formnext powered by tct set to showcase the evolution of modern product development and manufacturing
October 26, 2016
From November 15-18 in Frankfurt, Germany, the formnext 2016 exhibition is anticipated to be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition on Additive Manufacturing / 3D printing ever held in Europe. Some 272 exhibitors from every area of modern product development and manufacturing will present the latest developments in the technology.
“By bringing together additive and more conventional techniques, formnext focuses specifically on the developments and demands of modern production,” stated Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President for formnext at event organizer Mesago Messe Frankfurt.
“Based on the highly successful expansion that we’ve undergone, our second event will show that the formnext concept definitely has its finger on the pulse.” Indeed, formnext 2016 promises to be a significantly larger event in terms of both the exhibitors expected and the space at their disposal. The event will fully occupy the 18,500 m2 of Hall 3.1 at Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds. With nearly half of the exhibitors coming from outside of Germany, attendees can look forward to meeting the international elite in their respective fields of expertise.
Exhibition highlights
At the ‘AM Meets Aerospace’ showcase, attendees will learn how Additive Manufacturing and modern product development are finding their way into innovations in the aerospace industry. Leading organisations including the civilian division of Airbus, the engine manufacturer MTU, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the aerospace company Airbus Safran Launchers, Laser Zentrum Nord and the Aerospace Factory Additive Manufacturing network will also show off their in-depth knowledge and latest applications, offering real added value to visitors from other areas of industry.
Meanwhile, the ‘Basic Materials’ showcase will unveil cutting-edge developments in this field with regard to both conventional and additive production. Through a comparison of conventional and additive components made of different materials from various industries, it will also cover how basic materials can influence additive serial production.
In the Start-up Challenge area, the enterprising young winners of this formnext competition will have the chance to present their ideas and innovations. The five best entrants from this year’s Start-up Challenge will be officially announced on the first day of the exhibition. Under the theme ‘3D Printing for the Mobile Individual,’ the Purmundus Challenge 2016 will also be honouring the year’s best forward-thinking ideas.
In addition, visitors can find out how additive technologies are expected to continue evolving toward mass production. These advancements include new and faster printing technologies from XJET and HP, for example, as well as from countless innovative firms much smaller in size. Industry leaders like Additive Industries, Concept Laser, EOS, Renishaw, and SLM Solutions will also be on hand to demonstrate their holistic production concepts, which incorporate job preparation, manufacturing, quality control, unpacking, and further processing.
Among other exhibitors illustrating the innovative potential in combining conventional and Additive Manufacturing, Reutlingen University (Germany) will be exhibiting live production operations using an injection molding machine from Arburg and a tool insert 3D-printed by Alphacam.
World leaders in the exhibition hall
Virtually every member of the Additive Manufacturing elite will be exhibiting at formnext 2016, including 3D Systems, Additive Industries, Alphacam, Arburg, Concept-Laser, DSM-Somos, EnvisionTec, EOS, FIT, Formlabs, HP, Keyence, Materialise, Prodways, Realizer, Renishaw, Ricoh, Sisma, SLM Solutions, Stratasys, Trumpf, Voxeljet and first-time attendee XJet.
In addition, this year’s event will expand into numerous specialized fields all along the process chain and present leading global technology from the conventional realm. Prominent names like Hermle, Matsuura, Hage, and the DMG subsidiary Sauer will be in attendance to represent the mechanical engineering industry. A total of 28 international tool making companies will also be presenting at formnext 2016, underscoring how much importance this sector continues to gain. Those showcasing their leading expertise and prototypes in this field will include 1zu1 Prototypen, Antonius Köster, CNC Speedform, Robert Hofmann, Kegelmann, Lamy, Listemann and Schülken Form.
Along with other innovative, tradition-rich companies dealing in conventional technology (such as Bikar Metalle, Knarr, Nikon, Oerlikon Metco, and Werth Messtechnik), the software industry’s presence at formnext will continue to grow thanks to the likes of Altair, Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, IKOffice and MachineWorks-Polygonica.
The latest developments in materials will be covered by world-leading organisations including Heraeus, Höganäs, Sandvik Osprey and Airbus subsidiary APWorks. The Digital Factory division of Siemens AG will also be attending for the first time.
Register for a FREE multi-day ‘Season Ticket’ for the formnext exhibition with Metal AM magazine’s voucher code 1612301080FOV1. To register copy the code and click here.