AMS 2026 could have been altered by flight delays and snow-covered streets, however when you made it, the vitality felt something however frozen. This 12 months’s Additive Manufacturing Methods, which wrapped up final week in New York Metropolis, blended huge concepts, monetary updates, and loads of conversations about the place additive manufacturing is headed. Between panels, shows, and networking chats, it felt just like the business is at a turning level, even when nobody is sort of certain what comes subsequent.
The view from the venue
An enormous blizzard hit town within the days main as much as the convention, which clearly modified journey plans for lots of attendees. I personally had 5 separate flights canceled earlier than lastly managing to fly to Washington, D.C. to hop an Amtrak prepare to NYC. We heard from many others who additionally rode trains into town; this most likely made Stefanie Brickwede, head of AM at Deutsche Bahn, very comfortable certainly.
Stefanie Brickwede, Mobility goes Additive
Sadly, many individuals have been unable to make it to the occasion, so we’re sharing a few of the highlights with you!
A Story of Two Keynotes
Due to the blizzard, the phrase of the week was flexibility, and the schedule was pretty fluid. Yoav Zeif, the CEO of AMS Diamond Sponsor Stratasys, had lengthy been scheduled to open the convention, simply as he has the previous few AMS occasions. Sadly, his arrival was delayed, so our personal Government Editor Joris Peels, Chairperson for AMS 2026, took the stage that first morning and delivered his personal opening presentation, “3D Printing in a Fractious World.”
AMS Chairperson Joris Peels, 3DPrint.com
Peels described firms performing “like a canine with 5 or 6 tennis balls,” bouncing from one initiative to a different with out follow-through, and stated that within the unsure geopolitical local weather, what issues most is incomes belief, realizing your prospects, and constructing actual relationships. He known as this “very old style” focus extra important than ever.
He additionally stated the most important disruption in our business could also be happening in plain sight: the very actual risk of a desktop 3D printing revolution.
Stratasys CEO Yoav Zeif
Fortunately, Zeif was nonetheless in a position to ship his official opening keynote on the “State of the AM Trade.” He simply did so within the afternoon on the second day of AMS. Zeif stated he aspires for the AM business to be mainstream, like CNC.
“It’s a journey. Whenever you have a look at CNC, it took them 40 years to develop into the mainstream of manufacturing elements…What occurred in these 40 years? They eliminated these limitations, one after the other,” he advised the viewers.
“We have to take away the limitations…There isn’t a motive on the planet, none, that we’ll not take away the limitations as effectively. We simply must do it with our prospects.”
Zeif additionally echoed what Peels stated, noting that desktop is taking up the additive sector, and that it is a good factor, as a result of it helps broaden the business.
Snowy Music Lyrics
A memorable second got here when John Barnes, Founding father of The Barnes International Advisors (TBGA) and CEO of Steel Powder Works, started his presentation. True to latest custom, he opened with pun-filled music lyrics he’d written himself.
John Barnes, TBGA and Steel Powder Works
This 12 months, they have been all in regards to the snowy climate that made journey tough for many attendees.
“I thought of maybe ‘Do You Wanna Construct a Snowman,’ however that may be in unhealthy style, so perhaps I ought to simply ‘Let It Go,’” Barnes quipped amidst raucous laughter, dropping the names of two fashionable songs from the film “Frozen.”
He talked about the “flurry of concepts” he had whereas planning and fascinated about his “20(/)30 Imaginative and prescient: Adoption” presentation, noting that his head was “a blizzard of ideas that I needed to claw my manner via.” It was an effective way to make everybody smile, even in a 12 months full of uncertainty.
3D Printing for Helmets
On the ultimate day of AMS, the dialog turned to a really particular AM software. With soccer helmet in hand, Carbon CEO Phil DeSimone took the stage with Riddell representatives Thad Ide, Chief Product Officer, and Erin Griffin, Senior Vice President of Advertising and marketing and Communications. The 2 firms launched a 3D printed helmet liner in 2019, and have been collaborating to innovate sports activities gear ever since.
L-R: Erin Griffin and Thad Ide, Riddell; Phil DeSimone, Carbon
Ide known as Carbon’s DLS expertise “the right match” for Riddell’s helmets. Moreover, Ide and Griffin let the viewers in on some breaking information: Riddell is actively working to incorporate extra additive throughout all ranges, together with its varsity line.
Formlabs Financials
Talking of breaking information, Formlabs CEO Max Lobovsky’s featured discuss included numbers that many attendees described as a “big deal,” and bought individuals speaking afterward about how firms can develop in right this moment’s AM market.
Max Lobovsky, Formlabs
The privately owned firm has achieved a $2 billion greenback valuation, which makes it a unicorn. However as a result of it’s not public, the financials aren’t sometimes shared…till Lobovsky put them up on the massive display screen at AMS.
“Yeah, I see everybody getting out their telephones to take photos,” he stated wryly, as I and practically everybody round me did simply that.
CEO Roundtable
The favored CEO roundtable all the time feels to me much less like polished keynotes and extra like trustworthy conversations about the place firms actually stand right this moment. The CEOs on the panel talked brazenly about challenges, alternatives, and the fact of working in a market that’s nonetheless evolving. They centered on actual points as an alternative of massive guarantees.
L-R: Stephen Butkow, Cantor Fitzgerald; Max Lobovsky, Formlabs; Yoav Zeif, Stratasys; Phil DeSimone, Carbon; Brigitte de Vet-Veithen, Materialise; Glynn Fletcher, EOS
One of many final questions Cantor Fitzgerald‘s Managing Director Stephen Butkow requested the CEOs was what they’re most excited for in 2026. DeSimone is most enthusiastic about “the sheer amount of resin that we’ll be delivery for particular person purposes.” Brigitte de Vet-Veithen, Materialise CEO, stated she’s excited for the corporate’s software program a part of the enterprise this 12 months, whereas Lobovsky was enthusiastic about all of the merchandise Formlabs is at the moment creating.
Yoav famous that the world is “sadly probably not secure,” which equates to main demand in aerospace and protection purposes, in order that’s what he’s most enthusiastic about. Lastly, Glynn Fletcher, the CEO of EOS, stated what he’s enthusiastic about is “below a strict NDA,” so he can’t focus on it brazenly. However, he additionally stated the corporate is embedded in lots of packages the place AM is the default, not the exception, which he additionally finds thrilling.
Networking Alternatives
Then there have been the networking moments, and there have been loads of these. As all the time, a few of the most vital conversations occurred there, in small teams, over drinks, between individuals who have identified one another for years or have been simply assembly for the primary time.
The shows begin the dialog, however the actual work usually occurs afterward. As soon as once more, AMS confirmed that what occurs between classes can matter simply as a lot as what occurs throughout them.
Regardless of the snow and journey delays, AMS did what it all the time does: introduced individuals collectively, made certain it was the middle of actual conversations, and reminded everybody why this 3D printing group issues.
Photographs courtesy of Sarah Saunders for 3DPrint.com
Subscribe to Our Electronic mail E-newsletter
Keep up-to-date on all the newest information from the 3D printing business and obtain data and affords from third get together distributors.
Add your 3D Fashions and get them printed rapidly and effectively.
