TÜV SÜD has introduced virtual training courses in additive manufacturing. The subjects deal with in the courses include business models, process chains, materials, current industry standards, and production and quality management.
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a fast-growing area of industry, particularly in series production, where high hopes are placed on innovative technology. “As industrialization advances in additive manufacturing, the need for specialist expertise is becoming increasingly urgent”, warned Gregor Reischle, Head of Additive Manufacturing at TÜV SÜD. “In addition, qualifications in this field are often
still based on individual solutions, although an integrated approach is the only way to ensure a
company’s operations are successful along the entire value chain.”
TÜV SÜD provides specialist training for the specific industrial AM environment, in which compliance
with AM-specific DIN/ISO/ASTM standards is required. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, TÜV
SÜD’s training courses and seminars are being held online at present.
A total of eight subjects are addressed, including Fundamentals, Health and Safety, Specifications, and
Quality and Production Management as well as Risk Assessment, Process and Design Validation, and Industry Standards. The fee-based training courses make clear distinctions between the new technologies and their preceding manufacturing methods and are aimed at implementing high-quality
standards in a targeted manner.
The procurement of AM parts is an area often fraught with uncertainty over which requirements must be
fulfilled by suppliers. This uncertainty also extends to health and safety in AM, where examples of how
to conduct hazard assessment processes are as yet few and far between. Safety in handling testing and measurement equipment and moving machine parts is a further issue. Using examples from occupational medicine as a basis, the courses teach risk management as a systematic management process for the analysis, assessment, and monitoring of risks. In addition, participants learn how to perform successful AM-specific process validation in quality control. Further aspects covered in the training include design rules for additive manufacturing and standardization; the latter is a field in which good progress is already being made.
