Léa Reineke (Fraunhofer IFAM)

Co-Chair

Léa Reineke is a Project Manager in Additive Manufacturing at the Department of Advanced Printing Technologies at Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen. Active in the powder metallurgy field since 2017, Léa began her journey in Metal Injection Molding (MIM) before transitioning to Metal Binder Jetting, where she has built several years of experience.

Léa Reineke’s career in this industry started during her time as a student at Fraunhofer IFAM. After completing a bachelor’s degree in medical engineering, she was drawn to the institute’s applied research projects in that field. She then strengthened her technical orientation by pursuing a master’s degree in materials science, which ultimately anchored her path in metal additive manufacturing.

Stefan Ritt (AM/3-D Printing market integration)

Co-Chair

Here’s a polished version:

Stefan Ritt is originally from Lübeck in Northern Germany. After completing his military service, he earned a master’s degree in physics engineering from the Technical University of Lübeck.

His professional career has consistently led him into internationally oriented companies and into increasingly senior management roles. Following positions in technical device development and as head of quality assurance for a manufacturer of professional beverage and vending machines, he moved into EU-wide product management for an electronics manufacturer.

At SLM Solutions Group AG, he spent more than 20 years building up international sales and marketing and played an active role in the company’s highly successful IPO in 2014. He then established the European sales and service office for an Australian company.

3D printing and additive manufacturing have been at the core of his expertise and professional activity for 30 years, spanning more than 60 countries. For the past 15 years, he served as head of the international committee of AMUG, the world’s largest user association for 3D printing, based in the USA. He is also a member of the EPMA Additive Manufacturing Board for Powder Metallurgy in Paris and has been actively involved in technical standardization efforts in this field. In that capacity, he also served as DIN’s contact person for aerospace standardization in China for several years.

In addition to delivering regular guest lectures on Supply Chain Management at TH Lübeck’s international department of Economics and mentoring start-ups in an accelerator programme, Stefan Ritt became involved at an early stage with the German Aerospace Industry Association (BDLI). He has also represented the BWA-Germany Industry Association as its North German representative and has founded three start-ups of his own.

EuroAM Steering Group

 Lea Reineke from Fraunhofer IFAM, and Stefan Ritt from AM/3-D Printing market integration are the Chairs of the steering group. They will coordinate activities in several areas including: Promotion Activities, Research & Technology Development, Training and Standardisation plus Conferences & Workshops. In addition to the two co-chairs, the Steering Group of the EuroAM also includes Paul Davies (Indo-MIM), Daniel Edman (Höganäs), and Maja Lehmann (Fraunhofer IGCV)

Discover the Intro to AM Brochure

What is Additive Manufacturing?

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, rapid prototyping or freeform fabrication, is “the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies” such as machining. The term 3D printing can be defined as the fabrication of objects through the deposition of a material using a print head, nozzle, or another printer technology.” The use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) with metal powders is a new and growing industry sector with many of its leading companies based in Europe.

What is the European Additive Manufacturing Group?

The European Additive Manufacturing Group (EuroAM) launched in May 2013 is open to companies and organisations across the supply chain who are or become members of the EPMA.

Its objectives are fourfold:

  • To increase the awareness of the Additive Manufacturing technology, with a special focus on metal powder based products.
  • To enable the benefits of joint action, for example through research programmes, workshops, benchmarking and exchange of knowledge.
  • To improve the understanding of the benefits of metal based AM technology by end users, designers, mechanical engineers, metallurgists and students.
  • To assist in the development of International standards for the AM Sector.

Promotion of the AM Sector

The first priority will be to develop an increased amount of printed and online data for AM users and designers including case studies and a printed flyer. Other planned promotional activity includes attendance at end-user exhibitions and seminars.

Research & Technology Development

In common with other EPMA sectoral groups the EuroAM will develop a function that identifies markets, drivers and potential solutions on the major issues shaping the future of the sector. From these activities topics for industry led “club” or “collaborative” projects may be derived. These projects will be funded either directly by members on a private basis or as part of EU funded programmes.

ISO Standards & Quality Development

The EuroAM supports standards development and plans to set up a group to work on ISO Standards in AM. Other potential areas already successfully introduced in other groups are trend surveys and exchange of statistics which will help re-enforce the benefits of joint action for members of the Group.

Conferences & Workshops

There will be regular EuroAM meetings normally linked to the annual Euro PM Congress. These meetings are a major networking opportunity as well as a chance to participate in the decision making process of the Group. Special meetings and Workshops will be also organised like Special Interest Seminars or full day Additive Manufacturing meetings.

In addition to the above members will of course benefit from the full range of EPMA activities in areas such as Club Projects, REACH legislation, Summer schools, publications etc.

For futher information please contact Kenan Boz at kboz@epma.com.