Online Assessment Center for Additive Manufacturing
You would like to test your knowledge and know-how in the field of additive manufacturing and find out in which areas you are already an expert?
Our Online Assessment Center uses questions posed by experts in 3D printing and AM to determine your skills in the relevant additive manufacturing categories.
The categories are the following:
- 3D-Printing technologies
- Design
- Materials
- Applications
- Processing
- Health & Safety
- Economy and future of AM
In the past 30 years, the field of Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing technologies has undergone a phenomenal transition from a mere experimental tool to being a prototyping technique and has only in the past 10 years become an established tool for manufacturing end-parts used in highly demanding operating conditions. The entire value chain associated with Additive Manufacturing has redefined our approach to manufacturing creating a path that empowers manufacturers to develop new efficiencies.
Computer aided design, data handling, mechatronics, quality assurance and materials largely define the AM value chain. These entities define Additive Manufacturing at the technical practice level but there is more to it at the operational level where business processes and supply chain considerations become relevant.
What has become obvious though is that there is a lack of metric for ensuring that the skill sets needed to fulfill job placement requirements are adequate. Such a tool should measure a candidate’s level of knowledge about the critical aspects of AM namely technologies, design, processing, materials, applications, HSE (health, safety, environment) and economics.
There are of course no curriculum driven training program that covers these critical aspects of AM. Whilst it is important to create such a program at both the tertiary educational level and the vocational training level, what needs an urgent attention is to ensure that candidates filling positions in industry where AM is featured are given access to a knowledge based framework that allows them gauge their fitness for such positions. Recruiters, HR firms and headhunters also need a tool which would enable them have a comfortable sense of the nature, quality and measure of know-how a candidate has as they try to place them for positions requiring knowledge of AM.
The AM assessment platform which we have created is designed to serve as a tool for measuring AM knowledge level. It gives test-takers the chance to identify their strengths and challenges in the field of AM. The questions have been generated from both practice based experiences and knowledge documented in reference scripts. The test has been developed for two technical positions; Junior or Entry technical level and for Senior or Experienced levels. For this reason the difficulty levels of the tests are somewhat different when both test versions are compared.
References have been included to provide some study direction in preparation for the test. Also the managing institute for this test; Steinbeis Institute for Material Applications and 3D Printing Solutions (IMAPS), offers training programs for both individuals and companies. IMAPS issues a certificate to successful test-takers as evidence of their level of know-how in AM. The question pool for the test is progressively enriched to reflect both new trends in the practice driven field of AM as well as highlight research findings that push the frontiers of the AM industry.
About the developer of the test
Brando Okolo is director of the Steinbeis-Institute for Materials Applications and 3D Printing Solutions (IMAPS). He studied chemical engineering up to Master degree level at the University of Leeds UK and holds a PhD in Physical metallurgy, materials science and engineering from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and the University of Stuttgart in Germany. Over the past 6 years he has been engaged in the founding of several technologies start-up companies mainly in the field of additive manufacturing. He worked for years as a research scientist at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technologies (KIT) in Germany and then as a professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the German University in Cairo. Together with his experiences as an entrepreneur in the technologies sector, he also holds an additional professorship at the Karlshochschule International University in Karlsruhe where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Business planning. He has over 20 years’ experience in the research and development sector, 15 of which are in rapid prototyping and 3D printing. His over 100 publications cover the fields of science and engineering technologies as well as topics related to social development. His know-how and depth in the additive manufacturing sector/3D Printing technologies is known globally having done pioneering work in the 3D printing of high temperature/performance polymeric materials such as PEEK for which he holds patents. Brando serves on the board of the EU – COST ACTION 15107 (MultiComp) and international advisory board of World Congress on Smart Materials. He has set up educational programs, research labs and manufacturing platforms focused on 3D printing technologies to drive industrialization in developing countries. His understanding of the world and craft of additive manufacturing/3D Printing technologies is at the expert level covering the critical areas of computer aided design, materials testing & selection, machine control, process optimization, health & safety, economics and the revenue generating aspects of this revolutionary manufacturing tool.
Register today and receive a certification of your skills in the world of 3D printing upon successful participation!
Available now here!
If you have any questions about this AM Test, contact us or send an e-mail at info@steinbeis-imaps.de!
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