Certification of additive manufacturing operator personnel

Who is the additive manufacturing operator and what does he or she do?

The on-machine operator is the one who is in charge of the Additive Manufacturing process hardware: powder handling, print batch loading, routine maintenance, and performing initial non-destructive inspection of manufactured parts. Specifically, the operator has expertise in:

• Managing raw materials safely
• Basic theory of laser additive technology
• Print management (job loading, part extraction)
• Routine machine maintenance and cleaning
• Main quality characteristics of additive technology
• Main methods of non-destructive inspection (volumetric and surface) of parts

Certification examination admission requirements

• Educational qualification: Professional qualification or diploma
• Training: 24-hour training course (see “Training Program”) or possession of 3 CFPs (*)
• Work experience in the field: 3 months(*) 1 CFP = 8h of training or participation in a technical event or teaching activity, or publication of technical papers/memoir or research activity (each activity is worth 1 CFP). All activities should be properly documented.

Certification Examination

The certification examination consists of a written test and a practical test. Examination topics are indicated in the training program.