3DPOD Episode 30: John Barnes, The Barnes Group Advisors

John Barnes is a key figure in industrializing 3D printing for aerospace. His career had him at key roles at key times for 3D printing at Honeywell, Lockheed, and Arconic. Now, with his own firm, The Barnes Group Advisors, Barnes wants to aid companies in the qualification of parts, manufacture using 3D printing, as well as implement the technology across organizations.

Recently, we discussed how they were collaborating with the VA on the Austere mask. The Barnes Group Advisors also runs training courses to teach executives what they need to know about additive. Given his extensive use of 3D printing in aerospace Barnes is skeptical of hype and trends, but wants to see the technology grow through useful applications.

In this 3DPOD, we talk quite a lot about microstructure. Gradient materials and training are also subjects that we wade through. Barnes tells us what he thinks university students should cover and what is holding back the technology. We talk about his history with Optomec’s LENS technology and his time at Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks, as well. CSIRO, Oakridge National Labs (ORNL), Airbus, NASA JPL, VELO, Carnegie Mellon, and DARPA are just some of the companies and institutes that we mention. This episode is skewed a bit toward the more technical side of things, but we had a blast recording it with Barnes.