim is to help people understand additive manufacturing, a set of technologies and processes still new to many people.
“[Ricoh] has some expert trainers on their staff that do a great job in presenting that content,” Paul Bates, Manager of the UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Center and AMUG President, told TCT. “We partnered together to provide a lot more opportunities for folks to take those classes in a variety of areas, so it’s more local to where they are in their location in North America.”
The partnership came about as a result of a shared ambition, and perhaps feeling of responsibility, to provide training for additive manufacturers. Both parties acknowledge the importance and demand for education in the AM industry and have collaborated to contribute to the cause.
“With any new technology, education and training are vital,” said Ryan Hess, Additive Manufacturing Strategy Leader, Service Advantage, Ricoh USA. “At Ricoh, we pride ourselves on both our expertise and our commitment to sharing that expertise with our customers. We realise that while operators can gain a functional understanding of technology through every day use, formal education helps better establish how different features can be used and the underlying principles behind why they work that way.
“In essence, with AM, like any technology, Ricoh wants users to understand day-to-day use, as well as gain the broader understanding that allows for innovation and continued learning.”
Ricoh, then, is like most in the AM industry. In an interview with TCT last year, Gordon Styles founder of Star Rapid, made a plea for a greater volume of education which, in turn, inspired the End of Year Report. As the industry continues to grow, the number of educational courses, workshops and webinars on offer increases. But that brings with it its own challenges. These concern the suitability of the training resources in the context of continued innovation and growth.
Ricoh UL education article
“One of the biggest challenges with educating designers and engineers in this space is the pace at which technology evolves,” Hess said. “Courses must be constantly updated, or they will quickly start to become outdated, and thus of no use to those who need it most. Having larger organisations involved in the coursework can make this easier to keep courses relevant and effective. Partnerships like the one between UL and Ricoh are invaluable. The combined resources and industry expertise is vital to keep up with the pace of change.”
It’s one of the reasons UL sought to partner with Ricoh for this endeavour, and why, as they look to extend the ‘train the trainer’ program to new parts of the world, the company is seeking other partnerships. Before UL’s three-tier curriculum begins to be rolled out worldwide, UL is determined to make some improvements.
“We’re working very closely with Ricoh and other collaboration partners to refine and evolve our curriculum and training program to better meet the needs of the industry,” said Melissa Albrecht, Global Operations Manager & Program Owner, Digital Manufacturing Technologies, UL. “Some customers are more interested in public workshops, others want the crash course version. We’re working to determine how to integrate this into academia so we’ve got one approach going forward that creates a hybrid between academia and existing professionals.
“Our program is very fluid. It has a strong foundation but as we grow and refine our strategies with Ricoh we’re becoming much more flexible to better and tailor those programs to meet the needs of the industry.”
The collaboration between UL and Ricoh will remain in North America, but UL is also partnering with other organisations around the world. Specifically, UL is looking to capitalise on its presence in Asia and Europe, and is currently exploring opportunities in the respective continents. The partners will be a range of trade associations, educational institutes, and commercial organisations.
Multi-tiered, multi-faceted training programs like UL’s are developed with an objective to ensure the continuation of innovation and growth, while also hoping to keep engineers safe. The potential of additive manufacturing is vast, and while engineers need to know how to use current AM technologies and processes, the hope is the education drive will also give them the platform to innovate for themselves.
“There’s a saying in education: ‘teach how to think, not what to think.’ That applies in AM training too,” concluded Hess. “We can teach tomorrow’s AM engineers current best practices and use cases, but by giving them a strong foundation in the complex, rich capabilities of AM, education gives engineers the tools to look at hurdles and goals from all angles and find new and exciting ways to address them, because they will know AM inside and out. Putting a generation of well-educated AM engineers out into the world creates countless opportunities for innovation.”
