The College of Waterloo’s Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) Lab is Canada’s largest educational steel additive manufacturing facility. With an area spanning 15,000 sq. ft and outfitted with greater than $25 million in cutting-edge infrastructure, MSAM leads innovation in superior manufacturing – growing the subsequent era of sustainable 3D printing applied sciences for industries worldwide.
The lab’s progress and enlargement present {industry} and college students with entry to top-tier experience and gear – enabling the excellent improvement, iteration, and validation of additively manufactured merchandise from uncooked supplies to completed items by making use of superior scientific discoveries to industrial contexts.
In recognition of MSAM Lab’s continued success, the Honourable Ruby Sahota, Minister of Democratic Establishments and Minister liable for the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), has introduced an funding of $5 million to the College of Waterloo. The funding helps the creation of the Consortium for Sustainable Scale-up in Metallic Additive Manufacturing (CSS-MAM).
“To guard our native economies and enhance the capability of native provide chains, we have to assist homegrown options that drive innovation, create good-paying jobs for Canadians, and deal with local weather change,” mentioned the Honourable Ruby Sahota, Minister of Democratic Establishments and Minister liable for the Federal Financial Growth Company for Southern Ontario. “In the present day’s investments spotlight the Authorities of Canada’s continued dedication to driving innovation and sustainable progress throughout key sectors, making certain that Canadian options cleared the path.”
Beneath the management of Drs. Ehsan Toyserkani and Mihaela Vlasea, Co-directors of MSAM, the CSS-MAM will focus on three essential areas – clear financial progress, accelerating the scale-up of associate industries’ manufacturing, and coaching.
“The MSAM laboratory is a outstanding facility that brings collectively world-class infrastructure and cutting-edge gear, experience, mental properties, and companions to assist the superior manufacturing sector throughout Canada,” mentioned Toyserkani. “This funding is not going to solely assist the creation of the CSS-MAM, however will tackle Ontario’s superior manufacturing sector’s want for clear and sustainable financial progress.”
The MSAM Lab revolutionizes each massive and small-scale superior manufacturing whereas selling sustainability. By adopting economically and environmentally sustainable supplies and minimizing waste by exact materials deposition, the lab enhances clear know-how and accountable manufacturing – lowering extra consumption and vitality use.
“Via the CSS-MAM, focus will probably be positioned on rising {industry} competitiveness and productiveness, whereas concurrently minimizing waste and CO2,” mentioned Vlasea. “This will probably be achieved by optimizing AM processes and productiveness, encouraging the adoption of large-scale AM tech, including synthetic intelligence-driven high quality assurance platforms, growing materials reuse methods, and half lifecycle evaluation.”
The funding can even assist in creating a mixture of on-line and in-person superior {industry} coaching applications. The curriculum will deal with facilitating up-skilling to deal with the numerous want for expert engineers within the Canadian workforce, together with a particular excessive demand for professionals wanted within the AM sector.
“Thanks to our companions at FedDev for this vital funding. The creation of CSS-MAM will enable the College of Waterloo to leverage our expertise and confirmed monitor file of {industry} partnerships to assist R&D for much more startups and small and medium enterprises,” mentioned Charmaine Dean, Vice-President of Analysis and Worldwide on the College of Waterloo. “Importantly, it permits for direct {industry} entry to superior amenities to attain agile options. It additionally helps industry-focused coaching for the expert workforce of tomorrow. By advancing the scale-up of home sustainable supply-chain clusters, CSS-MAM envisions a inexperienced and affluent future for the economies of southern Ontario and Canada.”
