The Pen | Ota Ungerman, managing director MT Service

Additive is the future of metalworking

Machining. A process that for decades, chip by chip kept perfecting itself into the high-tech, reliable technology we know today. But the hot breath of additive technology is blowing down the neck of machining operations. Not yet in the field, where human resistance to change plays its part, but this will clearly be the way of the future. So let us prepare for it.

3D printers were unleashed on the market a few EMOs ago with much fanfare. Manufacturing companies, in Belgium but also elsewhere in Europe, are not yet keen on them. They are not yet to be found in MT Service's portfolio either. Problems with the precision and hardness of pieces are the technical reasons for the absence of additive manufacturing on the shop floor. Machining will remain the only way to machine large hard pieces in the coming years. But the human factor is actually much more decisive in this story, because the 3D printer is not breaking through in other fields either. We are all afraid to apply new techniques. Confidence in the good outcome is lacking in all of us, from engineers to operators.

Yet AM is casting itself as the future of material processing. If only because the material is built up layer by layer, with nothing being lost. A big difference from machining where small pieces sometimes emerge from large blocks of material. An expensive way of working. This kind of waste will not be accepted in the future. If we want to halt global warming, it will be done not only by switching to electric cars, but especially by not wasting precious resources. A circular metals agenda will have a significant impact on climate change and reduce emissions. After all, the steel sector is now one of the main polluters. Strict regulations will follow.

So we will need new blood at the helm of companies to bring about this transformation. Compare with twenty years ago. CNC machines didn't seep into industry without a struggle either. But now they are indispensable in modern business operations. So are all machining machines doomed? Certainly not. The more sophisticated the pieces are and the more volume they have, the longer traditional machining will provide the best possible production method. For flywheels and turbines, it will remain the only method of operation for years to come. And additive competition will be good for making leaps forward in machining as well.

But the momentum for additive manufacturing is coming. That much is certain. SMEs may even be at an advantage because of their flexible structures. So be sure to get pulled into the pool with them.