Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies Ltd. will receive the inaugural International Additive Manufacturing Award (IAMA) for its innovative methodology that enables metal deposition (via laser cladding) to be integrated on a multi-axis CNC machine.

The IAMA is the result of a partnership between AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology and VDW-Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association). AMT and VDW, with media support from Gardner Business Media and VDI Nachrichten and sponsored by the European Machine Tool Association CECIMO, announced the annual IAMA at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2014. The award will be presented on March 6, 2015, during a reception at The MFG Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The winning submission from Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies Ltd. of the United Kingdom and Plano, Texas, is a method to combine additive processes to an existing CNC machine tool. Combining CNC and additive enables component fabrication and surface finishing to be achieved in a single setup. It also allows different compositions of materials to be used in the same component. Finally in-process inspection can assure quality, which is otherwise impractical or impossible to evaluate. For more about this process, click here.

“Hybrid technology is exciting because it offers a new way to adopt additive manufacturing—as an upgrade to a CNC machine tool. Adding tool-changeable deposition heads to an existing CNC machine enables 3D printing of metal, without the need to buy a separate machine,” says Dr. Jason Jones, co-founder and CEO of Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies. “This significantly reduces costs and provides an intuitive adoption path for CNC operators. The combination of additive with machining offers new capabilities, including in-process finishing, that cannot be delivered by either technology independently.”

The IAMA selection jury included international leaders from industry, academia, military, media and trade associations. It considered innovations from the United States and the European Union from varied leaders in the additive field.

Along with the award, Hybrid Manufacturing Ltd. will also receive a $20,000 cash prize and a media package valued at $80,000 to promote its winning hybrid kit innovation. The second award trophy will be presented at METAV, the International Exhibition for Metalworking Technologies, in Dusseldorf, Germany, in February 2016.