Following the release of the Additive Manufacturing Safety Certification for powder handling, UL, a global safety science company, and Tooling U-SME, a leading provider of manufacturing training solutions, have finalized an agreement to create a single source for training and professional additive manufacturing certification.
With this partnership, the Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals program, previously developed by Tooling U-SME will now incorporate elements from UL’s three-tiered comprehensive AM training program to form the Additive Manufacturing Professional Certification program.
Jeannine Kunz, Vice President of Tooling U-SME, comments, “Aligning UL’s multitiered Additive Manufacturing Training Program to Tooling U-SME’s Additive Manufacturing Certification program underscores our commitment to enhancing professional development of the advanced manufacturing workforce.”
Certification for additive manufacturing
In December 2017, UL and Tooling U-SME signed a Letter of Intent to help manufacturers wanting to increase their additive manufacturing capabilities by collaborating on enhanced workforce training and development methods.
Following this, the organizations released a successful pilot of the Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals Certification program at Rapid + TCT and the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference. This new and improved program contained UL’s certification preparation class while Tooling U-SME provided the certification examination.
The program also contributes to the growing portfolio of Tooling U-SME’s learning and development solutions for the community of manufacturing.
“With any new technology, proper education and training is vital to the continuation of innovation and growth,” said Melissa Albrecht, Global Program Manager of Additive Manufacturing at UL Ventures.
“Through this collaboration, we are able to accelerate our efforts in advancing advanced manufacturing expertise among the incoming and incumbent workforce, creating countless opportunities for innovation in this industry.”
Additive manufacturing and its marketability
With more and more businesses adopting additive manufacturing technologies, it is important that employees are educated in the protocol concerning the AM processes. Therefore, many institutions have developed courses to ensure that those entering the realm of additive manufacturing can have the skills necessary to succeed.
Last year, MIT Professional Education developed the Advances in Computer-Aided Design for Manufacturing course to explore new AM techniques that allow organizations to streamline its concept to design process.
The Manufacturing Technology Center (MTC) has also invested in the future of additive manufacturing with its expanding variety of AM training courses. In addition, the MTC has created an Additive Manufacturing Competency Framework to identify the skills, knowledge, and behaviour required for newly developed AM roles.
The Additive Manufacturing Professional Certification program is co-sponsored by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, America Makes and will establish a formal Certification Oversight body to advise on its further development.
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Featured image shows workers training in the Additive Manufacturing Competency Center (AMCC). Photo via UL.
