GKN Aerospace will host the SAE International Aerospace Materials Specifications Additive Manufacturing Metals Committee meeting in Trollhattan, Sweden, from May 5 to 7, 2026. The 2.5-day event focuses on critical technical standards, including revisions to AMS7003 for LPBF processes and AMS7032 for machine installation and operational qualification. Key industry participants, including Dave Abbott of GE Aerospace and Chloe Johnson of Beehive Industries, will lead working sessions on in situ process monitoring, powder management for closed-loop systems, and the integration of AI into manufacturing workflows. The agenda also features technical presentations from GKN researchers covering structural behavior, defect characterization, and feedstock analysis for metal additive manufacturing.

This meeting addresses the persistent bottleneck in aerospace additive manufacturing: the transition from prototype to repeatable, certified series production. By formalizing standards for in situ process monitoring and AI-driven quality control, the committee is working to reduce the reliance on destructive testing and manual inspection, which currently inflate costs and extend lead times. As OEMs like GKN, RTX, and GE Aerospace align on these specifications, the industry moves closer to a unified qualification framework that enables faster certification of flight-critical components. This standardization is essential for scaling the adoption of LPBF and other metal AM technologies in highly regulated aerospace environments.

Standardization efforts like these are the primary mechanism for de-risking metal additive manufacturing for high-stakes applications. For manufacturers, the focus on ARP7065 and ARP7068 for in situ monitoring indicates that real-time data acquisition is becoming a mandatory component of the digital thread. Companies should prioritize aligning their internal quality management systems with these emerging SAE specifications to ensure long-term compliance and interoperability with OEM supply chains.