Laser Applications are alive and thriving in the Automotive Industry. The diversity of opportunities both macro & micro are abundant. Several fascinating presentation on Additive Manufacturing, Metal Deposition, & Heat Treating show that these technologies are set for strong growth over the next decade.
Insightful keynote addresses by Bernard Swiecki, CAR – Center for Automotive Research    (http://www.cargroup.org/) and Chris Kuehl, FMA’s Economist, Armada Corporate Intelligence (http://www.armada-intel.com/) set the stage for what turned out to be a stellar conference.
Micro application from surface texturing of cylinder walls for improved viscosity and engine wear reduction to thin film ablations used on smart displays and windshields. Showed just how diverse laser applications are in the automotive industry.
Several outstanding presentations including Stan Ream of Edison Welding Institute (http://ewi.org/) on a module dealing with focus shift in multi KW fiber lasers to an informative and entertaining paper by Mike Delbuso of Laser Mechanisms (http://www.lasermech.com/) on beam delivery options and a look back at the 50th anniversary of the CO2 and Yag Lasers.
Trumpf and the Fraunhofer Institute treated attendees to open houses at both facilities and displayed a diverse selection of laser systems and future applications for the automotive industry.
FMA (http://fmanet.org/) should be congratulated on putting on a world class conference and a return to St. John’s venue a former 1940’s monastery now converted into a luxury hotel with 27- hole golf course.