Engineering Reliable Performance with Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is no longer a novelty; it has been transforming engineering for decades, quietly changing how engineers design, build, and innovate. Now, collaboration, standard development, and education are turning industry momentum into reliable performance at scale.

From Early Innovation to Industry Alignment

Since the first 3D printer was commercialized in 1987, engineers and hobbyists alike have continually found new applications for the technology, from merging the feeding tube of a mosquito with a printer to creating medical prosthetics and even rocket parts. Additive manufacturing provides an alternative to the traditional linear process with a digital, efficient, and iterative cycle that enables faster innovation.

NASA’s Artemis II mission incorporated 3D printed components—including brackets, cable guides, housings, and elements of the environmental control system—all critical to ensuring the Orion spacecraft operates safely and reliably. By demonstrating these capabilities in flight, the mission highlights how these lightweight, durable designs can reduce costs and lessen dependence on traditional supply chains for future space missions.

As additive manufacturing scales across aerospace, energy, medicine, and more, industry alignment is accelerating:

• Arc Impact’s 2025 acquisition of key Desktop Metal assets, including Envision TEC and Adaptive3D, signals a strategic shift toward defense, energy, and aerospace, while positioning the company for AI-enabled growth.
• EOS’s recent acquisition of Metalpine reinforces the critical role of high quality materials as standards and certification expectations continue to evolve.
• The partnership between Reinforce3D and 3Dees Industries highlights growth beyond acquisitions, advancing material reinforcement systems while preserving proven methods.

This momentum is not driven by markets alone. Additive manufacturing remains inherently accessible, with low barriers to entry that invite talent from across disciplines. These collaborations reinforce that openness by uniting cross-sector expertise to define the path ahead.

How ASME Accelerates Innovation Through Collaboration

Over the past year, ASME and Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP) have joined forces with a shared purpose: to support and inspire women of all backgrounds who are shaping the future of additive manufacturing. At ASME, we believe that these women are central to advancing engineering for the benefit of all.  

That commitment was recently spotlighted at RAPID + TCT, North America’s largest industrial 3D printing and manufacturing event. Wi3DP held a panel with leaders from across the additive manufacturing landscape to discuss factors that can enable or hinder adoption of the technology at scale. The panel brought together multidisciplinary perspectives to examine why a technology like additive manufacturing can pose challenges and propose strategies to translate innovation into business value. 

ASME’s 143rd President Susan Ipri Brown also presented the TCT Women in 3D Printing Innovator Award to Dr. Sharon Nai Mui Ling for her leadership in industrializing additive manufacturing as a senior principal scientist at A*STAR SIMTech and Director of the Additive Innovation Centre in Singapore.

ASME’s acquisition of Wi3D reflects a broader industry shift toward integration as additive manufacturing moves from breakthrough research to deployment. That evolution depends not only on rapid innovation, but on engineers collaborating to ensure the technology is applied safely and reliably.

Confidence at Scale

By creating new standards, ASME is defining clear criteria for additively manufactured metallic parts to promote their safe and reliable use in pressure, nuclear, and related applications. The standards development group is actively seeking professionals who are interested in contributing their expertise to establish this new standard.

“Our standards development group, which consists of experts from across the field, is defining the foundational criteria needed to confidently apply metallic additive manufacturing for pressure retaining parts,” says Colleen Rodrigues, project engineering manager for pressure technology at ASME. “The standard will support practical use in industrial settings, where a replacement part can be printed when needed instead of navigating a time consuming procurement process.”

The group aims to publish the standard by fall 2027, helping translate emerging technology into real-world adoption.

To prepare engineers for emerging additive manufacturing technologies, ASME offers courses that cover fundamentals of design for additive manufacturing (DfAM), provide technical guidance for designing 3D printed metal parts, and translate metallic additive manufacturing into measurable value. These courses are designed to equip engineers with the skills to apply additive manufacturing with confidence as the technology scales.
 

Designing the Future – Together

Additive manufacturing is reimagining what engineering can achieve. By expanding what can be built and who can contribute, the technology is helping lay the groundwork for a safer, more versatile future. 

ASME remains closely aligned with that evolution, supporting innovation as it matures, and ensuring progress is built to last.



With regards,

Tom Costabile, P. E., FASME
ASME Executive Director/CEO