SLM Solutions Webinar: “We Want to Give our Customers the Freedom to Innovate”


A new webinar series by 3D metal printer manufacturer SLM Solutions showcases its system’s ability to empower customers to grow in the ever-evolving additive manufacturing (AM) marketplace. For many 3D printing companies, webinars are turning into a fundamental tool to create awareness about new developments and to identify customer needs. For the German-based top metal 3D printing supplier , this new series of webinars can draw in users in search of cost-efficient, fast, and reliable Selective Laser Melting (SLM, DMLS, Powder Bed Fusion) 3D printers for part production, which is the core development at SLM Solutions.
During the hour-long educational talk through the advantages of true open architecture in AM , the Director of Industrialization Strategy for SLM Solutions Americas, Thomas Haymond, explores the company’s goal: building a system that grows with the user. By opening up the system’s architecture, SLM Solutions wants to prove that customers will never outgrow the machines and instead be able to adapt their businesses, reduce their learning curve, and innovate from day one. 

Defined by Haymond as a system that allows for full user access, where there are no closed doors, and essentially everything about the system and its inherent variables is fully discoverable, open-architecture systems are unquestionably important to the company. So, what are the key elements? Haymond defined four:

Powder variety
Open process parameters
Freedom to control variables
Customized development

Certainly, many metal 3D printing manufacturers offer open access to certain aspects of their systems, however, SLM Solutions claims that its product is different and unique because there are no additional requirements associated with it. 
“The initial variable of powder variability is an open architecture element we recognize and we will support you with. Empowering the user to understand this intricate knowledge expedites their evolution and turns them into power users of additive manufacturing technology,” asserted Haymond. “By providing the ability to utilize an unlimited variety of raw materials, opening the doors on all of our parameter configurations, and educating the customer on how to transform all facets of built strategy parameters, we are enabling them to apply the SLM technology in whatever direction they choose.”
Achieving a successful build is heavily dependant on the powder being used, which according to Haymond, is arguably one of the most important system-level variables. In fact, he considers that the first key element of an open architecture system is the ability to vary the raw material, emphasizing the importance of powder quality and variety. That is why SLM Solutions offers a wide assortment of materials, from the traditional to the rather exotic more advanced AM powders, as well as a few new aluminum alloys which they have...

Top