Additive manufacturing in COVID-19: recognising the challenges and driving for assurance

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is once again at the forefront of global attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AM technology has demonstrated operational resilience and provided a wide spectrum of on-demand solutions to provide rapid emergency responses and solve supply chains disruptions issues. Present obstacles seen in the battle against COVID-19 may potentially spur into new possibilities for the AM community, standards organisations, and regulatory authorities to collaborate more closely to expedite the progress of this technology. The importance of assurance is rapidly growing on the agenda, and one of the primary problems continues to be a lack of standards and regulations. Nevertheless, regulatory authorities and certification service providers play a critical role in assisting manufacturers to adhere to best practices and getting ahead of the assurance curve to ensure that AM products are safe and reliable.

Keywords

• 3d printing
• additive manufacturing
• covid-19
• certification
• qualification
• quality assurance
• standards