BELAGAVI: Indian industry is increasingly adopting automation and digitisation and requires highly skilled and trained work force in future-ready technologies and processes. To ensure students are industry-ready, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology (GIT) has established a Centre of Excellence in Additive Manufacturing & Reverse Engineering with the help of the Karnataka Council for Technological Upgradation (KCTU) in Belagavi , said AS Deshpande, principal, GIT He told mediapersons here on Wednesday that Additive Manufacturing (AM), generally known as 3D printing, is defined as the process of joining materials to make objects from three-dimensional model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methods. This facility is the first of its kind in this part of Karnataka and caters to students, researchers and the AM industry.Additive Manufacturing is important in safety-critical areas such as aerospace, medical technology and automotive industries which have demanding standards. The biggest challenge is to prove the absolute reliability of 3D printed parts. While 3D printing grabs headlines, it’s 3D scanning that has the most practical applications. There is a complementary relationship between them. Additive Manufacturing brings a digital concept into the real world, while 3D scanning converts a physical object into digital format. It’s also used to verify the accuracy of actual 3D printed part. These are some of its numerous benefits, said Deshpande.He added that the Centre of Excellence will address critical gaps in the industry as well as guide students and researchers through four key areas. It’ll provide advanced training to speed up adoption and readiness of a strong AM workforce. The validation programmes will address AM material and process qualification. Its advisory services will provide best practices on AM fast to production and AM part acceptance. Lastly, research will be conducted to inform them about advanced developments.It will help promote industry-academia interfacing to give training to improve employability, to create skilled manpower for industry’s needs. The concept is equally applicable to all branches of engineering across UG / PG programmes. The centre is jointly funded by KCTU, Bengaluru and KLS GIT, Belagavi. It has a Carl Zeiss Three-Dimensional Scanner which helps capture 3D data of any object and converts it to digital model.A Rapid Prototyping Mmachine converts a CAD model to actual parts and prints it layer by layer. To train students to become industry-ready engineers, as an add-on to the regular BE course, a 20-credit Honours/Minors courses in relevant topics have been introduced this academic year, Deshpande said.Arunkumar, controller of examinations, JK Kittur, head of department (mechanical) and VS Majali, dean, R&D were present.

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