If there’s one major issue in the manufacturing sector that can be expected to persist well into the future, it’s workforce development. This is especially true in nations like the U.S., which have experienced long-term declines in their manufacturing labor pools, and are now working to reshore manufacturing supply chains.
This is one context in which additive manufacturing (AM) could realistically provide a tangible near-term boost to reshoring efforts: advanced manufacturing curricula designed around AM processes allow manufacturing stakeholders to train new workers on a much smaller industrial scale than would be required if those same trainees were taught on conventional production equipment in more traditional settings. EOS, for instance, has done an excellent job at incorporating this advantage into its business model, making it a centerpiece of the company’s Additive Minds consulting division, and teaming up with the U.S. Navy to create a tailored program for Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) suppliers.
Now, EOS is partnering with NASA on a three-day Metal AM Master Class at the company’s EOS Technical Center in Pflugerville, Texas. The workshop, scheduled for November 4-6, 2025, costs $3,400 per participant and is limited to 20 students. Anyone interested can secure a slot here, as long as the course remains open.
NASA has obviously been instrumental to the standardization of AM processes throughout the AM industry’s history, and the commercial space market will continue to be one of the most intriguing opportunities for AM demand growth for the foreseeable future. A recently published AM Research report forecasts that the market for AM metal hardware dedicated to satellite applications will grow by over 4x through 2033.
LPBF training.
In a press release about EOS’s partnership with NASA on the upcoming Metal AM Master Class, Fabian Alefeld, the EOS global director of business development and the Additive Minds Academy, said, “This partnership embodies the power of public-private collaboration accelerating the adoption and understanding of [AM]. Through our agreement with NASA, we are delivering unparalleled access to the expertise and technologies that are shaping the future of aerospace and advanced manufacturing.”
Fabian Alefeld, Senior Manager of Additive Minds Consulting and Academy at EOS.
I think Additive Minds Academy is a brilliant concept, which EOS has gotten better and better at working into the company’s overall vision. It could also prove to be a key competitive advantage for EOS in the years ahead: if you haven’t figured out a way to make money off of workforce development, you may have an increasingly difficult time trying to scale your ecosystem during the AM industry’s next phase of growth.
So long as AM hardware — and especially metal AM hardware — falls short of being a “plug and play” solution, providing a readymade training program for new customers will be essential for increasing adoption. Further, if the U.S. government wants to throw more money at the AM industry, and I certainly think it should, public sector stakeholders should prioritize the companies that are immediately able to quickly bring new users up to speed.
Thus, with connections to NASA, the MIB, and America Makes, as well as key adopters like Ursa Major, no one should discount EOS’s potential to stay at the head of the pack as the AM industry enters a new chapter in its evolution. The company’s focus on being a hub for know-how, in addition to an OEM, gives it a particularly attractive ecosystem in the current global business environment.
Images courtesy of EOS