What is the best way to learn about and fully understand Additive Manufacturing? And what is the most fun way at the same time? For us, it is being up close with the machines and watching how physical objects are created out of thin air. Luckily, among our members there are numerous printer manufacturers who can make this possible.

The promotion of young talents and the early introduction of 3D printing to the experts of tomorrow is a matter close to our hearts. For this reason, we welcomed 3 student interns again this year, whom we accompanied into the world of Additive Manufacturing. The three boys from a local school spend two weeks with us and gained an insight into CAD programs, 3D printers and the daily business of our network office.

This time we also received active support from 2 member companies to further educate our three students:

At BigRep we got an insight into the world of large-scale 3D printing. The possibilities and use cases include prototyping, tooling, furniture concrete molds as well as design objects. During our visit, we were also able to see use cases ranging from sinks to design studies for new Airbus seats to transport safety locks for helicopter rotors. A big thank you to Nico Wachshofer, Marco Backenhaus, Christine Degner and Peter Drimal for welcoming us on site and getting the three students a little more excited about Additive Manufacturing.

At Formlabs, we first had a guided tour of the premises before we gained hands-on experience in the company’s own printing farm. We experienced and carried out the entire printing process ourselves, from pre- to post-processing, on both, the resin and the powder printers. Another highlight of our visit was, that everyone could pick his favorite exhibits to bring them home.

Once again, we would like to thank BigRep GmbH and Formlabs GmbH for welcoming us and our 3 young guests and for making it possible to experience the printing technologies up close! This is the only way we can inspire the next generations for our industry and educate Additive Natives.

We are already looking forward to welcoming the next interns in the summer of 2024 – if you would like to welcome the students to your company for a field trip or if your children would like to drop in for an internship themselves, please get in touch!