STEWART Lane, corporate manager at Wotton under Edge based engineering company Renishaw, has been selected as chairman of a European trade body's new additive manufacturing (AM) committee.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, refers to the technologies that build 3D objects by adding layer-upon-layer of material, such as plastic, metal or concrete.

After joining Renishaw in 2000, Mr Lane was first appointed to the boards of the UK's Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) and CECIMO in 2015.

CECIMO is the European trade body that represents national associations of machine tool builders and related manufacturing technologies.

The creation of the new committee formalises its position as the European Association for the AM industry.

The committee will draw on expertise from 350 AM organisations across 15 countries.

It will act as the voice of additive manufacturing technologies, focussing on the industrialisation of AM. This includes the right EU regulatory framework, the workforce, trade and statistics, and builds on the work of the existing AM Working Group.

“New and innovative manufacturing techniques are crucial to drive European industry forward. To achieve productivity and competitiveness, we must industrialise additive manufacturing,” said Mr Lane.

“We are currently on the verge of this, as the technology moves from prototyping to serial production. However, we must first address the challenges in the AM industry and use these to shape industrial policy.

“CECIMO will be critical to ensuring Europe develops the right ecosystem to make the most of the technology,” he added.

“The committee gives the European AM industry a single voice to address issues essential to competitiveness, innovation and growth. Renishaw is committed to helping CECIMO achieve this goal.”