UL Additive Manufacturing centre opens at University of Louisville
February 19, 2016
UL, a global safety science organisation, along with the University of Louisville, have announced the official opening of a newly established Additive Manufacturing training centre named the UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Centre (UL AMCC). Developed for established AM technical and business professionals, the end-to-end training centre, located on the University of Louisville campus, aims to be a hub for advancing AM knowledge and workforce expertise.
UL also announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with EOS, in which the two companies will collaborate to provide joint AM training, conformity advisory services and facility safety management to EOS customers. The goal of the relationship is stated as being to promote the proper usage and advancement of AM technologies to the manufacturing industry.
“As the world-leading industrial 3D-printing solution provider, EOS forms strategic partnerships to strengthen our core competencies of systems, process and materials. Our partnership with UL allows us to join with our customers – both current and future – to push advancements in innovation, safety and quality,” stated Glynn Fletcher, President, EOS of North America, Inc.
The UL AMCC offers hands-on training in Additive Manufacturing for metals and curriculum covering design set up, design corrections, machine set up, part production, post-processing and parts inspection, testing and validation. The training will allow professionals to understand how to produce metal parts and emerging materials through AM, and establish safety systems, identify hazards from materials and machines and manufacture parts with safety built into designs.
“Our vision has always been to collaborate with the Additive Manufacturing industry to further innovation, safety and quality. The UL AMCC is a direct outcome of that collaboration. The University of Louisville, AM machine manufacturers and other industry leaders demonstrated incredible commitment in the creation of this facility,” added Simin Zhou, Vice President of UL’s Digital Manufacturing Technologies division.
The UL AMCC joins the University of Louisville’s global advanced manufacturing campus, the Institute for Product Realisation (IPR), and collaborates and shares knowledge with other corporate residents, including GE and Local Motors’ FirstBuild.
“The UL AMCC is a first-of-its-kind facility with the technical and educational expertise to not only progress Additive Manufacturing but also contribute to the future of manufacturing transformation. We see the intersection of industry information, UL’s training, certification and safety knowledge and the University’s additive manufacturing expertise and academic research creating a manufacturing environment unlike anything else,” stated David Adams, CEO of the IPR.