Thought Leadership

Additive manufacturing at Hannover Fair 2021

By Nick Finberg

While it definitely wasn’t the worst part of 2020, having Hannover Messe cancelled last year was a bummer especially for the additive manufacturing, or simply additive, nerds like those employed here at Siemens. To stem some of the pent-up demand for new technologies around industry, including additive, Hannover is moving to the internet this year. This is great news for those outside of mainland Europe and the United States crowd since it will be far easier and cheaper to attend this year. So if you’re interested in attending, make sure to grab your ticket for April 12th through the 16th. And if you still aren’t sure but are researching how additive can change industrial production, read along for some of the highlights to come.

The Agenda

While there will be topics on nearly every industry and technology, here are some of the highlights on additive manufacturing and the surrounding solutions:

Dr. Karsten Heuser will be kicking off discussions around additive on Tuesday around 10:30 CEST with a presentation on the mass-customization of polymer products with an end-to-end additive process chain. Because of additive’s linear cost scaling it is often seen as critical to mass-customized products but getting there will require an integrated industrial process. Learn how the workflow will change with high-volume and custom shoe soles.

Much like the rest of the show, this opening presentation will be followed by focused sessions for the rest of the day. But there is one that could even stand on its own on additive manufacturing breakthroughs  with Tim Bell of Siemens and Jason Melcher from Ingersoll Machine Tools. Starting just after 13:00 CEST on Tuesday, these two will be talking about how digitalization and additive are helping companies realize unprecedented ROIs. This is a big topic – pun intended!

On Thursday, representatives from many of Siemens’ top industry focusses will be coming together to talk about the future of industry. They will tackle how companies can master increasingly complex and constantly shifting tasks by integrating data, analysis, digitalization and optimization for a better operational overview. Don’t miss the XL Session on infinite data  starting at 15:45 CEST and learn how to merge the physical and virtual worlds for a digital enterprise.

Guided tours

If you are looking for a more holistic experience of what Siemens has to offer this year at Hannover, a guided tour might be just the thing. Instead of an a la cart experience of attending presentations, the guided tours take participants through the virtual showroom in real-time to answer questions. To get your spot, make sure to register for the fair and pick one of the tours offered in your native language.

Interactive sessions

The last way to experience Hannover this year is really two, the first will be tech meetups where you can ask your questions with experts in smaller sessions focused on specific topics, industries and technologies. These sessions will start with a fifteen-minute explainer on their topic of focus, followed by another fifteen minutes of open questions and answers from attendees. The second session type tries to bring some of the familiarity back from the physical show, there will be experts holding down the virtual booth, available for private sessions to walk through the additive manufacturing solutions from Siemens.

If you are interested in attending a Tech Meet Up on additive manufacturing, links to each of them are listed below:

The Wider Fair

Even if additive is not your only reason to visit Hannover this year, there are many other topics that will be covered throughout the week, including consumer products manufacturing, battery technologies development, digital vaccine development and electronic devices. Regardless of what brings you to the fair, we look forward to seeing you there! Don’t forget to register for this information packed week and the bounty that will be available following the fair. Follow along with #HM21.


Siemens Digital Industries Software is driving transformation to enable a digital enterprise where engineering, manufacturing and electronics design meet tomorrow.

Xcelerator, the comprehensive and integrated portfolio of software and services from Siemens Digital Industries Software, helps companies of all sizes create and leverage a comprehensive digital twin that provides organizations with new insights, opportunities and levels of automation to drive innovation.

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/thought-leadership/2021/04/05/additive-manufacturing-at-hannover-fair-2021/