The additive manufacturing industry still needs to cut down on hype, according to Olga Ivanova.
Mechnano’s Director of Technology was speaking on the TCT Additive Insight podcast when she suggested that many end users still aren’t being educated properly about how best to use 3D printing technology.
Ivanova entered the additive manufacturing space over a decade ago, around the time when the Economist published its now infamous cover story ‘Print me a Stradivarius’. It is this article where many AM professionals, including Ivanova, suggest the hype around 3D printing was catalysed. What came next was a period of overpromising, which, though has decreased in convening years, is still present to some degree.
“When I’m saying we still need to cut down on hype, I interface with customers so often that just want to print everything,” Ivanova said. “I think the technology was hyped so much that we really need to focus on educating end users when it makes sense to go additive and when it doesn’t.”
In tackling this issue, Ivanova recognises the need for for-profit organisations, whether they be materials development companies like Mechnano, or software and hardware companies like other AM business, to make money. But she stressed that 3D printing companies still need to keep education top of mind to prevent customers being disappointed.
“I’ve seen people purchase hardware and it just sits in a corner; they never use it because it isn’t working for the application, it doesn’t solve their needs. That’s where I’m coming from in terms of educating where it makes sense to manufacture parts using additive processes versus sticking with traditional manufacturing processes. I think we, as a community, are still not there yet.”
More ways to listen:
