ASTRO America, ASTM International, and FSU InSPIRE Announce Top Performers in Inaugural 3D Printing Tech Challenge
The Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America (ASTRO America), in collaboration with ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE) and Florida State University’s Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, & Education (InSPIRE), announced Additive Assurance and Addiguru as the top-ranked companies in the Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge, an inaugural tech challenge and showcase that identified promising sensors and monitoring capabilities for metal additive manufacturing.
From left to right: Thomas Spears and Shuchi “SK” Khurana, Addiguru, and Dr. David Menzies, Additive Assurance
The recognition followed live demonstrations in Panama City, Florida, where five finalist companies – Jentek Sensors, Additive Assurance, Phase3D, Applied Optimization, and Addiguru – installed their sensor technologies on ASTRO America’s industrial-scale metal 3D printers and presented findings before an expert panel of evaluators. Judges included representatives from the Air Force Research Laboratory, ASTRO America, Boeing, GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, Kratos, Stifel, ASTM International, and Florida State University.
“Congratulations to Additive Assurance and Addiguru on earning the top scores in this inaugural challenge,” said Dr. Abdalla Nassar, Vice President and General Manager at ASTRO America. “Both companies demonstrated outstanding technical capabilities and real-world value to advance monitoring technologies for metal additive manufacturing. This Challenge shows what’s possible when industry, academia, and government work together to validate emerging solutions under real-world conditions.”
The Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge was launched to address a persistent gap in metal additive manufacturing, where quality control is still largely post-process and defects are often discovered only after lengthy, costly builds. By creating a competitive, real-world environment, the Challenge provided a pathway for sensor companies to prove their value to end-users across aerospace and defense.
In addition to their recognition, Additive Assurance and Addiguru will each meet with Stifel’s investment team to discuss future opportunities. All five finalist companies will also be invited to present their capabilities at ASTM International’s Conference on Advanced Manufacturing (ICAM) in Las Vegas in October, as well as have the opportunity to engage with Florida State University’s Inspiring the Generation of New Ideas and Translational Excellence (IGNITE) project, which connects small businesses to investors and incubator resources.
Additive Assurance (Top Vote Getter)
“We are honored to be recognized as the top performer in the Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge,” said Dr. David Menzies, Chief Commercial Officer. “This program gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the power of our AMiRIS platform in real-world conditions and to show how advanced in-situ monitoring can deliver meaningful improvements in quality, confidence, and adoption of metal additive manufacturing.”
From left to right: Neal Orringer, ASTRO America, Dr. David Menzies, Additive Assurance, Dr. Abdalla Nassar, ASTRO America
Addiguru
“Being named among the top-ranked companies in the Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge is an exciting milestone for Addiguru,” said Shuchi “SK” Khurana, Founder and CEO. Our multi-sensor analytics platform is designed to provide real-time insight that manufacturers can act on immediately. This recognition validates our approach and underscores the importance of scalable, data-driven quality control for the future of additive manufacturing.”
From left to right: Neal Orringer, ASTRO America, Shuchi “SK” Khurana, Thomas Spears, both of Addiguru, and Dr. Abdalla Nassar, ASTRO America