This fall, Fastech is heading to Orlando for ICAM 2026, the ASTM International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing, running September 28 through October 2 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. It’s one of the most significant gatherings on the advanced manufacturing calendar, and a fitting place for our team to talk about where metal additive manufacturing is headed next.
ICAM brings together engineers, researchers, program managers, and standards bodies from across aerospace, defense, energy, and medical industries. What sets it apart from a typical trade show is its focus. Rather than simply showcasing new equipment, ICAM digs into the harder questions the industry is now facing: how additive processes get validated, how parts earn certification, and how a technology that started in prototyping labs becomes a trusted, repeatable production method. That shift, from capability to qualification, is exactly where Fastech has built its business.
Based in Danville, Virginia, Fastech specializes in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing and Laser Wire Directed Energy Deposition, two wire based metal printing processes capable of building large, structurally demanding components in materials like titanium, Inconel, stainless steel, and other high performance alloys. What distinguishes our approach is that additive is only one part of the process. Every part we print moves directly into our own three to five axis CNC machining centers for finishing, and through a quality system that documents process conditions and metrics at every stage. Reverse engineering, CAD development, printing, machining, and inspection all happen under one roof, which means a customer gets a fully qualified, end use component rather than a print that still needs finishing somewhere else.
The Meltio Robot Cell and M600on Fastech’s shop floor, part of the facility’s wire-based additive manufacturing lineup alongside two Gefertec Arc605 and an AML3D Arcemy X.
That end to end capability matters most in industries where a part failure carries real consequences. Aerospace, defense, marine, and energy customers do not have the luxury of treating additive manufacturing as an experiment. They need a documented, traceable, repeatable process, and that is the gap ICAM 2026 is built to address.
Additive manufacturing’s role in readiness and sustainment
One of the more overlooked benefits of metal additive manufacturing is what it offers to readiness and sustainment, particularly for aerospace, defense, and energy platforms expected to stay in service for decades. Many components on legacy aircraft, ships, and industrial systems were originally cast or forged by suppliers that no longer exist, using tooling that no longer exists either. Waiting on a new casting or forging run for a single obsolete part can take months, and in some cases the part can no longer be sourced through traditional means at all.
Wire based directed energy deposition changes that equation. Because it builds parts directly from a digital model and wire feedstock rather than requiring dedicated tooling, it allows manufacturers to reproduce or redesign legacy components on demand, without waiting on a supply chain that may no longer exist. That capability supports fleet readiness by shortening repair and replacement timelines, and it supports sustainment by keeping aging platforms operational longer without a full redesign or replacement program. For defense and energy customers managing critical equipment with long service lives, that combination of speed and flexibility is becoming less of a nice to have and more of an operational requirement.
AML3D Arcemy X, building a metal part layer by layer from wire feedstock.
Alan Pearce presents at ICAM 2026
As part of the conference program, Fastech’s Alan Pearce will deliver an invited presentation titled “From Qualification to Productionalization: Advancing Directed Energy Deposition for Certified Aerospace, Defense, and Energy Applications.” The session takes place September 30 from 8:50 AM to 12:00 PM ET, in the Directed Energy Deposition track.
The talk is aimed at process engineers, quality and qualification professionals, and program managers working through their own DED qualification pathways, as well as anyone trying to understand what production scale additive manufacturing actually looks like once it moves out of the lab. Alan will cover process parameter control and monitoring, material and metallurgical validation, hybrid additive to subtractive workflows, design for additive manufacturing planning, and the practical challenges that show up as programs scale toward certified production, drawn from current U.S. programs delivering end use components in titanium and high nickel alloys.
Ti-6Al-4V propulsion adapter, LW-DED printed on the Meltio M600
Stop by our kiosk
Alongside the session, our kiosk at ICAM 2026 will feature real, finished metal parts, produced with our Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing and Laser Wire DED processes and finished on our own CNC machines. No printers running on site, no work in progress, just the components themselves, so you can see the surface finish and detail our process actually delivers.
If you are attending ICAM 2026, we would like to meet you. Stop by Booth K15 to see the parts, sit in on Alan’s session, and start a conversation with our team about what additive manufacturing could do for your next program.
