Previous SME Additive Manufacturing Industry Achievement Award winners with 2016 winner Hans Langer.
At the 26th annual RAPID event, SME hosted its Additive Manufacturing Community Awards, highlighting some of the most influential figures and achievements in the 3D technologies industry. SME has now published the names of all of the winners who were honoured during the conference in Orlando last month.
The 2016 SME Additive Manufacturing Industry Achievement Award went to Hans Langer, PhD, founder and CEO of EOS GmbH. Langer is a major pioneer in the additive manufacturing industry, racking up several industry awards and accolades including the Bavarian State Medal and ranking highly on lists of influential industry figures, including one in this very magazine.
Jason Jones, PhD, chair of SME's Additive Manufacturing Community, commented: "This award is a recognition of Dr. Langer's technical innovations and the widespread impact his company has had on the additive manufacturing industry since its start in 1989.”
SME also announced the winners of the Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award, named after the late additive manufacturing pioneer Dick Aubin, for "Contact-Free Support Structures for Part Overhangs in Powder-Bed Metal Additive Manufacturing," written by Kevin Chou, PhD, and Bo Cheng of the University of Alabama, and Kenneth Cooper and Phillip Steele of Marshall Space Flight Centre.
Jason Jones with 2016 Dick Aubin Distinguished Paper Award winner/co-author Kevin Chou.
The Rochester Institute of Technology sponsored the award, which was given for the paper's documented concept of employing a novel thermal management strategy to avoid distortion in parts made with metal powder-bed fusion.
In the 2016 Design for Direct Digital Manufacturing Competition, high school and college designers and engineers were challenged to take an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) design, and improve it using additive manufacturing. The winners were students Tito Arana, Jordan Castillo, Michael Gager, Dan Stella and Joanel Vasquez, along with their academic advisor, Stephen Johnston, PhD, from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
The RAPID Innovation Award, sponsored by Stratasys, recognises new products or services at RAPID that demonstrate the greatest potential impact on the industry. With a record number of 27 entries this year, the finalists were 3DSIM, Additive Industries, Essentium Materials and HP Inc. All four companies brought forth inventive, significant technological advancements. The overall winner was Essentium, which introduced a new and innovative method for welding thermoplastic interfaces of 3D-printed parts using the extreme heating response of nanoparticles.
The RAPID People's Choice Award, also sponsored by Stratasys, was determined by popular vote of RAPID attendees. The award went to HP for being the most interactive, technically impressive and engaging with their Jet Fusion 3D Printing Solution launch.
HP receives the RAPID People's Choice Award.
RAPID will take place next year in Pittsburgh on 8-11th May. Following a recent partnership with TCT Group owner, Rapid News Publications, the event will be known as RAPID + TCT going forward from 2017/
