Two new awards focus on startups, unique approaches to providing technical solutions

SME, the nonprofit association committed to advancing the widespread adoption of manufacturing technologies and developing North America’s talent and capabilities, today announced the winners of its Additive Manufacturing Industry Awards at RAPID + TCT 2023, North America’s largest and most influential additive manufacturing (AM) event, which runs May 2-4 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

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Jeff DeGrange, Chief Commercial Officer, Impossible Objects Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)

The awards ceremony represents more than two decades of SME recognition of notable, innovative leaders in the field of additive manufacturing. New for this year are two competitive awards: the AM Startup Award which showcases young companies that have developed a new AM technology or application that solves an existing problem or utilizes a unique approach, and the AM Pitchfest which offers entrepreneurs, start-ups and academic spin-offs with emerging technology, products and applications an opportunity to showcase their latest AM technologies and innovations to a panel of judges made up of industry leaders, media and the AM community within a five-minute timeframe.

All of the awards, which are traditionally presented at RAPID + TCT, focus on applying AM technology to production, not just research and development. This year’s winners include the following:

AM Industry Achievement Award

Established in 2008, the AM Industry Achievement Award, recognizes an individual or team for outstanding accomplishments that significantly impact the application of AM in any industry. It recognizes achievements implemented or deployed in a commercial/industrial environment versus research or investigative work. Scope and scale of benefits realized and the potential future impact their work will have on the industry are key differentiators. The 2023 recipient is:

Name: Jeff DeGrange

Title: Chief Commercial Officer

Business Affiliation: Impossible Objects Inc.

Jeff DeGrange is being recognized for his contributions over a distinguished career for significantly advancing AM in aviation and across a broad range of industries. He lead Boeing’s corporate AM transition and successfully lead the team that certified and qualified production flight parts on the F/A-18 Hornet and 787 Dreamliner.

AM Startup Award

This award is designed to showcase young companies that have developed a new AM technology or application that solves an existing problem or utilizes a unique approach. The winner is:

Mantle – San Francisco, California

TrueShape™ technology and P2X material

• Reduces lead time from seven weeks to eight days
• Lowers cost by 50 percent
• Parts require no additional finishing

AM Pitchfest Award

This award offers entrepreneurs, start-ups and academic spin-offs with emerging technology, products and applications an opportunity to showcase their latest AM technologies and innovations to a panel of industry judges. The winner is:

• ColorForge – Peoria, Illinois, “Personalized, Customized High-mix, High-volume Cosmetic Manufacturing”

AM Pitchfest runner-up:

• LightSpeed Concepts Inc. – Albion, Michigan, “Sustainable 3D Sand Printer for Metalcasting”

Aubin AM Case Study Award

The Aubin AM Case Study Award looks to recognize innovations in the application of AM technologies. The award recognizes outstanding use cases of AM adoption and implementation and provides inspiration to others in their journey of AM application. Winning for their topic, “BioHome3D: World’s first fully bio-based, fully recyclable, highly insulated 3D-printed house,” the recipients are:

• Oakridge National Laboratory
• The Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC)
• University of Maine
• The Maine State Housing Authority
• The Maine Technology Institute
• WBRC, Inc.

Digital Manufacturing Challenge

The Digital Manufacturing Challenge is designed to inspire the next generation of engineers. It challenges them to re-think ways to design, create, and utilize infrastructure-level systems that deploy engineering design and manufacturing solutions to strengthen infrastructure in the response, mitigation and/or prevention of such disruptive and devastating events and envision an optimistic view of healthy, robust, sustainable, smart, agile, peaceful communities. The Digital Manufacturing Challenge Award has three categories for 2023: high school, undergraduate and graduate teams. Winners are:

High School Category

Coronado High School – Coronado, California

“Adaptable Emergency Survival Backpack Utilizing Multipurpose Modularity”

• Kailani Lenert
• Jasmine Lo
• Sean Wilbur
• Ava Raugust
• Peter Waydo, faculty advisor

Undergraduate Category

Slippery Rock University – Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania

“3D-Printed Water Filter”

• Andrew Langer
• Cameron Constantine
• Josh Lee
• Dr. Su, academic advisor

Graduate Category

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Blacksburg, Virginia

“On-site Additive Manufacturing of Water Filtration and Decontamination Devices”

• Daniel Alves Heinze
• Michelle Pomatto, and
• Yiqun Fu
• Dr. Christopher Williams, faculty advisor

The SME Additive Manufacturing Industry Awards are presented by SME’s AM Technical Community Leadership Committee and Direct Digital Manufacturing Advisory Team. The groups produce content for the organization’s programs and other industry events on advanced AM technologies and processes that allow the development, testing and manufacture of new products faster and more cost-effectively. The Additive Manufacturing Industry Awards celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of individuals, teams and companies creating significant impact in commercializing AM.

About RAPID + TCT 2023

For more than 30 years, SME and RAPID have defined the crucial role of additive manufacturing and empowered the establishment of an industry that continues to conceive, test, improve, and manufacture new products faster, more cost-efficiently. In 2017, the two industry leaders in 3D technology events, SME and The TCT Group partnered to produce the annual RAPID + TCT event. For users and suppliers alike, the event is the premier destination for those who provide technology and for those who need to understand, explore and adopt 3D printing, additive manufacturing, 3D scanning, CAD/CAE metrology, and inspection technologies.

About SME

SME believes in the power of technology and the innovation of people to advance our nation and solve the world’s greatest problems. For 90 years, SME has led the manufacturing ecosystem to elevate manufacturers, academia, professionals, and the communities in which they operate. We help build the bridge from today to the future by developing the next generation of manufacturing talent and informing industry on technology advances that can propel their operations into excellence. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg.

NOTE TO EDITORS: High-resolution images of the winners of the Additive Manufacturing Industry awards are available from SME.

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