Two days of inspiration starting of in Haarlem at the Smart Industry Fieldlab 3D Makers Zone with lots of 3D printing examples like the 3D printed furniture and the concrete printing! Day 2 we worked hard by combining all knowledge gathered from the Local Stakeholder Group meetings, the workshops Skills and Infrastructure, the desk research and the brainstorm results about existing and new Services. Creative ideas for pilots were some rewarding results for all countries
DAY 1 - 3D Makers Zone Haarlem
We started of by reflecting all learnings from the previous workshop about Infrastructure. Then we got inspired with a tour around the Smart Industry Fieldlab 3D Makers zone. We learned, talked and shared experiences about different sorts of printers, techniques and products. For example the new metal printing Freemelt activivities were interesting. Also the furniture 3D printed was almost a museum of modern art! We preferred the orange chair which was specially made for the Queen of the Netherlands Maxima.
Then we set up an extended Local Stakeholder group meeting by Teams with members of the FME Additive Manufacturing network, 3D print service providers/ 3D print experts/ knowledge institutes and other stakeholders active in 3D printing from Denmark, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both metalprinting and international cooperation were discussed.
A special presentation was given about 3D printing in space by the European Space Agency the Netherlands.
DAY 2- FME Zoetermeer
We worked hard day 2 of the Services workshop to combe all knowledge gathered from the Local Stakeholder Group meetings, the workshops Skills and Infrastructure, the desk research and the brainstorm results about existing and new Services. Creative ideas for pilots were some rewarding results for all countries! The reference framework we used for the Services were the phases during the customer journey of SME’s adopting 3D printing. See picture below:
Six weeks before the workshop we did desk research by interviewing 1:1 companies and conducting surveys. The questions were posed per phase of the customer journey, about current/ existing services offered but also about new and improved services in the future. The results are summarized below.
Existing services: almost all companies provide services in all phases of the customer journey to (potential) (SME) clients
- Showing applications & best-practices via events/’techdays’
- Providing insight in business case / benefits (via scan on site): what problem does AM application solve?
- Experimentation and test facilities
- Training courses, generic and specific, for example for engineers
- Print services / outsourcing of printing
New idea’s & improvements: intensify existing initiatives and developments
- Focus on the business case / benefits that can be realized tomorrow, to change the perception of AM! Just do it / start!
- Focus on making existing knowledge accessible, unlocking infrastructure for testing and experimentation
- Intensify: (free) site scans, training opportunities, combination of direct cost benefits with circularity
- Subsidy / vouchers of (local) governments for initial research costs
- Opening extra AM metal fieldlab + development materials
