In the afternoon, the 2019 Cohort traveled to Garching, Germany to visit the GE Additive facility. Our itinerary listed this visit as "global player competing in the highly innovative German market"; however that was an understatement. GE Additives is doing more than competing, they are collaborating and fostering innovation and creativity.

GE Additives is a division of General Electric, an American Corporation that has been around for 100 years and is widely known for its products and services. Additive manufacturing involves a software run machine to deposit material, layer upon layer, in precise geometric shapes until the final object is created. This is opposed to standard manufacturing where a block of material is cuts, melted, and shaped, which limits what shapes can be made and still be functional as well as creates a lot of waste. Many would define this process as 3D printing, but in reality 3D printing is only one of the types of additive manufacturing available.

Dr. Christian Rensch, whom the Cohort met with, described the process as such:

Imagine you wish to make a glass object with many channels and pores. This cannot be achieved by traditional glass blowing. So, instead, you lay down a layer of sand in the shape of the bottom of the finished glass product and then heat that sand until it becomes glass. Then, add another layer of sand in the shape needed and heat that as well. You keep doing this until you have the finished product. The concept is the same, only instead of sand, it is metal powder that is put down layer by layer.

Products made by the additive machines that GE Additive sells include titanium replacement hip joints, turbine blades, and gas blocks. Additive manufacturing has recently made a helicopter engine that is a one piece unit (as opposed to the multiple parts that need to be assembled to make this engine using traditional manufacturing methods). And, GE Additives sells the machines that make these products.

But, they are more than just a machine merchant. GE Additive invests heavily in educating the customer on how to use the machines, allows customers to make prototypes using the machines set up at the Garching, and even helps the customer with designs. It's about the customer experience, not just peddling machines.

The 2019 Cohort enjoyed meeting with Dr. Rensch and touring the facility.