With the “back-to-school” season around the corner, we start reflecting on the AM trade shows that could be interesting to visit. AM Summit, the largest AM conference in Scandinavia is in our list. To have an overview of the AM market in the host country known for the world’s most valuable toy brand, we caught up with Danish AM Hub’s CEO Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen.
Initiated by The Danish Industry Foundation, Danish AM Hub is the focal point for Additive Manufacturing in Denmark. With the goal to strengthen Danish business competitiveness through AM, the organization focuses on small and medium-sized businesses while exploring new business models that induce growth, innovation and sustainable solutions.
“Denmark has a fair amount of both AM users and providers. There is a clear trend in the last few years, with new AM providers challenging the few big and established service bureaus that have been around since the early days of AM (1990-2000’s). AM equipment which is capable of producing parts with the required quality has dropped drastically in price the last 5 years, turning AM service concepts upside down. This is changing the AM provider landscape in Denmark. The share of AM users is expanding in a moderate pace, as they now have to become aware that 3D printing now has a competitive price to traditional Manufacuring – when they view all the benefits of [this technology],” Lorenzen states.
With “the Nordic region” announced as partner country of Formnext 2023, one learns that sustainability is a key area of strength for these European neighbours. For Danish AM Hub, since AM provides an opportunity local on-demand production – hence less transport and less C02, there is a reason to help companies see the advantages of the technology for their business. To do so, they recommend 4 steps companies can take to go digital:
- Manufacture only when it is necessary
- Mind the materials and use recycled materials whenever possible
- Rethink design entails abandoning the linear take-make-waste system
- And adopt a holistic perspective that incorporates the whole value chain and life cycle of your products
If this sounds easy to say, Danish AM Hub also helps companies implement an actionable plan through several innovation programs and projects. “From actual making the technology available to them by providing them with a 3D printer and advice on how to use it – and for what – to programmes helping them redesign and optimize design for Additive Manufacturing, or using AM for more distributed manufacturing,” Lorenzen explains.
More specifically, in 2023, “we are making 3D metalprint available with our AM Metal Bridge-initiative, we are supporting strong Danish actors on their work of using Additive Manufacturing to rebuild Ukraine – and we are especially proud together with our partners to have build a CO2e-calculator of AM processes,” he adds.
What about the AM Summit?
The 2023 edition of the event will be the fifth conference organized by the association. The conference has evolved from 150 participants in its first year to an attendance record of almost 450 visitors in 2022. This can be explained by the fact that, over the years, the organizer has made significant efforts to attract an international audience and international speakers that are willing to discover what the region can bring to the international table of AM.
“The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Additive Impact – Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing as a driver for sustainable manufacturing’. Under this theme, 50+ speakers will take the stage with concrete solutions and inspiration on how new technology like 3D printing can help us produce more sustainable with stronger and more circular business models and more robust supply and value chains,” Lorenzen notes.
For this year’s edition that will be held on September 21st, the host expect to welcome around 600+ participants. With a strong lineup of speakers like Skylar Tibbits from MIT Self-Assembly Lab and Paul Gradl from NASA, we might expect to learn insights that go beyond Danish competencies in the industry.
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