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108 MMS June 2014 mmsonline.com feature considerable room for improvement. Innovation is vital because new ideas in manufacturing will answer the need for expanded manufacturing capacity and higher-quality, more af fordable, better-performing aircraft. However, the terms of his company's agreements with partners often contribute to bottlenecks that slow innovation down. Many of the issues that impede the speed of manufacturing innovation can be attributed to, in his words, "the awkwardness of the agreements that the parties enter into." It is a problem that can be fixed. Mr. Hoffman envisions a dif ferent model for Boeing and its innovation par tners, and he hopes to begin a discussion about this by means of his presenta- tion at TRAM. Part of the problem is the lack of a sustainable, long-term incentive for Boeing's partners, he says. If Boeing too tightly locks down its intellectual property control, the resulting exclusivity can be counter-productive. Technology will advance faster when partners have more opportunities to take the new manufacturing innovations to the broader market. He says much of Boeing's own intellectual property investment in a manufacturing innovation consists of the proof of principle demonstration, followed by the challenge of transitioning into production and realizing a hardened and predict- able system. That is, Boeing's investment focuses on the conception, early development and first experiences with a technology. Therefore, Mr. Hof fman envisions an arrangement in which Boeing has exclusive access only to the newest version of an innovative product or process, leav- ing the innovation par tner free to market the previous-generation version more broadly. Flesh- ing out the details and implications of a model based on this arrangement will be par t of the subject of his talk. In fact, he also aims to describe some of the challenges he sees to implementing such an arrangement. Those challenges will somehow be overcome, he believes, perhaps because of the input of a potential partner who hears and responds to his talk at TRAM. The communication is what is important. "We need to be more thoughtful and deliberate about sharing and maturing intellectual proper t y in New This Year: addiTive MaNufacTuriNg workshop hosTed BY oak ridge NaTioNal laBoraTorY Additive manufacturing is suc h a n impor ta nt topic that this year at IMTS it will get its own stand-alone, half-day conference. The Addi- t i v e M a n u f a c t u r i n g Workshop, organized by Oak Ridge National L a b o r a t o r y a n d t h e Additive Manufacturing supplement to this magazine, will take place September 9 from 12 to 5 p.m. Different from a typical 3D printing event, the Additive Manufacturing Workshop will focus exclusively on the use of 3D printing technologies to make functional components and end-use parts. Oak Ridge National Lab- oratory's efforts to help companies in this area were the subject of a recent cover story i n A d d i t i v e M a n u f a c t u r i n g ( s e e s h o r t . mmsonline.com/ornl). At the IMTS workshop, Oak Ridge researchers will speak, as will manufacturers succeeding with this technol- ogy in various industr y applications. One highlight of the event will be an unrehearsed Q& A session with Greg Morris, a former manufacturing business owner whose addi- tive manufacturing firm was purchased by GE, resulting in his becoming GE Aviation's Additive Technologies Leader. Mr. Morris will take questions from the audience about additive manufacturing, his own experience with it, where the technology stands today and where he sees it heading in the future. The event is independent of TRAM, but TRAM attendees can register for the Additive Manufacturing Workshop at a reduced price fo r th e t wo eve nts. To l e a r n m o re, v i s i t mmsonline.com/additive and click on "Events." 0614_MMS_Tram.indd 108 5/14/2014 8:45:43 AM