Additive Snack - What NASCAR Racing and Additive Manufacturing (AM) Have in Common

What NASCAR Racing and Additive Manufacturing (AM) Have in Common

02/08/22 • 29 min

Fortune favors the bold when it comes to additive manufacturing (AM). Many companies begin with a simple application of AM, which is fine, but to continuously unlock long-term success for AM, the real opportunities for innovation, performance, design improvements, and market differentiation you will need to be bold. NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski is a bold individual on the race track and within the company he founded, Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing. His organization is on a mission to lead the fourth industrial revolution. His team's state-of-the-art AM capabilities are a big part of that effort.

In this episode, Host Fabian Alefeld speaks with Brad about how he was introduced to 3D printing, why NASCAR and AM have more in common than many think, how Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing has been able to grow so quickly, and Brad's advice for organizations who are at the beginning of their AM journey.

Comments about the show or wish to share your AM journey? Contact us at [email protected]. The Additive Snack Podcast is brought to you by EOS.

Key Takeaways:

[2:25] Plastic 3D printing wasn’t an option for the high-intensity needs of a race car, but in 2017 metal 3D printing helped facilitate Brad’s desire to win.

[6:31] Common threads between additive manufacturing and motorsports.

[10:37] How Brad manages growth and challenges at Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM).

[13:28] Process control and vertical integration are key components of KAM’s success, and when they do fail, they fail forward.

[18:08] How to overcome the biggest challenges in AM and the importance of finding the best use case.

Shareables:

“I start everything I do with — what is it going to take to win? — and in a lot of ways technology is what we need to win.” — Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Champion, and Owner/Founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing

“The factory we use in [AM] is a lot like a race car factory. A racecar factory is hyper-organized, very-process based, speed to market is very important, it is very clean, and all of those things are important in an AM landscape..”—Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Champion, and Owner/Founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing

“Our biggest challenge at KAM, and I think this is very much the case in a lot of the AM industry, is the experience of program managers, buyers, engineers in the industry to date.”— Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Champion, and Owner/Founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing

“If you just want to start with AM on a simple project, that’s okay, but it is probably not going to give you long-term success. Make sure you find the right use case.” — Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Champion, and Owner/Founder of Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing

Comments about the show or wish to share your AM journey? Contact us at [email protected]. The Additive Snack Podcast is brought to you by EOS.

Key Takeaways:

[2:25] Plastic 3D printing wasn’t an option for the high-intensity needs of a race car, but in 2017 metal 3D printing helped facilitate Brad’s desire to win.

[6:31] Common threads between additive manufacturing and motorsports.

[10:37] How Brad manages growth and challenges at Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing (KAM).

[13:28] Process control and vertical integration are key components of KAM’s success, and when they do fail, they fail forward.

[18:08] How to overcome the biggest challenges in AM and the importance of finding the best use case.

Shareables:

Previous Episode

Additive Manufacturing (AM): Injecting Agility and Innovation into Product Development

Many people mistake failure as a shortcoming of additive manufacturing (AM). In many cases, it is more about the time and effort needed to learn entirely new processes. AM is an enabler of agility. It is helping organizations become more agile and solve problems more effectively. For the past few years, AM has helped companies work around supply chain challenges. By exploring AM as a stop-gap solution, you can overcome temporary disruption, but you can also discover long-term solutions to manufacture more effectively.

In this episode, Host Fabian Alefeld speaks with Rich Stump, co-founder, and CCO of Fathom, an on-demand digital manufacturing service provider that recently announced it is going public. Rich, and Fathom, have been at the forefront of the AM revolution for more than a decade. Rich describes how Fathom has evolved alongside AM's capabilities. We talk about how Fathom is helping its customers learn how to design for AM, how gateway applications can help new companies adopt AM, and where the AM industry and Fathom are headed in the future. Rich shares insights that only a true additive manufacturing leader could know.

The Additive Snack Podcast is brought to you by EOS.

Key Takeaways:

[1:53] Rich describes his journey through different technologies to arrive at additive and advanced manufacturing and the life-cycle of Fathom.

[7:45] Rich explains how Fathom is unique in the AM arena.

[9:32] An impressive example of how Fathom met a unique customer need using 12 different manufacturing processes with a critically short timeline.

[12:29] The agility of AM allows companies to reduce their product development timelines.

[14:16] Fathom’s outcome-focused approach allows clients to see how AM can enhance their product development and manufacturing processes.

[17:51] Rich and Fabian discuss the future workforce of AM, gateway applications that can accelerate AM’s widespread integration and the role of AM in alleviating supply chain challenges.

[25:59] Rich’s guidance to those interested in incorporating AM into their manufacturing process — start with a simple application.

Shareables:

“I'm passionate about this industry and how we can think differently to use new technologies to solve interesting problems — to accelerate and innovate the product development process.” — Rich Stump, Co-founder, and CCO of Fathom on The Additive Snack Podcast

“It’s about using additive alongside traditional manufacturing, to solve the right problem for the right application. We are technology neutral.”— Rich Stump, Co-founder, and CCO of Fathom on The Additive Snack Podcast

“Today, more than ever, we have access to technologies at price points and ease of use that in the past were either very expensive or very hard to use, which brings a lot more agility to the whole product development process.”— Rich Stump, Co-founder, and CCO of Fathom on The Additive Snack Podcast

“Find an application that is an easy win and then build upon that. You have to build the culture of adoption, and in order to do that you have to change the mindset of the organization to adopt a new manufacturing process.” — Rich Stump, Co-founder, and CCO of Fathom on The Additive Snack Podcast

Next Episode

How Additive Manufacturing (AM) is Enabling the Next Leap in Aerospace Innovation

In this episode, Host Fabian Alefeld speaks with Brian Neff. Brian is the CEO of Sintavia and Chairman of the Board of Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association (AMGTA). Sintavia is an aerospace manufacturer that uses 3D printing technology to achieve the next levels of engine performance, thermodynamic efficiency, part consolidation, and sustainability for its customers.

From the Austin studio, Brian shares what makes additive manufacturing (AM) a perfect fit for building rocket engines, Sintavia's unique role at the crossroads of aerospace innovation and additive expertise, and how Sintavia is helping the aerospace industry overcome resistance to change. In addition, he describes how AM achieves new levels of sustainability for manufacturers and their customers, how Sintavia is using AM to enable next-generation aerospace innovations from fully electric aircraft to space travel, and the emerging AM capabilities and materials he is excited about.

Comments about the show or wish to share your AM journey? Contact us at [email protected]. The Additive Snack Podcast is brought to you by EOS.

Key Takeaways:

[1:53] Brian explains that multi-generational modality changes in aerospace are what excites him.

[4:30] How Sintavia differentiates themselves and their impact on the aerospace industry.

[8:17] What Brian considers barriers to AM adoption and how Sintavia overcomes the barriers.

[10:13] How AM is helping to enable sustainable manufacturing technologies and how Sintavia is approaching new applications.

[22:12] The AM incentives that will transform the traditionally conservative aerospace industry.

[26:09] How the ever-evolving AM industry’s emerging capabilities will impact the aerospace industry and what changes Brian envisions for the future of space travel.

Shareables:

“I was first introduced to AM in 2011 when I was running a jet engine repair company and toured a competitor in Bavaria.” — Brian Neff, CEO, Sintavia

“Sintavia is a combination of a company that understands aerospace quality, understands additive technology, and brings them together in two very important and critical product categories which are the next generation of flight and launch engines and the next generation of heat exchangers to cool them.”— Brian Neff, CEO, Sintavia

“In 2019, we came up with the AMGTA. The whole purpose of the AMGTA is to take a very hard, very accurate look at how the technology [AM] is more sustainable, and create pathways and strategies for companies, using specific raw additive technologies, to use those properly.” — Brian Neff, CEO, Sintavia

“100% of all private commercial rocket engines, at least the thrust chambers for those, are printed. 100% across the industry of the eight companies that have either launched into space or are about to launch into space every single one of those rockets is printed.”— Brian Neff, CEO, Sintavia

“Sustainability to me is the other side of operational efficiency.” — Brian Neff, CEO, Sintavia