Fabian Alefeld sits down with Sean Whittaker, founder, president, and CEO of Incodema3D, to discuss the company's journey from a sheet metal prototyping business to one of North America's largest metal additive manufacturing operations. Sean shares why he invested in metal AM early, how Incodema3D built a production-first business model, and what it takes to scale additive manufacturing beyond prototypes.

The conversation explores the evolution of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technology, the importance of vertically integrated manufacturing, and how improvements in machines, materials, software, and Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) are making production at scale a reality. Sean also discusses growing demand driven by reshoring, defense, aerospace, and energy applications, Incodema3D's specialization in aluminum thermal management components and high-volume Inconel production, and how AFM Capital's investment is accelerating expansion through new equipment, automation, and future U.S. manufacturing sites.

Episode Chapters

• 01:41 Sean's Origin Story 
• 05:13 Taking the Leap into Metal Additive Manufacturing 
• 07:05 From Prototypes to Production 
• 08:07 The Advantage of Vertical Integration 
• 10:54 The Maturity of Additive Manufacturing and DfAM 
• 15:46 Thermal Management, Inconel, and Consumer Applications 
• 19:21 Defense, Energy, and Replacing Cast Components 
• 21:28 Accelerating Growth with AFM Capital 
• 25:49 Cycle Times, ROI, and Production Flexibility 
• 30:07 Automation and Building the AM Workforce 
• 34:50 Reshoring, Expansion, and the Future of Production 
• 39:50 Wrap-Up

Fabian Alefeld interviews Omar Mireles, Director of Manufacture and Materials at Space Nuclear Power Corporation (Space Nukes), about his career spanning NASA, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos and how additive manufacturing (AM) reshaped space hardware development. Omar describes early exposure to SLS prototyping, graduate work in nuclear materials and propulsion, building nuclear materials labs at NASA Marshall, and later leading AM efforts for liquid rocket engines and refractory metals.  

He explains how AM accelerates iteration, enables complex geometries, part consolidation, and weight reduction, and where traditional methods still dominate depending on production rate. The conversation covers refractory metal challenges (supply chain, oxygen sensitivity, post-processing, inspection) and nuclear reactor basics, generations, and regulatory barriers to AM adoption. Omar outlines Space Nukes’ goal of delivering safe, affordable, reliable power anywhere in the solar system, noting heat rejection as a key space constraint, Krusty’s 2018 test heritage, potential AM roles in heat exchangers, and an aggressive ~2-year flight timeline depending on regulation and mission. 

02:26 Omar Early Motivation 

03:08 NASA Co-ops and First AM 

07:59 Stirling Radiation Research 

20:07 Refractory Metals AM Lab 

21:31 Los Alamos to Space Nukes 

25:14 Did AM Change Space Race 

31:46 Where AM Flies Today 

37:41 Rocket Engines Print vs Traditional 

41:15 Refractory Alloys Challenges 

46:39 Where Refractories Make Sense 

47:05 Will Refractory AM Grow 

49:39 NASA Metal AM Handbook Origins 

56:37 How Nuclear Reactors Work 

01:13:02 Additive Manufacturing in Nuclear 

01:18:31 What Space Nukes Builds 

01:19:36 Why Space Nuclear Power Matters 

01:25:20 Why Space Needs Nukes 

01:37:47 Krusty Test Proof 

01:41:18 Heat Rejection Challenge 

01:49:25 Timeline and First Missions 

Host Fabian Alefeld interviews Dean Bartles, President and CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group (behind NCDMM, Advanced Manufacturing International, and America Makes), about manufacturing’s evolution, defense industrial base challenges, and additive manufacturing. Bartles recounts his career from shop-floor machining and industrial engineering to international defense manufacturing programs and 31 years through successive owners culminating in General Dynamics, then leading NCDMM and forming a parent organization to expand technology deployment. They discuss consolidation and contracting barriers that pushed small/medium firms out of defense, productivity gains from automation, reshoring momentum driven by tariffs and new investment, and workforce shortages and training pathways via trades, community colleges, and SME/Tooling U. Bartles highlights AI for process monitoring and adaptive control in laser powder bed fusion, the promise of low-cost desktop FFF for drones, the need for shared data and improved repeatability, and sustainability efforts including the Additive Manufacturing Green Trade Association. 

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 

02:54 Dean Manufacturing Origins 

04:18 Global Defense Career Path 

06:05 Leading NCDMM and America Makes 

10:44 Defense Base Decline and Industry 4.0 

18:14 Reshoring and Global Models 

22:17 AI Capital and Process Control 

35:25 Open Data and Repeatability Challenge 

38:24 Defense Adoption and Drone Boom 

44:08 Workforce Pathways and Community Colleges 

50:04 Sustainability and Greener AM 

54:27 Closing ABL Always Be Learning 

Fabian Alefeld welcomes back Thomas Pomorski of Ursa Major to discuss developments over the past year across three focus areas: hypersonics, solid rocket motors, and in-space propulsion. Pomorski reports more than nine hypersonic missions flown with the reusable, ~80% 3D-printed Hadley engine and two successful test flights of the storable Draper engine with AFRL, plus progress on Ursa’s LINX solid rocket motor manufacturing approach using additive for tooling and cases to enable flexible “unit cell” scaling. They cover key hypersonics challenges around affordability and manufacturability and why a storable liquid rocket approach can reduce testing complexity. Much of the conversation focuses on AI’s current value in development: rapidly prototyping slicer features and scan strategies, building data-fusion and monitoring tools via EOS APIs, and enabling small teams to operate with much higher productivity, while noting production validation remains challenging.

00:00 Welcome Back Thomas

01:48 Ursa Major Year Update

02:37 Hypersonic Flight Milestones

04:05 Solid Motors and LINX

05:21 Additive Scale Up Tools

06:39 Hypersonic Cost Challenge

11:58 Solid Motor Unit Cells

15:37 Additive Geometry vs Supply

18:01 AI in Additive Workflows

24:33 AI Productivity Multiplier

29:33 Live Claude Slicer Demo

35:13 Prompting Claude Code

36:35 Sharing Team Workflows

38:40 Production AI Readiness

42:20 Slicer Feature Results

44:49 Closed Loop Optimization

46:46 AI Built Web Monitor

52:59 Automation Roadmap

01:00:12 Verifying Hatch Strategy

01:03:07 Advice For Students

01:08:29 Wrap Up And Thanks

Fabian Alefeld hosts Karl Littau, CTO of Sakuu, to discuss why rechargeable battery manufacturing has changed little in decades and how Sakuu is rethinking it with additive approaches. Littau explains conventional thick-film slurry coating and stacked anode/cathode layers, noting heavy use of copper and aluminum and high costs driven largely by bill of materials. He outlines battery basics (anode, cathode, electrolyte) and contrasts lithium-ion with solid-state concepts, where solids replace liquid electrolytes but face commercialization challenges. Sakuu’s initial product targets electrode coating by shifting from wet, solvent-based processes to dry powder-bed methods, enabling powder reclaim/reuse, removing toxic solvents, reducing equipment size (e.g., long drying ovens), and potentially increasing throughput. The conversation also covers future possibilities like multi-material patterning, arbitrary shapes, bipolar designs that reduce metal, and broader impacts on EVs, grid storage, and electrification.

00:00 Welcome and Topic

01:32 Why Batteries Need Change

04:13 Cost Drivers Today

07:53 Sakuu Additive Approach

13:09 Battery Basics Explained

18:30 Dry Powder Manufacturing

26:10 Speed and Footprint Gains

28:47 Scaling and Supply Chain

32:27 Future Shapes and Structures

35:42 Solid State Readiness

37:48 Sakuu Origin Story

40:31 Roadmap and Industry Impact

42:34 Electrification Future Vision

49:48 Wrap Up and Thanks

Fabian Alefeld hosts Pan Michaleris, founder of PanOptimization (PanX), and Erik Denlinger, co-founder and chief engineer, to discuss the evolution and role of simulation and finite element analysis (FEA) in additive manufacturing. Pan shares his background as a Penn State professor and entrepreneur (including a prior company acquired by Autodesk) and explains how simulation helps reduce costly trial-and-error builds by predicting distortion, temperature, stress, buckling, cracking, and recoater risks, while moving toward closed-loop manufacturing-to-design workflows and property prediction. Erik outlines PanX’s commercial capabilities - fast thermo-mechanical simulation for very large parts, distortion compensation, and dwell-time optimization - and describes proof-of-concept work on controlling melt quality and hardness via parameter modulation. They cover adoption in aerospace/defense and new space, qualification implications, integration with build-prep workflows (e.g., EOS/Velosis), and cautious, validation-focused views on AI surrogate models.

00:00 Welcome and Episode Preview

01:13 Meet Pan and Erik

01:59 Pan’s Journey to PanX

03:59 Erik’s Origin Story

05:10 FEA History and the Elephant Test

08:32 Why Additive Needs Simulation

10:23 Closing the Design Manufacturing Loop

14:33 PanX Today Core Capabilities

17:30 From Distortion to Material Properties

20:25 Making Simulation Usable for Engineers

27:06 Workflow Integration and Automation

29:44 From Failures to Design

30:41 Who Uses PanX Today

32:41 Simulation for Qualification

35:17 Layerwise Parameter Control

38:51 Why FEA Is Hard

41:38 AI and Surrogate Models

46:53 Future Material Tailoring

48:37 Roadmap Workflow Integration

52:27 Closing Thoughts and Wrap

Host Fabian Alefeld speaks with Japan-based additive manufacturing consultant Peter Rogers about the state of additive manufacturing across Asia Pacific. Rogers contrasts Japan’s advanced but risk-averse manufacturing culture - strong in incremental optimization, with slower certification (notably medical) and limited defense budgets - with faster-moving but smaller markets like Australia/New Zealand, where mining drives demand for rapid, remote part supply. They discuss China’s manufacturing scale and government support, its growing dominance in desktop FDM, and how low-cost Chinese metal PBF machines can win and retain service-bureau business despite Western strengths in quality and productivity. Singapore is highlighted for academia and MRO, while Korea spans shipbuilding, semicon, automotive, and defense. Southeast Asia is still production-focused with limited local R&D, whereas India is rising as an English-speaking engineering and R&D hub for global OEMs. Both see lowering costs and AI enabling broader, consumer-facing AM applications.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:49 Peter Rogers Background

03:32 Moving to Japan

05:12 APAC Additive Overview

09:23 China Manufacturing Dynamics

13:27 Reshoring and Kaizen Mindset

18:45 Traditional Skills vs Additive

20:57 Japan Nearing Inflection Point

25:06 Top APAC Applications

29:02 Japan Korea Industry Mix

30:31 China Scale And Funding

33:18 FDM Race To Bottom

34:27 Bambu Ecosystem Advantage

36:53 Metal AM Price Expansion

38:23 Chinese Metal Machines Case

40:30 Competing On Productivity

44:10 Southeast Asia Adoption

47:06 India RnD Powerhouse

49:46 Future Consumer Breakthroughs

52:40 Japan Pushing DED Limits

55:30 AI Lowers Barriers

57:13 Wrap Up And Farewell

Host Fabian Alefeld interviews Erin Mastroni, President and founder of I3D Manufacturing (founded 2013), about building one of the largest additive-focused contract manufacturers and the industry’s shift from prototyping to production. Mastroni describes moving from fashion retail and trend forecasting to an MBA in sustainable business, spotting production AM as a key trend, and launching a metal powder bed fusion business in Oregon with limited traditional manufacturing experience. She recounts early funding challenges, using SBA/New Market Tax Credits, and landing Blue Origin as an early customer, which helped establish I3D as a fast-moving development partner known for tackling difficult materials like titanium and new nickel alloys with EOS. I3D grew from 5 people and two machines to two campuses, ~30 machines, and 54 employees, is launching an internal “I3D Academy,” navigated a severe COVID revenue drop without layoffs, and was acquired in 2023 by BTX Precision (L Squared Partners), expanding into turnkey CNC and broader capabilities while discussing PE’s role, production scalability, and emerging AI opportunities.

00:00 Podcast welcome

01:47 Fashion to additive

04:27 Funding and mission

06:52 Blue Origin breakthrough

08:27 Becoming a dev partner

12:19 I3D today scale

15:29 Growing talent academy

17:05 Growth phases and pandemic

20:22 Acquisition and turnkey expansion

22:06 Private equity tipping point

27:43 Private Equity Momentum

28:41 Flow Driven Applications

32:54 Supply Chain Use Cases

35:12 Scaling Production Know How

40:21 One Stop Shop Strategy

43:14 Customers Get Smarter

47:31 Next Wave Breakthroughs

53:03 AI In Additive Manufacturing

57:25 Closing Thanks

Fabian Alefeld hosts Duann Scott on the Editor Snack podcast to discuss how AI is evolving in additive manufacturing, moving from “AI-washing” and impractical text-to-mesh hype toward more capable tools using language models, visual language models, surrogate models, and emerging foundational models. Scott describes testing tools by trying to make them fail and highlights a recent success with the Raven plugin for Rhino/Grasshopper, which generated a parametric VESA mount and tripod adapter from minimal prompts, then iteratively added fillets and an isogrid structure and produced a printable part within hours. They discuss constraints like missing engineering training data and design intent, the promise of AI for toolpath and process optimization (including transfer of parameter knowledge across materials), and the role of the 3MF format in capturing toolpath and metadata to enable richer, searchable datasets. Scott previews CDFAM events in Barcelona, DC, and Tokyo and emphasizes that progress requires significant data work and investment.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

02:18 AI Hype to Real Progress

04:13 Testing AI Design Tools

04:46 Data Gaps and Design Intent

07:15 Two Paths for AI Design

10:15 Raven Grasshopper Breakthrough

13:17 Pushing Parametric Complexity

20:28 Limits of Black Box Optimization

22:40 Toolpath and Material Transfer

26:18 Alloy Discovery and Qualification

28:05 3MF Role Teaser

28:18 3MF Format Overview

29:17 Smarter Toolpath Extensions

32:31 Metadata for AI Training

35:43 Data Ownership and Synthetic Data

39:59 AI Impact on Additive

44:10 Workforce and Reshoring

47:22 What Is CDFAM

49:49 CDFAM Audience and Format

51:43 DC Event and Government

54:05 Wrap Up and Thanks

In this episode of the Additive Snack Podcast, host Fabian Alefeld is joined by Oliver Elbert, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Grenzebach, to discuss the pivotal role of automation in scaling additive manufacturing. They delve into Grenzebach’s extensive expertise in industrial automation and its recent ventures into additive manufacturing. The conversation covers the challenges and benefits of automating post-processing tasks, increasing equipment efficiency, and optimizing labor dynamics. They also explore notable projects like the Next Gen AM and the Polyline project, highlighting how automation can significantly enhance production availability and reduce manual intervention. Oliver provides insights into the integration of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), robots, and job exchangers in additive manufacturing, and discusses the future potential of fully automated production environments.

00:00 Introduction to Additive Snack Podcast

00:18 The Challenge of Automating Additive Manufacturing

01:07 Introducing Grenzebach and Oliver Elbert

02:22 History and Evolution of Grenzebach

06:33 Grenzebach’s Entry into Additive Manufacturing

08:31 The Slow Adoption of Automation in Additive Manufacturing

14:34 The Dual Setup Station and Its Impact

19:25 Automation Solutions for Various Industries

23:52 The Future of Automation in Additive Manufacturing

24:48 Challenges and Opportunities in Automation

34:13 The Role of Humanoids in Industrial AM

36:20 Conclusion and Future Outlook