Bye for now

Dear WAAM3D Community, Partners, and Friends,

After six incredible years as the CEO and member of the board of directors of WAAM3D, I have made the wholly personal decision to step down from these roles. It was not made lightly, as my journey with WAAM3D has been a most rewarding and significant experience.?

As many of you know, the story of WAAM3D began long before its official founding. Back in 2010, as a master student over at Cranfield University , I fell in love with a technology that I saw immediately having the potential to change many industries. Curiosity, innovation, and a relentless pursuit of excellence in the face of all adversities was what those early years were all about. When no-one could care less about our tech, we ploughed through incredible challenges with selfless commitment and absolute determination.

We laid the groundwork for what would eventually become WAAM3D, with the keen support of a few pioneering customers who believed in our vision. We showed the world what WAAM was capable of, paving the way for everything and everyone that was to follow. What started as an MSc thesis project, eventually absorbed the following 15 years of my professional life.?

I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together. We have grown from a small academic team into a commercial organisation that has contributed significantly to our field. We have always moved forward unscathed, harder than nails, even when right after our first investment in December 2019, c-19 hit the whole world. Irrespective, we left Cranfield’s campus, set up shop in Milton Keynes, and built the team and culture from scratch. This was an incredible achievement.

Indeed, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Accuron Technologies Limited , who believed in our mission from the very beginning, continuously providing the support needed to turn our ideas into reality. Your trust and encouragement have been invaluable, and I am confident that WAAM3D will continue to thrive and innovate, especially because of the solid foundation you have helped us build. In fact, a huge thank-you goes to Chee Weng Lee (currently a member of WAAM3D’s BoD, Managing Director of Addept3D & Vice President of Advanced Manufacturing at Accuron) who is taking-on the CEO role in the interim.

Of course, none of our progress would have been possible without the hard work, dedication, and creativity of both Cranfield’s and WAAM3D’s staff, as well as the very far-reaching academic and industrial communities of the WAAMMat programme. Your passion and commitment to discovery have been the driving force behind our success. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside you all, talented and selfless individuals. I must also recognise how crucial the support of funding agencies like EPSRC , the Aerospace Technology Institute , Innovate UK , and the European Commission has been; thank you for believing in the validity of our vision and in the potential for its commercial exploitation.

To our customers, especially those who have been with us since our early Cranfield days, I want to say a heartfelt thank you. Your faith in our technology, your willingness to collaborate, and your continuous support have been instrumental in shaping WAAM3D’s trajectory. It has been a privilege to serve you, and I am excited to see how WAAM3D, of which I will remain a shareholder, will continue to meet your needs and exceed your expectations in the years to come.

There have been tens of peaks and thousands of valleys. Thank you all for the trust and shared belief in what we have built together. Everything is impermanent, but I will always stand up for the work we have done together; the memories of our journey will stay with me forever.

Filomeno

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