Guest editorial

Citation

Bourell, D. (2011), "Guest editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 17 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2011.15617caa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Rapid Prototyping Journal, Volume 17, Issue 3

It is hard to believe that the Rapid Prototyping Journal (RPJ) is 17 years old. It has served the additive manufacturing community well as an archive for research and product development. I have a copy of the first issue of the RPJ by virtue of having been a co-author of an article. The authors in this inaugural issue include some familiar names: Wohlers, Hull, Sanders. Others have disappeared from the additive manufacturing landscape. Flipping through the papers in Volume 1 Number 1 provides some perspective on the evolution, development and expansion of the field. For example, Terry Wohlers reported that service bureaus generated $40-60 million in business in 1993. This compares to Terry’s 2011 forecast (Wohlers Report, 2010) of $590 million for all additive manufacturing services, with bureaus representing about 75 percent of this total. Inflation in the USA for the period was about 60 percent, indicating a five-fold real growth for the period. The short-term future seems bright as well. One large service provider recently moved into a larger facility and last fall reported the best product sales month in its 15-year history.

Current research in additive manufacturing is equally rich and diverse, as evidenced by the articles in this issue which represent best papers from the 21st Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium – An Additive Manufacturing Conference, held August 9-11, 2010 in Austin, TX (USA). The materials representation is diverse, including metals, intermetallics, glass and polymers. There are advances in materials, processes and hardware. The authors are respected international researchers in additive manufacturing, and these articles were judged among the best 10 percent of the papers submitted to the SFF Symposium Proceedings volume. The 21st SFF Symposium had about 150 registered attendees which was the most seen in over ten years. The unscientific analysis seemed to support the contention that an increase in industrial participation was partially responsible, which countered the organizer preconception that there would be increased US academic participation from federal economic stimulus funding which was manifested in additional research funding primarily through the National Science Foundation. The cause notwithstanding, it looks like this year will be a good one for both practitioners and researchers.

There are several good opportunities to network with additive manufacturing researchers later this year. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is sponsoring RAPID 2011 in Minneapolis, MN (USA) in May 2011. The 5th International Conference on Additive Manufacturing will be held in July in Loughborough, UK. The SFF Symposium will run in Austin, TX (USA) in August. The Fifth Biennial Virtual and Rapid Prototyping Conference is planned for October in Leiria, Portugal. I would encourage you to become involved, particularly if you have not taken the opportunity to attend a technical conference. Plan well in advance of the meeting to present a paper by checking out the conference web site.

Dave BourellGuest Editor