UL, a global safety science organization, and the University of Louisville (KY), have announced the official opening of the newly established 3-D printing training center named the UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Center (UL AMCC). Developed for established additive manufacturing (AM) technical and business professionals, the end-to-end training center, located on the University of Louisville campus, will be a hub for advancing AM knowledge and workforce expertise.
Concurrent to the opening ceremony, UL and EOS, a provider of industrial AM solutions, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which the two companies will collaborate to provide joint AM training, conformity advisory services and facility safety management to EOS customers. The goal of the relationship is to promote the proper usage and advancement of AM technologies to the manufacturing industry.
"As an industrial 3-D printing solution provider, EOS forms strategic partnerships to strengthen our core competencies of systems, process and materials," said Glynn Fletcher, President, EOS of North America, Inc. "Our partnership with UL allows us to join with our customers - both current and future - to push advancements in innovation, safety and quality."
The UL AMCC offers hands-on training in AM for metals and curriculum covering design set-up, design corrections, machine set-up, part production, post-processing and parts inspection, testing and validation. The training will allow professionals to understand how to produce metal parts and emerging materials through AM, and establish safety systems, identify hazards from materials and machines and manufacture parts with safety built into designs.
"Our vision has always been to collaborate with the AM industry to further innovation, safety and quality," said Simin Zhou, Vice President of UL's Digital Manufacturing Technologies division. "The UL AMCC is a direct outcome of that collaboration."
The UL AMCC joins the University of Louisville's global advanced manufacturing campus and the Institute for Product Realization (IPR), and collaborates and shares knowledge with other corporate residents, including GE and Local Motors' FirstBuild.
"The UL AMCC is a first-of-its-kind facility with the technical and educational expertise to not only progress AM but also contribute to the future of manufacturing transformation," said David Adams, CEO of the IPR. "We see the intersection of industry information, UL's training, certification and safety knowledge and the university's AM expertise and academic research creating a manufacturing environment unlike anything else."
As AM technologies evolve, UL AMCC will update course curriculum and introduce new content every six to 12 months. As part of the training program, UL has developed a formal AM professional certification for students who have demonstrated proficiency in the minimum competencies to manufacture conforming parts.
For more information contact:
UL AMCC
3dprinting@ul.com
www.ul.com/amtraining
www.ul.com/ulamcc
UL Additive Manufacturing
www.ul.com/am
University of Louisville
2301 S. 3rd St.
Louisville, KY 40208
800-334-UofL
www.louisville.edu
EOS of North America, Inc.
28970 Cabot Drive, Suite 700
Novi, MI 48377-2978
248-306-0143
info@eos-na.com
www.eos.info