Someone in the business of giving advice on social situation once said that you need four ingredients for an event to be a success: great conversation with the right people at the right location with the right food and beverage. All of that came together last week in Littleton Colorado for PADT’s third annual Colorado Additive Manufacturing Data. The weather cooperated and we were able to gather under a tent at the St Patrick’s Brewing Company right on the Platte River to spend the afternoon talking about 3D Printing.
PADT’s very own Norm Stucker hosted, kicking off the event with a welcome from Littleton’s Mayor, Debbie Brinkman. This was followed by presentations:
- PADT’s Co-Owner Rey Chu shared his thoughts on being successful with AM
- Scott Sevcik, VP of Manufacturing Solutions at Stratasys went over the Stratasys Product Roadmap
- I gave a high-level overview on Design for Additive Manufacturing
- The ANSYS Additive Manufacturing simulation tools were reviewed by PADT engineer Doug Oatis
After a break, that involved getting more pints of beer, eating an amazingly large amount of pizza, and networking; we returned to the tent for our keynote addresses and a panel.
The first Keynote was from William Carver of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) on how they are using AM for their Dream Chaser spacecraft. This was followed by Ryan Bocook taking a look at Boom Supersonic‘s use of the technology for the development of their brand new supersonic airplane. For many of us, seeing how these two companies make 3D Printing a part of their design, test, and manufacturing processes was very informative. It was real world, real issues, and real solutions.
The day was capped by a fascinating panel on that very topic: Making Additive Manufacturing Real. The speakers consisted of:
- Shannon McNeil from SNC
- Brian Kaplun from Lockheed Martin
- Robert McLoughlin from Stratasys
- Jeff Sokol from Ball Aerospace
- Sabrina Ball from United Launch Alliance
The panel was moderated by Maj. General Jay Lindell (USAF, Ret) who serves as the Aerospace and Defense Industry Champion for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Not only does he have the longest and coolest title, he did a great job of getting the panel to share their experiences to the benefit of all who were there.
For me, the best part (the Dark Lager does not count) of the event was the interaction between users across industries. So many great examples and stories. Bad nerd jokes were told, advice was shared, stories about challenges were told, and business cards were exchanged. We live in an online world and you can have some community through the internet. But to build great relationships and to truly share knowledge, you need to get everyone together under a huge tent on a sunny day at a brewery by a river.
If you want to take part in our next Colorado Additive Manufacturing day, a 3D Printing user event in Arizona, Utah, or New Mexico, any of our online webinars, or any other PADT event make sure you sign up for the PADT Additive & Advanced Manufacturing Email List or the PADT General Information Email List on our OptIn page. If you have any questions about any of the content or 3D Printing in general, do not hesitate to contact us.
Please enjoy the pictures we captured of the day below and we hope to see you at our next event.
