As people toured the University of Louisville Rapid Prototyping Center, the murmurs and whispers were the same.

 

“They’ve got a pretty good layout here.”

 

“This is pretty nice.”

 

Monday’s tour was the unofficial beginning of the 2018 Additive Manufacturing For Metalcasting Conference, and the trip to the center began the week on an informative and cutting-edge note. The conference is so crucial that some made the trip to Kentucky from places all over the globe to attend.

 

One such example is Vassily Barberopoulos, who works for Nigerian Foundries Ltd. in Lagos, Nigeria. He attended the first AFS additive manufacturing event and that led to him purchasing his first commercial 3D printer to make patterns.

 

“If it wasn’t for that additive manufacturing conference, I would not have been sensitized on additive manufacturing for the foundry industry,” Barberopoulos said.

 

The conference keynote will be delivered Sept. 11 by Ron Walling of Cummins (Columbus, Indiana). His speech, “Additive Manufacturing – The Path to Production,” will be the first of many presentations that will offer lasting value to anybody in attendance.

 

“We’re really excited for the future and we’re excited to be here,” said Steven King of Omega Castings Inc. (Battle Creek, Michigan). “After what we’ve seen so far, I can’t wait to see more presentations the rest of the week.”