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WGLS - Wartsila Global Logistic Services - Strategic Purchasing Team of Wärtsilä Italia is proud to inform that, in cooperation with ISLA - International Service Logistics Association, for the first time we organized, promoted and hosted an Additive Manufacturing Focus Days in Industrial 3D Printing of Metal Spare Parts held on the 14th of June in Wärtsilä Italia, Trieste. We were supporting this initiative to connect different industrial realities able to establish a new level of collaboration and sharing of information. The involvement of internal Key players from Laboratory, Materials Experts, Supply Management, Product Managers gave us the possibility to create also awareness where other key players in the market are heading and the application of AM Technology to management of the spare parts. (AM) Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D Printing, is a game-changing technology. It can provide manifold benefits such as a shorter value chain, cost and time reduction, production of customized objects, and ways to completely new designs. Last but not least, AM can help reduce inventories by storing data in place of parts — a spare will be printed when (and where) needed. For a wide range of plastic parts, that vision has become reality. But additive manufacturing using metal alloys has lagged behind. Systems and materials  (metal powders) are more expensive. Metal properties must meet casting and forging standards. Industry constraints such as certifications and quality expectations have to be taken into account. Size limitations still exist. Post-processing is labor-intensive. Anyway, the technology improves rapidly and costs will drop in the near future. Sit and wait cannot be an option for innovative companies. 
Guests and internal participants of the Focus Day were welcomed in the Wärtsilä Italia Auditorium by Rosario Sommonte, Manager, Strategic Purchasing together with Ulf Nitz, Association Coordinator of ISLA, who introduced the program of the day and left the floor to Giuseppe Saragò, GM, Smart Manufacturing & Innovations for the presentation of Wärtsilä Italia and introduction of the application of AM technology to manufacturing and performance of Engines. Rosario Sommonte continued with the overview of the Services spare part business and material validation and applications based on the needs coming from our customers. Important worldwide companies representatives participated and share their presentations during the event, such as Barkawi – Management Consultants, APWorks, Eos – e-Manufacturing Solutions and Siemens, which turned into an interactive forum to share on the matter of Industrial 3D Printing of Metal Spare Parts with peers from across industries.
After the lunch buffet, served in the Hall of the Auditorium, the guests were guided by our colleagues, Daniel Piculin, Manager, Investigation Lab. Trieste and Claretta Alagna, Strategic Purchaser along the production lines of the WIT factory, to conclude the session with afternoon presentations in the Auditorium.

The great success of the event which has received a high level of positive comments and feedback is to testify the interest for an innovative and very shared topic. Current challenges, opportunities and future long term scenarios generated high level of interest and dialogue and the ground for future cooperation between different companies in similar forums.

Read the evidences of the participants:

Sven Lauxmann from APWorks:

“The event hosted by Wärtsilä on the topic of "Industrial 3D Printing of Metal Spare Parts" provided the ideal platform for exchanging current status and experiences on the subject of metallic 3D printing with numerous OEMs from various industries. It was exciting to "experience" the challenges each of the participating companies has to deal with in order to leverage the significant benefits of 3D printing in the business. For us as APWORKS, which helps companies to take the appropriate steps on the way to successful metallic 3D printing, it is always interesting to see that in addition to the identification of suitable components, the necessary change management in an organization are the main levers to anchor AM successfully. In particular, a close exchange with other companies is eminently important in order to exchange experiences and to realize a faster and more successful implementation. In addition to that, we would also use our channels to communicate the session to our more than 2.000 LinkedIn followers with some pictures, which can be also of good marketing for Wärtsilä. Would you please be so kind and send me some content (pictures, etc.)”

Daniel Evers from Barkawi:

“The ISLA Focus Day on 3D printing of Metals Spare Parts was a very insightful event as it combined both market and business model driven discussions with concrete practical examples how Additive Manaufacturing can be applied and how it helped the affected companies gaining significant benefits.

Following all the conversations, my main conclusion and take-away is „Momentum“. We are shortly before a significant breakthrough of this technology that will not only disrupt product development but also all corresponding Supply Chains and even more prominent, the Supplier-Customer relationship and its associated business models.

I was really impressed about Wärtsilä‘s approach and progress on this topic. I also liked the approach of the Friuli Innovation Cluster that brings established industry Players and Start-ups together to join forces and drive this topic.”

Lunz, Markus from Siemens:

“ISLA’s Focus Day on Industrial 3D Printing of Metal Spare Parts”’ was a really great opportunity to exchange with other external market players on their status of industrialization of additive manufacturing. The challenges among all participants are the same, e.g. finding the right applications to leverage the full potential of additive manufacturing. The customer co-creation approach in the ecosystem of additive manufacturing will be a good opportunity to tackle these challenges and to create a combined business success with our suppliers and customers.”

Henk Jonker from Dimanex:

“Great event with very interesting presentations but most of all good knowledge sharing. Great to see the industry moving up.”

Marko Broznic, Senior Product Manager, W26 W64, Large Bore Engine, Wärtsilä Italia;

“Being a 4 stroke services product manager, if we speak about product line related business, the first term that pops on my mind is lifecycle. We, in Wärtsilä services must strive to enable the best possible performance from our products over the entire lifecycle. This means quite a few things but probably one of the most important aspects is the spare parts availability. Personally, I did not know a lot about 3D printing prior to the event, and therefore it helped me to get the right initial perspective of the technology developments and the potential applications within our branch. It might be, that the additive manufacturing technologies are one of the future technologies that will unlock new scenarios in the supply of components and make it substantially different than the systems we are seeing today. Decentralized, Flexible, One off, Print to Order, these might be just few of the future terms that could describe the next gen supply chain. To me, this event was an eye opener!”