Additive Manufacturing for Production Polymer Parts Seminar

Private cohorts & on-site

Format: 2-day (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.)

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Location: Scheduled on demand · on-site at your facility or a regional venue

Date(s): Not yet scheduled for open enrollment. Get notified when it is, or book it privately for your team.

Includes: Certificate of Completion · printed slide binder · take-home reference text

Get notified when this course is scheduled

One email when dates are set. Or skip the wait: run it as a private cohort, on-site at your plant.

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Faculty

Faculty details for this seminar will be announced with the full schedule.

Fees

Early: $1,895 (payment 4+ weeks ahead)
Standard: $2,095 (check/ACH) · $2,165 (card)

Group discount: $200 off per attendee for 3+ from the same organization.

Also Available

Corporate on-site delivery at your facility
Private cohort sessions
Digital curriculum licensing

Seminar Overview

Additive has crossed from prototyping into production, and the engineering questions changed: not 'can we print it' but 'can we qualify it.' This seminar teaches production AM for polymer parts: process selection across FDM, SLS, MJF, and SLA with their real mechanical anisotropy, DFM rules specific to each process, the qualification/quality-system layer (process validation, IQ/OQ/PQ on printers, lot-controlled feedstock), and the tooling bridge — conformal-cooled injection molds and printed insert tooling — where additive meets molding economics.

The qualification half is the differentiator: machine qualification, process window development, feedstock lot control, and the inspection strategy for parts with internal geometry — taught against the ISO/ASTM 52900-family framework with plastic-part case studies. The tooling half covers conformal cooling's cycle-time economics and printed mold insert materials, connecting this course directly to the C-track's molding spine.

Corpus grounding: MIT OCW additive manufacturing courses in the ETS knowledge base, plus the supplier DFM guides — the AM course taught from the same primary-source discipline as the rest of the catalog.

Ideal Learner

Engineers evaluating AM for production polymer parts
Additive lab/production engineers building qualification packages
Tooling engineers exploring conformal cooling and printed inserts
Quality engineers owning AM process validation

Learning Objectives

Select the right AM process per part with anisotropy and economics honesty
Apply DFM rules per process: orientation, supports, accuracy, surface
Build a qualification package: machine, process, feedstock, inspection
Evaluate conformal cooling and printed tooling with cycle-time economics
Decide print-vs-mold with a defensible crossover model

Consulting Sessions

Seminar attendees can sign up for individual consulting sessions with the instructor. Sessions are free for registered attendees, first-come first-served — sign up when registering by calling 248-539-0473 or during the seminar.

Seminar Outline

FDM/SLS/MJF/SLA: mechanics, materials, economics
Anisotropy: the mechanical reality per process
Surface, accuracy, and the post-processing chain
Cost-per-part crossover vs. injection molding

Orientation as a design decision
Support strategy and its quality price
Internal geometry: lattice, channels, trapped volume
Tolerance and surface specs that printers can hold

Machine IQ/OQ/PQ on printers
Process windows and feedstock lot control
Inspection for internal geometry: CT and friends
ISO/ASTM 52900-family framework tour

Conformal-cooled molds: cycle-time economics
Printed mold inserts: materials and life
Hybrid tooling strategies
Case: the conformal-cooled mold that paid for itself

Production AM case files across industries
Print-vs-mold decision workshop
Build your qualification plan skeleton

More in Track C — Design, Molding & Tooling

Full Course Catalog