Leading Minds and AM I Navigator form Additive Manufacturing Alliance

Additive Manufacturing initiatives Leading Minds and AM I Navigator have announced the creation of the Additive Manufacturing Alliance. The alliance will collaborate on selected joint activities to support the advancement of AM as a core industrial technology and enabling scalable adoption. Both organisations will also continue to function independently.

“Our shared goal is to make Additive Manufacturing more accessible, less complex, and more integrated into everyday industrial production,” stated Brigitte de Vet-Veithen, CEO of Materialise, on behalf of the Additive Manufacturing Alliance. “Together, we can help more companies across a wider variety of industries benefit from the flexibility, efficiency, and innovation that AM enables.”

Initial joint activities of the Additive Manufacturing Alliance will focus on knowledge exchange, joint industry communication, and supporting companies along their path toward industrialising AM.

One example of this collaboration is the connection between awareness and execution: while Leading Minds works to build understanding of Additive Manufacturing’s potential and helps companies overcome initial barriers, the AM I Navigator supports them with real-world use cases and transformation insights, providing clear, actionable guidance for implementation. Together, the initiatives enable manufacturers to progress from inspiration to industrial adoption.

AM I Navigator

The AM I Navigator, launched at Formnext 2023 by Siemens, DyeMansion, HP, BASF Forward AM, and EOS, aims to provide companies with a proven framework for industrialising Additive Manufacturing and scaling it into serial production environments integrated with other manufacturing technologies.

Since its launch, the AM I Navigator has been applied in multiple industrial transformation initiatives. Companies use the maturity model to benchmark their current AM capabilities, align investments across the end‑to‑end process chain, and derive roadmaps toward higher levels of automation, quality, and economic viability. This structured approach is intended to enable confident decision‑making and supports the progression from pilot applications toward industrial production.

The AM I Navigator ecosystem has continued to grow and now includes additional partners such as Materialise, AMTPro, AZO, as well as knowledge partners including Capgemini and BCG.

“Via the newly launched AM I Navigator website, companies worldwide can independently and free of charge assess their Additive Manufacturing maturity and explore transformational insights derived from proven industrial applications,” stated Karsten Heuser, Vice President Additive Manufacturing at Siemens. “The assessment tools are voluntary resources designed to help companies of all sizes from startups to global manufacturers benchmark their capabilities and identify improvement opportunities.”

Wohlers Associates, powered by ASTM International, has joined the AM I Navigator network as a Knowledge Partner, contributing its expertise in qualified Additive Manufacturing for high‑reliability and regulated industries. Through its market database and global network of experts and methodologies, Wohlers Associates offers a strong focus on standards, certification and industrial readiness.

“By joining the AM I Navigator, we aim to contribute our experience in translating Additive Manufacturing standards into robust industrial practice. Together with the partner network, we want to help manufacturers accelerate the transition from experimentation to qualified, scalable production,” explained Dr Mohsen Seifi, Vice President of Global Advanced Manufacturing Programs at ASTM International.

Leading Minds

Announced at Formnext 2024, Leading Minds is a consortium formed by eight founding members: Ansys, EOS, HP, Materialise, Nikon SLM, Renishaw, Stratasys, and ATLIX (formerly Trumpf Additive Manufacturing). Together, these companies aim to increase the awareness of Additive Manufacturing’s capabilities across industries and remove the hurdles manufacturers face when adopting and scaling AM solutions for industrial use.

The first initiative announced by the consortium focuses on addressing the fragmentation and complexity of AM terminology. Today, different companies often use distinct language to describe the same processes or capabilities, leading to confusion and slowing down industrial adoption. Leading Minds is developing an open, common language framework that enables manufacturers and technology providers to communicate more clearly and consistently. Since its introduction, the framework has been expanded to cover all domains of the Additive Manufacturing production process and is already being actively used with customers, who value its ability to make conversations about AM standardised and actionable.

As part of its broader mission, Leading Minds also invests in AM awareness by participating in major industrial events in North America and Europe, targeting sectors where adoption is still emerging and where Additive Manufacturing offers significant future potential.

The Leading Minds consortium has announced the addition of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group (MTDG) as its newest member. MTDG, along with its subsidiary the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining (NCDMM) and its America Makes programme, focus on helping manufacturers deploy advanced manufacturing technologies, and Colleges and Universities to embrace advanced manufacturing technologies. Dean L. Bartles, CEO & president of MTDG, will represent MTDG within the consortium.

“MTDG is honored to join the Leading Minds consortium at such a pivotal moment for our industry,” stated Bartles, “Through the combined strengths of MTDG, NCDMM, and America Makes, we remain deeply committed to advancing the industrialisation of Additive Manufacturing and expanding its impact across the manufacturing ecosystem.”

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