From October 31 to November 3, 2022, the annual Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) attracted over 160,000 senior energy executives from more than 160 countries to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The forward-looking business news resource Business Transformation praised ADIPEC 2022’s strategic conference sessions for their power to “shape climate discussions, as the leading voices from the energy industry tackled issues at the heart of the sector, with a strong focus on the energy trilemma of sustainability, affordability, and security of supply.” Many important parts and components of manufacturing were discussed. From important measuring components like coriolis flow meters to several industrial pieces of machinery as a whole along with their advancements, it is apparent that the future of industrial manufacturing is moving in the right direction.
Global Digital Manufacturing Solutions
The global digital manufacturing solutions provider Immensa would be hard-pressed to find a better place to unveil its innovative work with GE Additive and Roboze. As the company’s Chief Executive Officer Fahmi Al-Shawwa put it, “This is an ideal platform for us to showcase our expertise and capabilities in developing digital manufacturing solutions in the energy sector.”
Digital manufacturing involves using technology to fabricate specific parts and items directly from a digital computer-aided design (CAD) model. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a common form of digital manufacturing named for the very nature of its physical fabrication process. Typically driven by CD printing equipment, AM involves the rapid consecutive layering of plastic, metal, or another raw material to manufacture a broad array of desired products. This process of adding and building starkly contrasts traditional mass-production carving and molding manufacturing processes.
GE Additive at ADIPEC 2022
Immensa proudly showcased its proprietary AD equipment for GE Additive at ADIPEC 2022. The massive global engineering and technology conglomerate General Electric established the subsidiary GE Additive in 2016 to explore the vast potential of AM fabrication with a specific focus on producing metal equipment parts. Partnering with GE Additive as an authorized service provider, Immensa has dramatically furthered the subsidiary’s inventory management endeavors by employing 3D printing machines that can print precision metal parts in minutes. To date, GE Additive has installed four Immensa machines, and it has plans to install a fifth machine soon.
Immensa 3D Printing
Immensa also unveiled its work with the industrial 3D printing company Roboze at ADIPEC 2022. Together, Immensa and Roboze developed innovative AM technology capable of making highly sophisticated parts using advanced-performance polymers. Perhaps most significantly, this technology can convert metallic parts into non-metallic parts by employing PEEK, ULTEM AM9085F, and other locally developed hydrocarbon by-products. The Immensa/Roboze AM technology spotlighted at ADIPEC 2022 is used to make downhole oil and gas components and turbomachinery. This turbomachinery is extremely specialized to reach underground natural resources in regions otherwise inviable for petroleum speculation.
Like Immensa’s other AM solutions, its work with GE Additive and Roboze was tailor-made to overcome the specific challenges and capitalize on specific opportunities unique to each client and the fields in which they operate. Reaching out through its official website, Immense promises, “Our digital assets are made to fit your manufacturing needs perfectly; our additive manufacturing (AM) experts support you from the concept stage to the production drawings and the AM process. Our engineers and AM experts ensure that the right AM technology is utilized for each part.” Immensa employs a team of over 100 top AM engineers with certification in areas that range from EOS Additive Minds to Ansys Simulation Software to MIT xPro Additive Manufacturing.