CEOs representing 18 companies offering products and services for additive manufacturing met at the RAPID 2011 conference and exposition this week, agreeing to continue discussions about the possible formation of a collaborative, nonprofit association that would lead a worldwide branding effort for the industry.
 
In this CEO Summit, six companies attended along with the 12 founding members that first gathered at RAPID 2010 and then again at Euromold last December to form the Additive Manufacturing Branding Initiative (AMBI).  This time, participating companies discussed the possibility of using “making better design happen” as the positioning concept for the marketing effort.
 
The working group heard a presentation from True, the marketing and branding firm based in Belgium, retained to develop a message and marketing plan that would raise awareness to accelerate growth for all in the additive manufacturing industry.
 
AMBI will meet again in late in June to review and refine the agency’s proposed plan and budget. With consensus, the group will begin the execution phase of the united branding effort. The group is interested and open to having any company in the industry participate on some level, said Wilfried Vancraen, CEO of Materialise and driving force behind AMBI.
 
Future meetings of the working group are expected to be held in Birmingham, England, in September and Euromold in December in Germany.
 
Initial funding for AMBI was provided by 12 founding members of the initiative:
– 3D Systems
– CONCEPT Laser GmbH
– DSM Somos
– EOS GmbH
– envisionTEC, Inc.
– Evonik Degussa Corp.
– Materialise
– Objet Geometries
– Realizer GmbH
– Stratasys, Inc.
– voxeljet technology GmbH
– Z Corporation