• LORTEK, EULER, and ADAXIS participated in the 2025 edition, meeting with key stakeholders and showcasing their innovations within the DISCMAM project.

For the second year in a row, the DISCMAM project partners has taken part in FORMNEXT, one of the world’s leading events for additive manufacturing (AM) and industrial 3D printing. The fair once again provided a key opportunity for the project to strengthen its presence in the AM sector and to share the latest highlights and innovations developed by its partners.

Held from 18–21 November 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany, this year’s edition welcomed Spain as the official partner country. Representatives from LORTEK, EULER, and ADAXIS attended with their own exhibition booths, offering visitors the chance to learn more about their technologies and the progress of the DISCMAM project. Their participation not only highlighted each partner’s expertise but also served as a collective showcase of how DISCMAM is advancing secure, intelligent, and data-driven manufacturing.

FORMNEXT 2025: Facts, figures, and highlights

FORMNEXT 2025 has confirmed its role as the leading global meeting point for additive manufacturing and next-generation production. This year’s event hosted more than 34,000 visitors and featured around 149 talks and presentations by 210 speakers — offering a rich programme on the latest AM technologies, materials, and applications.

Throughout the four days, the DISCMAM partners engaged with visitors, industry experts, and research institutions across the vibrant exhibitor area. The event gathered over 850 exhibitors, covering all aspects of the AM value chain — from materials and AM systems to software, quality management, post-processing, and workforce development.

For DISCMAM, FORMNEXT represented an important opportunity to share progress and engage, because experts in metal AM for MoDs and stakeholders also attend the fair. With one year of project work still ahead, the event allowed the consortium to highlight several key achievements, including:

• The design of a cybersecure digital pathway pilot.
• The definition of monitoring systems and manufacturing workflows for DED-LB and PBF-LB processes.
• The development of semi-automatic 3D scanning procedures for repair and manufacturing.
• The improvement of PBF-LB scanning strategies to optimise manufacturing quality.
• The virtualisation and path planning strategies for repair methodologies in the DED-LB wire LORTEK cell.

Spain leads as Formnext 2025 partner country

In the 2025 edition, Spain was selected as Formnext’s partner country, highlighting the nation’s growing influence in the global additive manufacturing landscape. Following a strong presence in 2024 with around 30 exhibitors, Spain’s participation this year further demonstrated the country’s capacity for innovation and technological leadership.

The Spanish AM sector currently employs more than 1,200 professionals and continues to expand at double-digit growth rates annually. This momentum reflects the overall strength of Spain’s manufacturing industry, which — according to Eurostat and cited in Metal AM Magazine — has grown by 7.3% since 2014, while other major European economies such as France and Germany have remained stagnant or even declined.

This thriving ecosystem, built upon a highly skilled workforce and a strong industrial base, positions Spain as one of Europe’s most dynamic and promising players in the field of additive manufacturing.

Following its successful participation at FORMNEXT 2025, the DISCMAM project will continue its journey of collaboration and knowledge sharing through different workshops and technical events planned for the coming months.

The road ahead will lead to the AM Village 2026, and event organised by EDA and hosted by the Sain Air Force, which will take place from 16–20 March 2026 in Albacete, Spain. This major event will mark the next milestone for DISCMAM, offering another key platform to showcase results and strengthen connections within the additive manufacturing community through a dedicated workshop and with interaction with MoDs and military technical personnel.

• DISCMAM project held its third meeting in Frankfurt to review progress of recent months project work and set the stage for the challenges of 2025.
• During the initial phase, the project has reached an important achievement: the definition of on-site maintenance scenarios and the selection of use cases.  

The DISCMAM project, funded by the European Defence Fund (EDF), completed its first year of progress with a significant anniversary meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, on November 21, 2024. This gathering of consortium partners — including leading technical and research institutions— reviewed the project’s achievements over the past year and discussed key research and execution plans for the future.

Progress and strategic achievements

The first 12 months of the DISCMAM project have been pivotal in establishing the foundation for its continuation over the next two years. Aligned with the project’s objectives and through close cross-border collaboration among all partners, significant progress has been achieved. Notably, the first major milestone —the identification of scenarios and the selection of components or use cases aligned with these scenarios— has been reached. Five use cases have been defined, three for spare parts manufacturing and two for parts repair; those include an air compressor cover, a fuel filter housing, a phalanx maintenance tool, a front pulley and a joint shaft flange.

During this initial period, the goal has been to enhance efficiency and equipment readiness in military operations through the manufacture and repair of spare parts by two selected Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies: Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) and Laser Directed Energy Deposition (DED-LB).

Additionally, based on the selected scenarios and use cases, an on-site maintenance plan has been developed, together with the data flow characteristics required to establish a secure digital pathway. This plan addresses logistical considerations, ensures robust data protection, and aims to provide rapid responses to specific types of equipment failures and challenges on on-site maintenance and logistic supply chain.

Further work has been carried out to collate information regarding the specifications and requirements of the parts together with processing and post-processing steps for the selected use cases.

Reflecting on a year of project work, the project coordinator at LORTEK, stated:

“We are pleased to report that the project is making good progress. While the future outlook is challenging, we are confident of achieving our goals in a timely and efficient manner”.

In the coming months, DISCMAM anticipate implementing monitoring solutions and cybersecure digital pathways, as well as making progress on scanning technologies and the initial fabrication or reparation of the previously described use cases. These developments will drive the project’s mission to revolutionize maintenance and manufacturing processes in defence contexts

DISCMAM at FORMNEXT 2024

The third in-person consortium meeting since the project began in December 2023 was strategically aligned with the location of FORMNEXT convention in Frankfurt, the leading global event for additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing. The project was proudly represented by its coordinator LORTEK with an own booth, while the project partners EULER and ADAXIS complementary highlighted the project work they are in lead of at their booths from November 19 to 22 at Formnext expo.

This meeting point offered DISCMAM an invaluable platform to highlight its objectives and achievements, connect with leading experts in AM, explore potential collaborations, engage stakeholders, and gain insights into emerging technological trends. These opportunities will significantly enhance the project’s ability to innovate and redefine logistics capabilities in the defence sector as the project advances toward initial trials, validation and field military interoperability exercise scheduled for 2025.

Adaxis and Euler participated in the FORMNEXT 2024 event, showcasing their latest innovative technologies.