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Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace

Dr. David Dietrich
Metals Fabrication Technology On-Site Leader for ORNL, Boeing
Adjunct Assistant Professor, ISE, UT
August 28, 2015, 2:30 – 3:30 PM
410 John D. Tickle Engineering Building

Part of Boeing’s Research and Technology, Dr. David Dietrich, works as a Material and Process Engineer within the forming and joining advanced metals team. He is responsible for multiple research and development projects connecting additive manufacturing to increased capability and cost savings throughout the Boeing enterprise. Currently, Dr. Dietrich serves as the metals fabrication technology on-site leader for Oak Ridge National Labs Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. In the past five years as a project manager, Dr. Dietrich has been responsible for multi-million dollars of internally funded research programs that matures emerging additive metals technologies for proprietary applications. In July 2015, he led a proposal team that captured an America Makes program titled “Digital Threading of Additive Manufacturing, totaling $1.99 Million. Prior to the latest project manager role, he was the project manager for a $1.5 Million program with the Office of Naval Research that spanned three phases over four years. Familiar with both polymer and metal based additive manufacturing; he holds nine registered US patents, five patent applications and has published four papers in international journals with respect to the field of additive manufacturing. His areas of research include metal additive manufacturing, supply chain quality, process improvements, designed experiments and cost modeling of additive manufacturing. For the past 3 years, Dr. Dietrich has had the pleasure of being an adjunct professor with Missouri University of Science and Technology, teaching Lean Systems, and co-authoring a textbook in the field of Lean Systems. Recently, Dr. Dietrich has been accepted as an adjunct assistant professor with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In 2011, Dr. Dietrich received the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. In 2010, he earned a Ph.D. from Missouri University of Science and Technology with a dissertation topic of “Emerging Technology Supply Chain Model for Additive Manufacturing.” In 2007, he earned a Masters of Engineering in Manufacturing Engineering degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology. In 2004, he completed a Master of Business Administration degree at Maryville University – St. Louis. In addition, he holds a B.S. from Murray State University, earned in 2000.

Abstract: This research is aligned with developing an emerging manufacturing technology, additive manufacturing (AM), into a mature, and flexible, cost-effective supply chain for aerospace production. As an emerging technology, AM’s supply chain is immature compared to conventional manufacturing technologies. Technical and business challenges limit the robustness of the AM supply chain system. Despite these challenges, AM is fast becoming ubiquitous in industry for functional prototyping, low rate production, design verification, and production line support. This discussion will focus on additive manufacturing adoption in aerospace with respect to flight hardware and lean manufacturing principles. In addition, a quick economic comparison to conventional manufacturing technologies will be highlighted.