In the USA, where the government generally takes a proactive role in stimulating and exploring new business opportunities, the President himself actively contributed to (re)establish America Makes, the association that helps to promote additive manufacturing technologies. In Italy the government is usually too busy trying to “hold on to its seat” so companies mostly have to take care of themselves.
The new Italian Association for Additive Technologies (AITA), which was established last week, was thus created as a “spin-off” from UCIMU, the Italian Union for Industrial Tooling Machines, and was presented during the 29th BIMU, the most important trade show in Italy for this sector. The announcement was made by Fabrizio Rosa, President of Rosa Sistemi SpA & CEO at Rosa Ermando SpA, during a meeting focusing exclusively on additive manufacturing and 3D printing.
As Mr Rosa explained, Additive Manufacturing technologies – which, he emphasized, have little in common with the highly mediatic, maker-oriented, desktop 3D printing technologies – are helping to establish a new concept of manufacturing, one where ideas can be transformed, with no particular constraints or intermediate steps, into a component very close to an end product. Furthermore these technologies broaden the horizons of the materials, ICT and the mechanical manufacturing sectors in general.
For this to actually happen, however, many a hurdle will need to be overcome, something that will require the collaboration of more players, and that is where AITA comes in. Among its primary goals will be those of integrating additive manufacturing technologies into the mechanical manufacturing sector’s supply chain value, as well as certification and quality assessment of the materials used in additive machines.
The association will also focus on other aspects that require a coordinated action by many to benefit all involved through the gathering and sharing of information and data. For example the analysis of the additive manufacturing life-cycle, with particular consideration for the environment and social sustainability will be hot topics, as well as the theme relating to the very complex issue of intellectual property and know-how protection.
Standardization of the additive manufacturing processes, as we have often observed on 3DPI.com, will be an ongoing activity, especially with respect to the “norms” currently being developed by the ISO, while the association will also facilitate the development of common practices in process measurement and control, through its future Research & Development capabilities.
To achieve these objectives, AITA will begin by aggregating all stakeholders orbiting around industrial additive technologies so as to implement coordinated actions and share information. Furthermore, much like its American counterpart, it will work to improve the dialogue between companies and research centres, universities and public and governmental institutions on all aspects relating to these technologies and their applications.
The final goal, as for many such industrial associations, is that of building a coherent image of the additive manufacturing industry, thus differentiating it from the digital craftwork sector, while allowing all companies involved to speak with one voice in order to build up a competitive advantage and push innovation. Just like an additively manufactured component, AITA is now on its very first layer of what could be a very large and complex end-use industrial part.
