Vanguard Magazine

42 JUNE/JULY 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com g gAME ChANGER See the full interview online Q How did you start out in this industry, and how has it brought you to where you are today? It all started from a 3-minute pitch ses- sion in a university-industry connector event. The office of research services at the University of New Brunswick is very good at arranging these meetings and bringing different industries and research- ers together. I pitched the idea of additive manufacturing, which opened the door to be involved in the defence and marine industries. Q What was your "Aha!" moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our reader? I was looking at how additive manufactur- ing will shape the advanced manufactur- ing in coming years in different sectors, from aerospace and medical to automo- tive and energy; I have found very little regarding the marine sector, specifically shipbuilding, subsea, and offshore ener- gy. That was the moment that I realized that I can make a difference in this field and have a positive effect. I then talked to many colleagues, industrial partners, government researchers, and defence sci- entists, and realized that this is the place that we can heavily invest in for powder bed and powder-fed additive manufactur- ing research in order to develop new al- loys, simplify the supply chain, and keep Canadian marine industries competitive for 2030 marine global trends. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? Recently, I was speaking with a retired colleague from the faculty, and he men- tioned that he sees this centre bringing a lot of attention not only to the University of New Brunswick but also to the prov- ince of New Brunswick. That really fired me up, since I can see that in very near future, we will make a difference and have a positive effect in both education and research – and also the economy of this province and the region. Q What people or organizations do you believe best embody the innovation mindset? The innovation mindset comes with people who are ready to change anytime they need to, people who can learn new skill sets, people who can steer their abil- ity to fields that they have not tried be- fore. These people can align themselves with the new challenges and regulations. They look at limitations as opportunities to develop innovative solutions. If you have these innovative individuals in your organization with leaders who have a wide vision of the future, then the innovative mindset will evolve. Q What are the biggest impediments to innovation in today's enterprise? In my opinion, the impediment to inno- vation in today's enterprises is simply a group of individuals who do not like to change and adopt new technologies. In the last of couple decades, we have seen big organizations fade away because key decisions that were supposed to be made were not made. It happened both in Can- ada and overseas. We must be ready for new challenges. We have to steer the orga- nizations to new endeavors knowing that in the long run, we need to adopt more new things and think with the vision of changing if needed to overcome obstacles. Q What technologies, business models, and trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years? There are going to be several new tech- nologies for metal additive manufactur- ing coming to market in next couple of years. These new technologies will sig- nificantly decrease the price of a metal 3D printer and will have a significant effect on the technology penetration. Also, in- dustrial grade metal 3D printers will see a price drop due to a bigger competition happening in coming years. We will see more companies trying to practice metal 3D printing and adding it to their supply chain because of the shortage of trained engineers, technicians, and researchers. Q What is your parting piece of advice? Working in the high-tech industry is not an easy job. You must be ready for every- day challenges. Not everybody around you agrees with you, so you must be able to convince people. You should make sure that you can develop innovative ideas ev- ery time you need them. Be yourself and stick to the rules, however, be flexible with new challenges. Right now, Additive Man- ufacturing and Factory of the Future are among the hottest topics in engineering. Be ready for the coming new frameworks and technologies and how to engage with them. Mohsen MohaMMadi assistant PrOfessOr and directOr marIne addITIve manufacTurIng cenTre of excellence, unIverSITy of new BrunSwIck

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