America Makes Presents Roadmap at Formnext Conference

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – American Makes and the American National Standards Institute presented their Standardization Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing (Version 2.0) Wednesday at the Formnext Conference in Frankfort, Germany.

Developed by America Makes and the ANSI Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collaborative, with contributions from some 320 individuals from 175 public- and private-sector organizations, the roadmap is an effort to coordinate and accelerate the development of industry-wide additive manufacturing – or AM — standards and specifications.

“America Makes is about promoting U.S. manufacturing competitiveness wherever you are in the world,” said Rob Gorham, America Makes executive director. “We are pleased to be part of this international exchange with colleagues in the industry and present our work with ANSI and America Makes members to develop our standardization roadmap to the internationally AM community.”

The event brought together experts from industry, research institutions, standards developing organizations, professional societies, and government to address key themes focused on standards development in printing technologies. This included progress on international standards development and how the use of these standards can help the industry achieve its potential.

“ANSI’s mission is to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life through standards and conformity assessment,” said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. “We thank the U.S. Commercial Service for this opportunity to showcase the work that ANSI has done in partnership with America Makes.”

Jim McCabe, ANSI senior director of standards facilitation, explained to audience members that the roadmap describes the current and desired future AM standardization landscape. This includes published standards, those being developed, and those that are needed. The document identifies 93 “gaps” where no published standard or specification exists to address a particular industry need. Many of these gaps also require additional pre-standardization research and development, he said.

Pictured at top: America Makes headquarters in downtown Youngstown.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.