In order to help additive manufacturing technology (also known as 3D printing) achieve maturity and facilitate the incorporation of additive manufacturing in mechanical & plant engineering, VDMA India - the Indian arm of the German Mechanical Engineering Federation (VDMA) - organised the “Additive manufacturing symposium: The game changer of manufacturing” in Bengaluru.

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of lighter, stronger parts and systems. AM is projected to touch a market of $ 36 billion by 2027 and is predicted that the impact of the 3D printing industry could accelerate to attain a potential of $ 300 billion by 2027. The Indian additive manufacturing market alone is estimated to hit $ 79 million in products and services by the end of 2021 with a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of around 18% in the past 5 years. While increased domestic production, low manufacturing costs and an increased utilisation across industries and application will power this growth, the partnership of key AM players with the governments “Make in India” initiative will further boost its expanding footprint.

New avenues of AM adoption are emerging with more industries and applications adopting AM. Currently, automotive and electronics industry lead both in terms of overall market share as well as growth of AM adoption and are trailed by medical, industrial and architectural sectors.

Against this backdrop, in order to help this fascinating technology achieve maturity and facilitate the incorporation of AM in mechanical & plant engineering, VDMA India organised the “Additive manufacturing symposium: The game changer of manufacturing” for the second time at Taj, Bengaluru on August 20, 2021.

The event covered various leitmotifs ranging from simulation, machinery, processes, imaging products and materials. More than 80 delegates comprising of industry representatives, academia and media participated at the symposium. The event was conducted in collaboration with VDMA’s partner companies – B&R Industrial Automation, Beckhoff Automation, Festo and Carl Zeiss and its knowledge partner – BTG Legal.

The event started with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest – Seenivasan Balasubramanian, CEO, International Aerospace Manufacturing (IAMPL), Guest of Honour – Friedrich Birgelen, Deputy Consul General, German Consulate Bangalore, Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India and other speakers and dignitaries.

In his welcome address, Nath outlined the impact, benefits, and the market analysis of additive manufacturing both in India and globally. This was followed by a short speech by Friedrich Birgelen, who mentioned the impact and management of the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany and some similarities in India.

The inaugural session concluded with, Balasubranian enlightening the audience with a technical presentation “Adapting additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry”. He beautifully introduced this transformative process, highlighted its benefits, and shared some of its applications in the aerospace industry.

Before the commencement of the technical session, the symposium’s knowledge partner – BTG Legal released a paper about ‘Root cause analysis of disputes in engineering contracts and how to avoid them’. The papers were released by the chief guests, guest of honour and Rajesh Nath and presented by Parveen Arora and Prashant Mara, Partners at BTG Legal.

The event had a total of 4 speakers under technical session which started shortly after the tea break. It was kick-started by Rayeshwar Shanbhag, Area Sales Manager, Beckhoff Automation with an interesting presentation about ‘PC-based control for additive manufacturing’. He was joined by his colleague Pavan Sadarjoshi, Application Manager, Beckhoff Automation. K S Manoj, Head of Business Development IQS, Carl Zeiss, gave an intriguing presentation about ‘Holistic quality assurance process in additive manufacturing: From Powder to Part Performance’. The third speaker Raghavendra Borelli, Branch Head – Bangalore, B&R Industrial Automation, spoke about ‘Driving industrialisation with additive manufacturing automation’.

Our last speaker of the day, Ramesh Ramachandar, Senior Industry Segment Manager, Festo, concluded the session by enlightening the audience about ‘Adding consistency & efficiency to automation in additive manufacturing’.

The technical session was moderated by Manohar S, Regional Head, VDMA India, which was followed by and concluded with an engaging question and answer session.